We must resolve the asbestos exposure and lung cancer case documentation gap

Jordan Cade

Submitted photo/InsideSources.com

Military duty represents only one segment of a broader occupational trajectory in which cumulative exposure is rarely documented comprehensively. While the Honoring Our PACT Act has been a game-changer for acknowledging an array of toxic-related illnesses, it does not extend to the civilian environments where the risk persists. Without integrated documentation across industries, exposure histories of veterans and industrial workers are effectively fractured, limiting accountability, research accuracy and prevention efforts.”

Opinion

What Arizona veterans should know about asbestos exposure

Well-being

Asbestos exposure may still concern Arizona veterans

OPINION — Asbestos exposure stands among the most widespread, destructive and persistent occupational health disasters of the 20th century.

Once extensively incorporated into insulation systems, shipbuilding components, automotive parts, construction materials and armed forces’ barracks, asbestos was initially favored for its cost-effectiveness and ability to withstand heat before its carcinogenic properties were fully understood.

Yet what makes this crisis particularly consequential is not only its pervasive scale but also its delayed tolls, with related illnesses, such as lung cancer, manifesting up to 40 years later.

As such, by the time victims receive a diagnosis, identifying the original exposure sites can be nearly impossible, as they are often clouded by the passage of time, incomplete documents or fragmented employment records that were never intended to track long-latency outcomes.

The health consequences of asbestos exposure stem from a well-established biological process in which inhaled fibers can be trapped in lung tissue indefinitely, gradually triggering inflammation and cellular damage that may ultimately trigger diseases, specifically lung cancer, long after the initial exposure has occurred.

More alarming, the scale of this risk is far more striking when examined across civilian industries and military service. Data shows that from 1940 to 1979 27 million workers encountered asbestos while working in shipbuilding, automotive, mining, construction and manufacturing, signifying how deeply embedded the material was in the industrial foundation of the nation.

Meanwhile, military environments also played a grim role in this crisis, with installations, such as the former Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, illustrating how the armed forces relied heavily on the toxic mineral to enhance their operations. Unfortunately, for many veterans, contact with asbestos did not cease with their service. Instead, it carried on as they entered civilian jobs, leading to complex exposure histories that significantly increase their lifetime health risks.

Even now, lung cancer remains among the most-revalent cancers in the country, with new cases estimated to reach nearly 230,000. Also compounding this issue are the rising asbestos-related deaths, which climbed by 20.2% from 1990 to 2019.

In reality, a critical failure in asbestos-prevention efforts lies not in recognition of the hazard but in how long-term outcomes are documented. Although occupational recordkeeping systems exist, they were primarily designed to capture workplace compliance at the point of employment, not to preserve longitudinal exposure histories spanning multiple jobs and decades of labor.

As a result, when asbestos-related lung cancer is diagnosed, victims are repeatedly compelled to deal with dispersed or insufficient documentation that cannot reliably reconstruct how they became susceptible to devastating health issues.

Disconcertingly, this challenge is more pronounced among veterans, whose exposure records often span multiple workplaces or stages of employment. For them, asbestos exposure typically begins in Navy ships, engine rooms and barracks before continuing in shipyards, refineries, construction sites and manufacturing facilities after service.

Military duty represents only one segment of a broader occupational trajectory in which cumulative exposure is rarely documented comprehensively. While the Honoring Our PACT Act has been a game-changer for acknowledging an array of toxic-related illnesses, it does not extend to the civilian environments where the risk persists. Without integrated documentation across industries, exposure histories of veterans and industrial workers are effectively fractured, limiting accountability, research accuracy and prevention efforts.

Jordan Cade is an attorney based in Birmingham, Alabama. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.