Organization Announces Ninth Annual Asbestos Awareness Week
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), formed in 2004, dedicates itself to “preventing asbestos-related diseases through education, advocacy, and community” and, as such, designates a week each year to raising public awareness about diseases like mesothelioma.
The event is regularly sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), a man who has seen the horrors of asbestos exposure firsthand. Baucus represents those who live in Libby, Montana and whose health has been affected by the asbestos-contaminated vermiculite mine located there, owned by W.R. Grace and Company.
Baucus and several co-sponsors recently introduced Senate Resolution 66 designating the first week of April 2013 as “National Asbestos Awareness Week”, seeking to “raise public awareness about the prevalence of asbestos-related diseases and the dangers of asbestos exposure.”
“ADAO applauds the U.S. Senate for its introduction of the Ninth Annual Resolution recognizing National Asbestos Awareness Week,” exclaimed Linda Reinstein, President and Co-Founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. “As a mesothelioma widow, it is still shocking to me that most Americans are unaware that asbestos has not been banned and exposure continues at home, work, and in our children’s schools.
“Since 2005, educational collaborative efforts have increased, as prevention remains the only cure for mesothelioma and other asbestos-caused diseases,” Reinstein adds. “We know education saves dollars and lives and ADAO looks forward to the U.S. Senate unanimously passing this important Resolution designating April 1 – 7 to be a week of awareness to protect families throughout the nation.”
A press release by ADAO notes that the World Health Organization estimates that some 300 individuals worldwide die of asbestos-related diseases each day and that such diseases kill a total of some 107,000 workers annually. Though mesothelioma treatments have improved over the years, it remains a very difficult cancer to treat and almost always results in a death sentence for the victim.
