Asbestos And The Military
Asbestos was one of the most widely used materials in the United States for construction, right up through the 1960s. It was used not only for insulating material but for a variety of plumbing fixtures and support devices. Growing evidence of severe health problems among those exposed to asbestos led to its eventual ban for use in any product. The most serious impact of asbestos exposure is mesothelioma, a lethal form of cancer that usually develops in the lungs.
The disease can take decades to develop after exposure to asbestos. Thousands of people that have developed mesothelioma have sued asbestos mining and manufacturing firms; to the extent that several have been driven into bankruptcy and billion dollar funds have been established to compensate those who can prove health damage. One of the issues in these lawsuits is the fact that many asbestos manufacturers and product users failed to warn the people who were being exposed when the knowledge of asbestos toxicity began to develop.
This has been true particularly in the military. Servicemen and women who were in the ranks during the period from World War II into the seventies might well have been exposed to asbestos and asbestos products. The Navy in particular employed asbestos in the design and construction of their ships. Thousands of Navy personnel were thus exposed to asbestos fibers and asbestos-related health problems have been higher among Navy veterans who worked in shipyards than among others.
Other veterans who were deployed on U.S. bases constructed during WW II have also been found to have suffered asbestos exposure, as it was widely used during the hurried construction of barracks and other base facilities during that era. Many of those buildings were employed through the seventies, until asbestos exposure was found to be so toxic that, in many cases, buildings containing it were declared unfit for use.
The military took scant notice of the health concerns that developed around asbestos after the war. Many former U.S. military sites are contaminated by toxic waste due to the casual methods of disposal used during active use of the facilities. In like fashion, the potential for asbestos damage to active personnel and veterans became a real issue well after the material had been banned from all civilian use.
Because mesothelioma can take many years do develop, it is very likely that veterans who were mustered out many years ago may emerge as a group with more frequent cases of asbestos related diseases than the civilian population in general. The statistics among Navy veterans who were aboard or around vessels that contained asbestos support the suspicion that military veterans in general may have had a fairly high chance of exposure.
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