Female asbestos deaths spike near old factory

The Yomiuri Shimbun
The death rate from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, was 18.1 times the national average among females living within a 500-meter radius of Kubota Corp.'s Kanzaki factory in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, which produced building materials containing asbestos.
The finding was made by a group of researchers at Nara Medical University headed by Prof. Norio Kurumatani. It also showed that the death rate from mesothelioma was 9.8 times the national average among male residents living in the same area.
Kurumatani said since few women worked at factories and the number of mesothelioma deaths included work-related cases, the death rate for women reflects the severe health hazard posed to residents in the area.
According to the survey released at a Japanese Society of Occupational Medicine and Traumatology meeting in Osaka on Wednesday, men and women in the area were 11.7 times more likely to die from mesothelioma than the national average.
Kurumatani said there were no other likely mesothelioma sources than the former factory, adding that it was presumed that the development of mesothelioma among the residents resulted from the dispersal of highly toxic blue asbestos used in the former factory.
Of the victims and patients suffering from mesothelioma whose cases were on file at the Kansai Occupational Safety and Health Center in Chuo Ward, Osaka, the researchers examined 85 cases in which there were no records of the person working at a factory or other asbestos-related facilities.
The 85 people included 76 who died of mesothelioma.
The 85 people had lived in the area for 1-1/2 years to 18-1/2 years, and their incubation periods for the disease ranged from 23 years to 48 years.
The 76 victims died aged 26 to 87.