A woman claims secondhand asbestos exposure caused her to develop lung cancer.

Plaintiff Betty T. filed a lawsuit against several manufacturers because she said she was exposed to asbestos from her father and husband. Both men worked as laborers and either worked with asbestos or were exposed to the carcinogen at their work sites.

Betty and her husband allege the companies did not adequately warn her or her family members of the dangers of working with asbestos.

What is Secondhand Asbestos Exposure?

People who have never worked with asbestos-based products might suffer from secondhand asbestos exposure when an asbestos worker brings the fibers home on clothing, shoes or tools.

The United States does not define a safe level of asbestos exposure — secondhand asbestos exposure can result in the same ailments suffered by those who work with the carcinogen.

Workers employed in certain trades have had a greater risk of asbestos exposure. U.S. Navy, U.S. Military, shipyard workers, auto mechanics, paper mill workers, construction workers and linotype technicians could have been exposed at their workplace without even realizing it.

Family members of these workers could have suffered secondhand asbestos exposure when workers came home with asbestos fibers on their clothing and work supplies, which other family members might shake out to remove the fiber dust prior to laundering.

Anyone who renovated a home built before the 1980s could have been exposed to asbestos if they worked with insulation, cement, drywall, electrical insulation, ceiling tiles, floor tiles, and other construction items. Such building materials are not a risk in their final state, but once they are cut, microscopic asbestos fibers enter the air where they easily can be inhaled.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that more Americans lose their lives to lung cancer than to any other cancer, and more than 4,800 die of lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

Asbestos-related diseases can take years to manifest. People diagnosed with asbestos lung cancer today were exposed to the carcinogen 10 to 50 years ago. Asbestos has been a suspected carcinogen since the late nineteenth century, but many workers relied upon their employers to ensure a safe working environment who allegedly did not inform them or provide sufficient protection from the material.

Many workers didn’t know that they were working with asbestos or in asbestos-laced environments. Other workers were simply unaware of the dangers of asbestos exposure. If they didn’t know the substance was dangerous, they didn’t realize their own health was at risk, and they certainly couldn’t have guessed they were endangering family members by arriving home with dusty clothing, which caused their families to suffer secondhand asbestos exposure.

Despite the myriad warnings available today and the precautions taken to prevent both firsthand and secondhand asbestos exposure, Betty and others from her generation allege that they were not warned of – or protected from – such workplace hazards.

The Secondhand Asbestos Exposure Lawsuit is Case No 18-L-477 in the St. Clair County Circuit Court in the state of Illinois.