Asbestos Link to Mesothelioma and Carcinoma Discovered in Early Twentieth Century

The dangers of asbestos became more evident during the early 20th century. In the 1930's, numerous medical journals published studies that linked asbestos to cancer (Carcinoma and Mesothelioma).

During this time, a seminary publication called "Pulmonary Asbestosis: Carcinoma of the Lung in Asbesto-Silicosis" was published in the American Journal of Cancer that suggested that asbestos was the primary cause of lung cancer in cases involving people with occupational exposure to asbestos. This was confirmed in 1955, when an unmistakable connection between the ingestion of asbestos fibers and the development of certain forms of lung cancer, what later came to be known as mesothelioma.

Continuing the trend, the British Journal of Industrial Medicine published a paper, "Diffused Pleural Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure in the North Western Cape Province" in 1960 that definitively linked mesothelioma with exposure to crocidolite asbestos. The study examined over 30 cases of cancer in South African asbestos mine workers.

The evidence linking asbestos exposure to mesothelioma continued to mount. The most startling example occurred in the Western Australian town of Wittenoom. Wittenoom was home to an asbestos mine and mill. A medical study revealed the first diagnosed case of malignant mesothelioma in an Australian asbestos worker in the Medical Journal of Australia. The worker had worked in the mill at the asbestos mine in Wittenoom from 1948 to 1950.

Further investigations revealed a high incidence of mesothelioma and other health ailments in not only people who worked directly in the mines, but also in people who didn't work in the mines, but lived in the town. It began to surface that the dust associated with asbestos mining and milling was affecting the town, contributing to the development of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. By 1978 the Western Australian Government decided to phase out the town of Wittenoom.