Alexander Harris Solicitors
Jump to navigation.

Prepared by Dr Simon Taggart, February 2006.

We all have to breathe in order to survive. Breathing is important because it allows oxygen to be extracted from the outside air so that our body can use it to fuel the various chemical reactions to keep us healthy. Breathing is also an important way of removing excess carbon dioxide gas from our body's blood stream.

A specialist breathing control area situated deep within the centre of our brain triggers each breath. This stimulates our diaphragm muscles to contract downwards, which in turn results in a lowering of air pressure within our chest cavities compared with outdoor air. This drop in thoracic pressure leads to air being sucked into our lungs, where the incoming oxygen is exchanged for waste carbon dioxide within the bloodstream. At times of increased demand e.g. running, our body stimulates the rib muscles to contract to help expand our lungs further allowing a bigger breath to be taken.

To protect our body from breathing in unwanted impurities in the air e.g. dust, our nose acts as a type of filter. In addition, the linings of our bronchial tubes are also lined by a special layer of protective coating called the bronchial mucosa, which also helps to prevent small particles from travelling deeper into our lungs where they could cause damage.

Unfortunately, airborne asbestos dust tends to be very fine and too small to be filtered out by the nose and bronchial mucosa. This is why special breathing protection must be worn when working with asbestos. As a result, asbestos dust tends to penetrate deep into the lungs where it may cause damage.

One of the characteristics of asbestos related lung damage is that it takes many years for it to develop indicating a long lag period between exposure and disease. Furthermore, not everyone who is exposed to asbestos develops problems, indicating a degree of susceptibility to damage between individuals. It is likely that this susceptibility is under genetic control.

It is known that for asbestosis to develop there will have been higher levels of exposure to asbestos dust than in cases of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma may be caused by exposure to small amounts of dust. There are no safe levels of asbestos dust.

Dr Taggart is a Consultant Physician in Chest & General Medicine at Trafford General & Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust. He is the Lead Lung Cancer Clinician at the two Trusts and has considerable experience in the field of chest medicine in particular industrial lung disease.