The Long-term Effects of Asbestos Exposure in Michigan
We've known for decades that inhaled asbestos fibers cause disease. Now we are at a rate of ten thousand Americans passing away each year -- that is almost 30 deaths per day -- from diseases caused by asbestos. At least that is what a detailed analysis of government mortality records and epidemiological studies.
To get an idea of the problem, asbestos-related illness kills thousands more people than skin cancer each year.
The Perfect Storm
The use and exposure of asbestos use and exposure in the US maxed out in the mid 1970s when a Perfect Storm of situations put asbestos on the regulatory radar: 3,000+ consumer and industrial products contained asbestos; asbestos was commonly used in public buildings and workplaces for soundproofing, fireproofing, and insulation; asbestos product factories were polluting nearby neighborhoods; and asbestos workers (overwhelmingly men) were heavily exposed on the job and were bringing home substantial amounts of asbestos dust to their wives and children.
In fact, meaningful workplace safeguards were not in place until at least 1980. In many industries, such as construction, levels in excess of the pre-1980 standard persist even today, according to a NIOSH 2002 report.
Now, a new Perfect Storm involving asbestos exposure is brewing: asbestos-related diseases have a 20 to 50 year latency period. This means that a substantial portion of individuals exposed in the 1960s and 1970s are just now showing up in the disease or mortality statistics.
To be fair, better tracking accounts for some of the dramatic increase in reported mortality. But the diseases tracked, mesothelioma and asbestosis, are caused only by asbestos exposure.
Isn't Asbestos Banned Now? No More Problems, Right?
Asbestos has not been banned, only severely regulated.
It is still heavily used in brake shoes and many other products. Additionly, millions of people are exposed at home or in their workplace by asbestos from building products. As an example, it is estimated that the attic insulation in 30 million American homes, contains asbestos (a federal government estimate).
Even in workplaces (especially construction/remodeling, manufacturing and mining), hazardous conditions persist. OSHA estimates that 1.3 million Americans currently are exposed to asbestos on the job.
Even full compliance with the OSHA asbestos standard does not mean that workers will not die from asbestos caused cancer and other diseases. OSHA itself estimated in 1986 that one in every 300 workers will develop lung cancer from exposure at the legal limit. Their 2004 estimate concluded that one in every 200 workers will develop lung cancer if they are exposed to a career's worth of asbestos at the OSHA "safe" level, and one in 500 will develop asbestosis.
So What Does This Mean In Michigan?
Wayne County had one of the highest amounts of deaths related to asbestos in the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and Oakland County is number 86 out of over 2,000 counties nationwide. Only individuals who have died from two signature asbestos diseases, mesothelioma and asbestosis, were counted in these statistics. No lung cancer deaths were recorded.
Nationwide, the federal government expects over 200,000 asbestos-related deaths to occur between 2011 and 2020. Even though manufacturing jobs have been leaving Michigan for years, workers exposed 20+ years ago will continue to get sick. The Detroit area is expected to have among the highest death rate in the nation from asbestos exposure over the next decade.
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