All told more than products contained asbestos. This number however does not take into consideration events such as the world trade center disaster on september when millions of new yorkers were potentially exposed to air filled with carcinogenic asbestos particles. Has reached its peak and has begun to drop a forecast released by the national cancer institutes surveillance epidemiology and end results program seer in april projected the total number of american male mesothelioma cases from to be approximately . When the latency period for asbestos disease is factored in cases of mesothelioma will continue to be diagnosed for years to come. Although it is suggested that the number of mesothelioma cases in the u. Most of us however do not become ill as a result of our exposure.