A group of manufacturing companies face an asbestos lung cancer  lawsuit filed by the widow of a steel worker who blames his death on asbestos exposure caused by steel mill health hazards.

Plaintiff Virginia W. filed the steel mill health hazards lawsuit on behalf of the estate of her late husband Jackie W. in a Wisconsin state court.

Virginia says that Jackie worked between 1964 and 2004 as a laborer at Porter Steel, Connor Stee, and Steel of West Virginia. She claims it was during this employment where he ingested and was exposed to asbestos fibers caused by products manufactured and sold by the defendants.

Jackie became diagnosed with lung cancer on June 6, 2017, and he later died on July 8th. Virginia says his death was due to steel mill health hazards and the asbestos exposure which led to his lung cancer development.

Virginia alleges that defendants A.W. Chesterton Inc., ABB Inc., BMI Refractory Services Inc. and others were negligent as they failed to provide any warning labels or announcements concerning the asbestos products.

It was unbeknownst to Jackie and other laborers of the risks involved in dealing with asbestos products and fibers and other steel mill health hazards, Virginia contends. She alleges that other adequate substitutes could have also been made available, instead of the asbestos-based products.

Virginia is seeking damages greater than $50,000.

Asbestos Exposure Lung Cancer

According to the National Cancer Institute, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. It is also the second most common cancer affecting both men and women in the United States.

Some of the risk factors for lung cancer include cigarette smoking, secondhand smoke, radon, and other substances such as asbestos, arsenic, diesel exhaust, and some forms of chromium and silica.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, asbestos is the name given to a group of six naturally-occurring fibrous minerals. Asbestos fibers are known to be heat resistant and are made up of separable, long, strong, and flexible fibers. These fibers can be woven and spun, and because of these characteristics asbestos has been used within a wide range of manufactured goods, in building materials, and friction products like automotive brakes, clutches and transmissions.

However, there are severe health hazards associated with asbestos exposure. When asbestos fibers are inhaled, the fibers can become trapped in the lungs, accumulating over time and cause scarring and inflammation.

Asbestos is a known human carcinogen, or a substance that causes cancer, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The National Cancer Institute claims that everyone will become exposed to asbestos at some point in their life. However, those that are most at risk for developing an asbestos-related disease include those who are exposed to asbestos on a regular basis.

Workers who are most likely to become exposed to asbestos regularly may include workers in shipbuilding trades, asbestos mining and milling trades, construction and building trades, and many others.