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Exposure to Asbestos a Resource for Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families

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Exposure to Asbestos a Resource for Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WRIISC Office of Public Health Department of Veterans Affairs EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS A RESOURCE FOR VETERANS, SERVICE MEMBERS, AND THEIR FAMILIES WHAT IS ASBESTOS? other areas below deck for fire safety widely used in ship building and Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that purposes. ACMs also were used in construction materials during that occurs naturally in the environment. navigation rooms, sleeping quarters, time frame. There are six different types and mess halls. • Navy personnel who worked of asbestos fibers, each with a below deck before the early 1990s HOW ARE SERVICE MEMBERS somewhat different size, width, since asbestos was often used EXPOSED TO ASBESTOS? length, and shape. Asbestos minerals below deck and the ventilation have good heat resistant properties. Because asbestos has been so widely was often poor. used in our society, most people Given these characteristics, asbestos • Navy Seamen who were have been exposed to some asbestos has been used for a wide range of frequently tasked with removing at some point in time. Asbestos is manufactured goods, including damaged asbestos lagging in most hazardous when it is friable. building materials (roofing shingles, engine rooms and then using This means that the asbestos material ceiling and floor tiles, paper products, asbestos paste to re-wrap the is easily crumbled by hand, thus and asbestos cement products), pipes, often with no respiratory releasing fibers into the air. People friction products (automobile clutch, protection and no other personal are exposed to asbestos when ACMs brake, and transmission parts), heat- protective equipment especially are disturbed or damaged, and resistant fabrics, packaging, gaskets, if wet technique was not used in small asbestos fibers are dispersed and coatings. The use of asbestos the removal. in new construction materials was in the air. These fibers may get • Service members who worked banned in the early 1970’s because into the lungs through the air that with, handled, damaged or of the health risks associated with we breathe. Individuals who only disturbed any ACM may have asbestos exposure. have contact with intact asbestos- containing building materials (that is had some asbestos exposure as a WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF not fraying, peeling, or falling apart) result. ASBESTOS EXPOSURE FOR are not expected to be at risk for • Pipe fitters, welders, boiler SERVICE MEMBERS? asbestos exposure. operators, building renovation In the past, the military used many and demolition specialists who Service members at risk for asbestos asbestos containing material (ACM) worked in any of the services exposure include: products because of their excellent before the mid-1990s may have heat resistance, insulation, and • Those involved in renovation of had exposure. fireproofing capabilities. Some of asbestos-containing structures HOW CAN ASBESTOS AFFECT the ACM that the military used and/or removal of asbestos MY HEALTH? included brakes, gaskets, valves, materials either before or after Whether a service member develops cements, adhesives, and floor and 1970. health effects as a result of their pipe coverings, called lagging. In • Navy Veterans who served on particular, the Navy used ACM in its asbestos exposure depends on ships whose keels were laid several factors: shipyards and ships that were built before 1983. by the Navy before the mid-70s. • The amount and duration The Ships often contained multiple • Navy Veterans who worked in ship yards from the 1930s through of exposure. People who are asbestos-containing materials in exposed more frequently to the engine and boiler rooms and the 1990s, as asbestos was text Bird & Flags stars & disk 1 War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WRIISC Office of Public Health Department of Veterans Affairs asbestos over a long period of symptoms at all. These plaques (pleural membrane) or abdominal time are more at risk. also do not mean that the person cavity (the peritoneum). Lung • Whether or not you smoke. If you is at any higher risk of developing Cancer is a type of cancer that smoke and have been exposed one of the serious asbestos forms in the tissues of the lung, to asbestos, you are far more related health problems than usually in the cells that line the air likely to develop asbestos related someone with equal exposure but passages. This is the same type of problems than someone who no pleural plaques. cancer that develops in cigarette does not smoke and who has not • Asbestosis. This is a condition smokers, people exposed to been exposed to asbestos. in which the asbestos fibers that Radon gas and other causes, that is, it is not unique to people with • History of a pre-existing were inhaled cause the lung tissue asbestos exposure. This type of lung condition. If you have an to scar up and actually cause lung cancer occurs much more underlying lung condition and are the soft, very thin lung tissue to than mesothelioma in asbestos exposed to asbestos, you may be become thick, stiff, and fibrotic. exposed individuals. Cancer at greater risk. This can be a progressive process which causes shortness of breath from asbestos does not develop • Age. Studies have shown that the because it reduces the efficiency immediately. Rather, it often younger people are when they of the lungs to bring in oxygen shows up after a number of years. inhale asbestos, the more likely for the body and increases the It usually does not manifest for 20 they are to develop asbestos amount of work that the lung to 30 years or more after the onset related problems. and chest must do to expand and of exposure. People who smoke Asbestos can cause a number of contract the lungs. Asbestosis and are exposed to asbestos have health effects that range from not may be associated with a chronic a risk of developing lung cancer usually very serious to very serious. cough or bronchitis; however that studies indicate can range Mainly these health effects involve it does not cause asthma, from 50 to 100times that of the the lungs or membranes around the emphysema, or sleep apnea. general population. lungs. Asbestos related health effects Asbestosis is a serious disease and • Other Cancers. Research studies are: can eventually lead to disability have looked at the risk of getting and death. cancer in parts of the body • Pleural plaques. These are scars of • Lung Cancer. High and/or other than lungs. An Institute the lining that surround the lungs prolonged exposures to asbestos of Medicine (IOM) committee (called the pleural membrane) dusts can cause cancer in humans. determined that asbestos and they usually contain some There are two types of respiratory exposure might be related to calcium. They appear on chest cancer caused by exposure to cancers of the pharynx, larynx, X-rays as small (usually less than asbestos: mesothelioma and stomach, and colon and rectum. one quarter of an inch diameter) lung cancer. Mesothelioma IS THERE A TEST FOR ASBESTOS plaques or plates on the outside is a cancer that affects the AND WHAT DOES IT SHOW? of the lungs. Finding pleural mesothelium (a thin membrane plaques on a chest X-ray or a chest that covers and protects most of A thorough exposure history, Computed Axial Tomography the internal organs of the body). physical exam, and diagnostic tests (CAT) scan is considered proof This is a type of cancer that only are needed to diagnose an asbestos- that asbestos exposure did occur occurs in people with significant related condition. A chest x-ray is a sometime in the past. In the asbestos exposure. Most cases useful screening tool to identify lung overwhelming majority of cases, of mesothelioma affect the changes resulting from asbestos pleural plaques do not cause any membrane surrounding the lung exposure. Scarring of the lining of the text Bird & Flags stars & disk 2 War Related Illness and Injury Study Center WRIISC Office of Public Health Department of Veterans Affairs lungs (pleural plaques) can confirm you can take to improve your WEB SITE RESOURCES: exposure to asbestos dusts, but health and decrease your risk of Content for this fact sheet was does not determine whether or not asbestos-related cancer. adapted from the following sources: you will have any health problems • Schedule regular medical from asbestos. In persons with examinations with your primary • Agency for Toxic Substances and high and/or prolonged exposures care doctor. Health Registry to asbestos, scarring of the lung • Keep up to date with your • http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ tissue (asbestosis) may be seen on vaccinations (for example, flu toxfaqs/TF.asp?id=29&tid=4 chest-x ray twenty or more years shot, and pneumovaccine if after their first exposure to asbestos. • Institute of Medicine indicated). Lung function tests and CAT scans • http://www.iom.edu/ also may assist in the diagnosis ARE YOU A VETERAN WITH Reports/2006/Asbestos- of asbestos-related lung disease. CONCERNS ABOUT ASBESTOS Selected-Cancers.aspx Individuals who have had high and/ E XPOSURE? • United States Department of or prolonged exposures to asbestos If you are a Veteran concerned Labor Occupational Safety and dusts are encouraged to follow-up about health effects from exposure Health Administration periodically (every 1-2 years) with to asbestos, you should contact • http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/ their treating physicians to monitor your primary care provider to data_AsbestosFacts/asbestos- symptoms such as shortness of discuss your concerns. They can also factsheet.pdf breath, cough, etc., to determine the place a consult for you to have an need for further diagnostic testing exposure assessment by telephone of their lungs for early detection of or in-person with a physician asbestos-related disease(s). who specializes in environmental WHAT CAN I DO IF I HAVE medicine.
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