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Veterans & Asbestos Exposure

Though the vast majority of asbestos exposure among naval veterans took place predominately from the 1930s through the 1980s (when the U.S. Navy use asbestos on a mass scale), veteran exposure to this toxic substance still occurred after the 1980s during ship repair, overhaul, and decommissioning. For more than six decades, the Navy extensively used asbestos on nearly every corner of its vessels. The 1970s and '80s brought irrefutable evidence that asbestos is indeed highly hazardous, which spawned a new phase of veteran asbestos exposure. Although the Navy knew in the early 1920s that asbestos caused harm to human health, it wasn't until the '80s and '90s that asbestos was removed from ships and shipyards, exposing a whole new generation of veterans to this deadly material.

In 1922, a medical bulletin issued by the Navy placed asbestos work on a special list of occupations considered hazardous and even suggested the use of respirators for such positions. By the time the late-1930s rolled around, handbooks were provided to corpsmen that advised them of asbestos hazards. However, the Navy neglected to implement its own recommendations. Additionally, the Navy made little or no effort to inform sailors of the real dangers of asbestos exposure.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started an asbestos reform campaign. Regardless of pressure from another government entity, the Navy was surprisingly slow to respond. Not until 1983 did the first Navy Occupational Safety and Health (NAVOSH) Program Manual go into place (which applies to all Navy civilian and military personnel, including operations ashore or afloat). To ensures compliance with asbestos-related regulations set by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Navy created the Navy Asbestos Control Program (part of NAVOSH).

Despite these measures, countless veterans have been exposed to perilous levels of asbestos even after the Navy reduced its massive asbestos usage and began to replace the deadly substance. Across the country Naval shipyards started a mass overhaul of asbestos-contaminated ships, removing and replacing countless asbestos-containing materials, and in many instances safety measures were classifiably substandard. In some cases respirators were employed - but not all cases - and even this measure cannot guarantee prevention of exposure to asbestos.

The early 1990s brought another phase of exposure as well, as the Navy began to sell obsolete ships for scrap materials. Ships were and are still being sold primarily to foreign countries with little to no asbestos regulations. The dismantling of asbestos-contaminated ships often takes place in depressed ports, where workers have no knowledge of how to handle asbestos and no protective measures are taken. Because of such poor geopolitical ethics, the decontamination of asbestos-laden warships has become a global issue, afflicting both affluent and third-world countries.

Shocking as it may be, some naval ships still contain asbestos-laden materials. Asbestos fibers may be imbedded in brakes, clutches, gaskets, or older construction materials. Until tougher and mandatory regulations are enforced on the use and treatment of this hazardous material, asbestos will continue to adversely affect another generation of veterans and unaware victims on a global scale.

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