Mesothelioma facts and figures may be shocking when you look at them all together. Consider the following mesothelioma facts:

• An estimated 2,000 - 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the U.S.
• Approximately 3/4 of these cases are pleural mesothelioma, which occurs in the chest.
• Most people who get mesothelioma have worked in jobs where they breathed in asbestos fibers at some point in their lives.
• Mesothelioma can take 25 - 40 years to develop after the initial asbestos exposure.
• Mesothelioma affects men 3 - 5 times more often than women.
• Three-fourths of people with mesothelioma are over age 65.
• The disease only metastasizes, or spreads outside the initial cancer area, in 5% of cases.
• The average survival time after a person has been diagnosed with mesothelioma is one year.
• The Environmental Workers Group (EWG) estimates that between 1979 and 2001, at least 43,000 Americans died from mesothelioma and an often-fatal non-cancer disease of the lungs called asbestosis.
• The truth about asbestos exposure has been known and mostly hidden from the American public since the early 20th Century.
• Up to 8 million Americans may have been exposed to asbestos.
• The use of asbestos has not been banned in the United States.

Many of these mesothelioma facts and figures may be surprising. If you or a loved one has been given a mesothelioma diagnosis, you may wish to contact a mesothelioma lawyer today.