Although awareness of the dangers of asbestos and public concern over the issue have led to a decline in domestic consumption over the years a total ban on asbestos has not come to fruition. Finally in the late s the consumer products safety commission banned the use of asbestos in wallboard patching compounds and artificial ash for gas fireplaces because the fiber could easily be released during use. For more than years products containing asbestos remained unregulated and the manufacturers of those products continued to prosper knowing full well that many of the millions of workers who came into contact with their products would ultimately suffer as the result of their actions. 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 . Symptoms of asbestos disease usually are not be apparent until decades after exposure. When the latency period for asbestos disease is factored in cases of mesothelioma will continue to be diagnosed for years to come.