Asbestos in Missouri
Missouri Asbestos
Missouri’s urban areas are known for the historic buildings. For instance, the city of St. Louis downtown area still has buildings that date more than a hundred years old, including courthouses, City Hall and libraries. There are still hundreds of brownstone homes in St. Louis that have been renovated and modernized, but some may still contain asbestos and have not yet been abated.
There are also plants that existed throughout Missouri, even in St. Louis. In addition to the industries containing asbestos, Missouri also has natural deposits along the Ozarks.
Jobs with Asbestos Exposure
Trucking plant workers in smaller cities in Missouri were at risk for asbestos exposure due to the brake linings that were used. These brake pads and linings often contained asbestos, leaving hundreds of trucking plant workers at risk for exposure and even eventually developing mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare form of lung cancer that affects the lining of the lungs.
Power plants exist in every state and nearly every city due to the constant demand for electrical power and the need to supply that demand around the clock. The insulation used to cover pipes usually contains asbestos.
St. Louis’s Lambert Airport had asbestos at one point and has had abatement performed since.
Asbestos-Related Deaths
There were over 350 deaths from mesothelioma (cancer of the lung’s lining) and over 200 deaths from asbestosis (scarring of the lungs) since 1980 in the state of Missouri. These deaths were probably caused by either asbestos exposure in the workplace, in old buildings or from naturally occurring deposits.
Asbestos-induced diseases such as mesothelioma have a very lengthy latency period in which no symptoms are apparent up to 50 years. This makes it very difficult to predict or even know if your asbestos exposure will lead to an illness later on. Workers are exposed and completely forget about their exposure due to the fact they were unaware of any asbestos around them or they lived normal, healthy lives for so long after their exposure they fail to get checked up.
