The Veterans Asbestos Alliance

Asbestos has been used for centuries, but large-scale commercial use expanded during the 19th and 20th centuries. People who worked in industries such as construction, shipbuilding, manufacturing, mining, insulation work, and certain military occupations faced some of the highest risks of exposure. People who lived near asbestos mines, mills, factories, or other industrial sites may also have been exposed.

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Asbestos was widely used in insulation, flooring, roofing, pipe covering, machinery, ships, and many other building and industrial materials, particularly before the 1980s. Because asbestos remains present in many older buildings, ships, equipment, and products, exposure can still occur when these materials are disturbed.

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OSHA and the EPA recognize asbestos exposure as a serious health hazard, and there is no known safe level of exposure. In general, the greater a person’s cumulative exposure to asbestos, the greater the risk of developing an asbestos-related disease. However, asbestos exposure affects people differently. Factors such as the amount and duration of exposure, the type of asbestos fibers involved, the way exposure occurred, and individual susceptibility may all influence risk.

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This variation helps explain why one person may develop mesothelioma after relatively limited exposure while another person with heavier exposure may never develop an asbestos-related disease. For example, family members have sometimes been exposed through asbestos fibers carried home on a worker’s clothing. A spouse who regularly laundered contaminated work clothes could be exposed even without ever working directly with asbestos.

 

Most people who are exposed to asbestos do not go on to develop mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis. However, because mesothelioma can develop decades after exposure, past exposure remains medically important even when it occurred many years earlier.