Asbestos Awareness Week in Montgomery, AL
1 Apr 2009 by Wendi Lewis under News
Mayor Todd Strange today signed a proclamation declaring April 1-7 as Asbestos Awareness Week in Montgomery, Alabama. This proclamation supports National Asbestos Awareness Week, as established by Senate Resolution.
It is the purpose of Asbestos Awareness Week to raise public awareness about the prevalence of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases and the dangers of asbestos exposure. Asbestos can still be found in many products in the United States, which consumes nearly 7,000 metric tons of asbestos each year. Asbestos also is present in insulation produced prior to the 1950s and building products used well into the late 1970s, all of which can still be found in homes and public buildings.
Microscopic asbestos fibers can be inhaled, where they imbed themselves in the body and cause diseases including asbestosis, a chronic scarring of the lungs, and mesothelioma, a deadly cancer.
Asbestos Awareness Day, and later Asbestos Awareness Week, was established nationally by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), which was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO works to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a voice as they fight for a total and complete ban on asbestos in the United States.
