Asbestos Cancer, Mesothelioma, and Our Veterans

Veterans And Asbestos ExposureDuring the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of men and women in the United States volunteered to serve their country in the armed forces, and as civilian employees on military bases and in shipyards. Many of these people remember this time as one of the highpoints of their lives—a time of pride and dedication that they look back on fondly.

They don’t want to look back on those years as the time when they were exposed to asbestos, the time when their health was irrevocably ruined and their futures destroyed. But for all too many of them, that’s what happened.

For decades, asbestos was considered a “miracle mineral.” It was strong, fireproof, an electrical insulator, and resistant to acids and other chemicals (1). It could be woven into fireproof cloth, molded into half-round pipe insulation, mixed into concrete, and formed into heat-resistant gloves, aprons, and coveralls. These products were widely used in heavy industries, including shipyards, refineries, and steel mills.

These products were also used in the armed forces. In the Army and Air Force, asbestos was used in brake and clutch pads installed in everything from tanks to jeeps to aircraft. Asbestos was part of the insulation in housing and other buildings on military bases, electric wiring insulation aboard military planes, and fire retardant materials used by military firefighters and gunners (2).

In the Navy, Merchant Marine, and Coast Guard, it was even more widely used, mainly as thermal insulation aboard ships. Asbestos was considered so vital to the nation’s security that the Navy issued specifications in 1939 requiring its use in newly constructed naval vessels. Almost 300 different asbestos-containing products were used in shipbuilding during World War II alone (3).

Much shipboard work was done below decks, in cramped and unventilated engine and boiler rooms (2). These enclosed spaces trapped asbestos fibers so that they floated in the air like a white fog (3). Sailors and shipyard workers breathed that fog as they fought and maintained their ships. They worked without respirators because they knew nothing of the dangers of inhaling asbestos fibers.

Now, decades later, thousands of those sailors and shipyard workers have developed asbestos-related diseases. Some of these sailors and workers continued to work in asbestos industries after their military service, as insulators or pipefitters or other craftsmen. Still knowing nothing of the dangers they faced, these workers breathed millions of asbestos fibers every day. It’s no wonder that so many of them developed asbestosis, asbestos-related cancer, and mesothelioma.

But even those who left the industrial sector for different lines of work were not safe, because they took the asbestos fibers they had already inhaled with them. Former sailors and workers whose only asbestos exposure was during their military service or while working in a Navy shipyard have nevertheless died from mesothelioma. Even a former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., died of meso in January of 2000, possibly from asbestos he inhaled aboard a Navy ship (3).

The Navy refuses to compile statistics for how many sailors have died from asbestos-related diseases (3). But data from other sources claims that as many as 26% of mesothelioma patients are former sailors and shipyard workers. They account for 16% of asbestos-related lung cancers and 13% of serious respiratory diseases (4).

Industrial asbestos insulators, who worked under similar conditions to sailors and shipyard workers, are 344 times more likely than unexposed people to develop mesothelioma. About 94% of these insulators are likely to develop either meso, asbestos-related lung cancer, or asbestosis (3).

Many former sailors and soldiers admit they feel betrayed by the armed forces and the government they served. There is evidence that the Navy knew of the dangers of asbestos exposure as long ago as 1922, when it recommended respirators for anyone working with the fibers. Navy corpsmen were instructed in the dangers of asbestos in the late 1930s. In 1943, the Navy set minimum working standards for shipyard workers exposed to asbestos, requiring respirators and ventilation of dusty areas, but did not enforce them. Workplace standards for active-duty sailors were not set until OSHA set them in 1971. And the Navy banned asbestos on all ships constructed after 1973, but violated their own policy until 1979 (3).

Although veterans who were exposed to asbestos during their military service cannot sue the federal government, they can apply to the VA for service-related disability and benefits. But this can be a lengthy and difficult procedure, because veterans have to prove that the damage to their lungs happened during their service time. It can be extremely hard to prove something that happened so many years ago, and fewer than one-third of the veterans who apply to the VA for disability payments actually receive them (5).

They can also file civil suits against the asbestos manufacturers. But many of these former industrial giants have gone out of business or filed for bankruptcy protection against the thousands of asbestos-related lawsuits filed against them across the country (3).

'Asbestos Cancer, Mesothelioma, and Our Veterans' Resources:
  1. Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. “Navy Safety and Occupational Health (SOH). Program Manual for Forces Afloat. OpNav Instruction 5100.19E. Volume I: SOH and Major Hazard-Specific Programs.” 30 May 2007.
  2. Woodward, Theodore E., M.D. “The Armed Forces Epidemiological Board: Its First Fifty Years.” Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army. p. 186.
  3. Burke, Bill. “Shipbuilding’s Deadly Legacy.” Online. May 2001.
  4. Murray, Shailagh. “U.S. Stands Aside on Asbestos: Government Won’t Pay Into Proposed Fund, Despite Navy Cases.” Wall Street Journal. 11 November 2003.
  5. Gober, Hershel W. Testimony on behalf of The Military Order of the Purple Heart before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary for The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act, Senate Bill 852, 26 April 2005.