Asbestos is a material that causes cancer in humans. It is linked to mesothelioma, lung cancer and even some reproductive cancers. Many people who develop these asbestos-related cancers worked with this material in the past.
Many blue-collar workers have handled asbestos on the job. This includes shipbuilders, construction workers and automotive mechanics. Often, these workers didn’t have proper safety equipment or training. Over time, some of them developed lung cancer, mesothelioma and other serious illnesses.
Most people with asbestos-related diseases were exposed at work. However, not everyone who gets sick did so through workplace exposure. Some people diagnosed with mesothelioma and similar diseases never worked with asbestos directly. Instead, they had what doctors call “secondary exposure.”
Secondary exposure happens when workers bring asbestos fibers home on their clothes, shoes or skin. Family members can breathe in these tiny fibers when they hug their loved ones or wash their work clothes. Even this indirect contact can lead to serious health problems years later. Too many children and spouses of asbestos workers have developed mesothelioma from this type of exposure alone.
Secondhand exposure is enough to cause illness
Research suggests that as many as one in five people with an asbestos illness may not have had occupational exposure. Spouses, children and even roommates living with those who handle asbestos could end up exposed through physical contact with a worker’s contaminated clothing or the unintentional introduction of asbestos fibers into the living space.
There is no safe level of regular asbestos exposure, even though not everyone exposed develops cancer. If people with asbestos-related illnesses lived with someone who handled asbestos professionally, secondhand exposure could explain their diagnosis.
Unfortunately, for decades, companies have failed to provide proper safety equipment and worker sanitation facilities to clean up after asbestos exposure may have exposed. This failure has exposed not just their employees but people in the employee’s inner circle to a known human carcinogen. Filing a lawsuit may be an option for those sickened through secondary asbestos exposure.