In the March issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a new study of Italian asbestos cement workers has found that risk of some asbestos-related cancers decreases after the exposure ends, while the risk of other cancers continue to rise. The risk of lung cancer among workers exposed to asbestos began to fall twenty to forty years after the exposure ended. The risk of pleural mesothelioma, which attacks the membrane surrounding the lungs, was highest among those with the longest periods of exposure, but risk began to decline fifty years after the last exposure to asbestos. The risk of peritoneal mesothelioma, which involves the membrane surrounding the abdominal cavity, continued to rise over time. Over a 41-year period, researchers found 480 excess deaths among 3,434 asbestos cement workers. .
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