Ship Building and Asbestos Exposure

Asbestos is a mineral made up of thin, microscopic fibers which was once used extensively in the production of buildings and other goods because of its heat and fire resistant qualities. However, after decades of use, it was revealed that asbestos exposure was responsible for many serious diseases, including mesothelioma cancer.

When tiny asbestos fibers become disturbed, they become dislocated and are released into the atmosphere. When breathed in, asbestos fibers can become trapped in the lungs and remain there over a period of many years. The accumulation of these fibers in the lungs and the pleura, the lining of the lungs, may lead to delayed onset of serious health problems. This can include asbestosis: a lung inflammation causing shortness of breath and scarring of lung tissue, and mesothelioma: a cancer of the lining of the lungs and other organs.

Asbestos exposure may occur or may have occurred in the past in a variety of settings. It was used extensively in the construction business in the past and was heavily used in military barracks construction and in the ship building industry.

Asbestos has been mined and used commercially since the eighteen hundreds. It has been used in products such as the following:

• Coatings
• Adhesives
• Building materials
• Floor and ceiling tiles
• Paints
• Brake shoes
• Clutch pads

Factors that influence how exposures to asbestos fibers affect an individual include:

• Duration of the exposure
• The extent to which the individual was exposed to asbestos fibers
• The actual size and chemical makeup of the asbestos fibers themselves
• The existence of other lung diseases while being exposed to asbestos
• Whether or not the individual exposed to asbestos fibers smoked

All forms of asbestos are dangerous. Evidence exists that different types of asbestos fibers may be associated with unique health risks. Studies suggest that amphibole forms of asbestos containing longer and more durable fibers may cause more harm and present more of a threat to disease than chrysotile forms of asbestos containing curly fibers. This is true especially as pertaining to the risk of the contraction of mesothelioma because the fibers tend to remain in the lungs for a longer period of time.

Health problems that occur as a result of exposure to asbestos, including mesothelioma cancer, may take many years to develop. Specifically in the case of lung cancer or asbestosis, symptoms may not show themselves until fifteen or more years after exposure to asbestos fibers. In the case of mesothelioma, the time frame between initial exposure and contraction of the cancer itself has upwards to thirty years or more.

Symptoms of health problems in the respiratory tract caused by exposure to asbestos resulting in asbestosis include:

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Tightness in the chest
• Pain in the chest
• A persistent, lingering productive cough with the presence of mucus
• A dry crackling noise in the lungs made when breathing in
• Loss of appetite

Symptoms of mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos include the following:

• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Blood clotting
• Anemia
• Fever
• Weight loss

Some symptoms of lung cancer also overlap with those listed above:

• Wheezing
• Difficulty while breathing/shortness of breath
• Coughing—including coughing up blood, not just mucus
• Unexplainable weight loss
• Hoarseness
• Persistent chest pain
• Anemia

In order to properly diagnose one of these conditions caused by exposure to asbestos fibers, your doctor will take down a medical history including places of work and your past occupations, do X-rays of the chest, perform tests to measure lung capacity and lung function, CT scans, MRI’s, biopsies ( used to detect microscopic asbestos fibers and the possible presence of cancer cells).

Over three hundred thousand people worked in U.S. shipyards building vessels used by our Navy and amphibious craft used by our Marines from the years 1940 through 1978, the peak years for exposure to asbestos. Almost four thousand two hundred of those shipyard workers could be expected to die from cancer caused by asbestos exposure. This figure is based on a formula developed by researchers who have projected that the death rate among shipyard workers is 1.4%. That percentage and the total number of deaths projected does not include family members who may also contract cancer and die because of exposure to asbestos fibers on clothes worn home which contained asbestos dust.

There is evidence that the U.S. Navy knew exposure to asbestos was dangerous as early as 1922. A Navy medical bulletin published in that year included asbestos work on a list of hazardous accumulations and made the suggestion that respirators be used in the workplace.

By the late 1930’s Navy medical personnel were issued handbooks. In those handbooks was advice concerning the potential hazards faced by asbestos workers.

In 1943, United States government standards were established with the intention of protecting shipyard workers, but these standards would not be enforced until over thirty years later.

Warnings were not publically issued and findings not publically revealed until the post Viet Nam era of the late 1970’s. It is believed that there existed a conscious military decision in the highest levels of the U.S. government to sacrifice the lives of shipyard workers for the war effort, especially during World War II.

The Navy looked upon shipyard workers as if they were frontline troops making the possible ultimate sacrifice of their lives for the war effort.

Shipyard officials at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth and Newport News have recently replied, however, to questions regarding current asbestos policies. Today they say all asbestos removal work is in compliance with federal regulations and workers are not in danger of exposure.

Shipbuilding was America’s largest industry during World War II. Principal shipyards were located on many deep water ports, but nowhere was the pace of constructing ships more frenzied that the shipyard towns of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News. Across the country approximately 4.3 million Americans worked in shipyards. Of that number 14 out of every 1,000 died from exposure to asbestos and asbestos-related cancer.

Employees who worked in shipyards worked as:

• Pipe fitters (For many years asbestos was used extensively to insulate steam pipes and incinerators.)
• Plumbers
• Installers or removers of insulation
• Welders
• Sheet metal workers (Asbestos was widely used on boilers, tanks and for the insulation of hot water pipes used aboard naval ships.)
• Industrial electricians

For years workers in the shipbuilding industry worked, performing the duties listed above in poorly ventilated areas. Because they were not made aware of the dangerous health risks exposure to asbestos posed, these workers used little or no protection from the harmful asbestos fibers in the air surrounding their work areas.

If you believe you have been exposed to asbestos or have developed an asbestos-related disease, please visit our site for more information on how to care for yourself and steps you can take to protect your rights.