Secondhand Asbestos Exposure

Take-Home Asbestos Exposure

Secondhand exposure usually affects the spouses and children of workers whose occupations had a high asbestos exposure risk.

The following workplaces endangered families with secondhand asbestos exposure:

•    Manufacturing
•    Automotive
•    Construction
•    Energy--Oil & Gas
•    Military Service, especially the U.S. Navy
•    Plumbing & Pipefitting
•    Railroad
•    Shipbuilding
•    Aerospace

If your family member's job or exposure is not on this list, you will still qualify for assistance.

Our mesothelioma lawyers have decades of experience working on secondary exposure cases that came from hundreds of different workplaces. We have the knowledge to help your family

How We Trace Secondhand Asbestos Exposure

Secondhand asbestos exposure can sometimes be the most challenging type of exposure to trace. This is because there is usually no direct link between the cancer victim and asbestos.

Secondhand asbestos exposure typically occurs in two ways:

• a family member unknowingly bringing asbestos into the home
• a nearby environmental source.

Secondhand Exposure to Family Members

Family can be exposed just by handling a spouse's laundry or by interacting with a parent daily. The tiny fibrous asbestos particles stick to hair and clothing, making them easy to bring into the home.

These fibers can transfer to others and collect in the lungs, leading to mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer.

"Shake and Sort" of Laundry

I had a hard time understanding how doing someone's laundry could potentially expose you to asbestos. That was until my grandmother explained to me how she used to do laundry in the 1950s.

She explained that washing machines from the 1950s to 1970s weren't as effective as they are now, and you would have to pretreat all your laundry. This pretreatment process would involve shaking and sorting.

Clothes had the have dirt and debris shaken off or brushed off before being put in the machine. The shaking or brushing process would release asbestos fibers into the air, making them even easier to breathe.

This was especially true if it was done in the laundry room as the asbestos would stay inside the home.

Secondhand Exposure from Environmental Sources

People who have lived near mines or factories that produced asbestos-related products also face a risk of developing cancers from secondhand asbestos exposure.

These locations are highly contaminated with asbestos, and the tiny asbestos fibers easily travel on the prevailing wind.

Environmental sources of asbestos are continuous and can happen over many years. Communities living near locations often develop cancer clusters from being located downwind from the plant.

Once the fibers traveled and entered homes, it became easy for their residents to be exposed to asbestos fibers and develop asbestos-related diseases.

Dickey Law Firm has decades of experience helping those exposed to asbestos from environmental sources.

We can determine if your diagnosis could be related to one of the thousands of known exposure sites with just a few details.

Frequently Asked Questions about Secondhand Exposure

Do I have to be diagnosed with mesothelioma to have a case?

To get asbestos compensation, you must have a diagnosis by a doctor of mesothelioma or lung cancer. The diagnosis is usually made by a needle or fluid biopsy.

Until your doctor tells you that you have mesothelioma or lung cancer, there is no injury for which to make a claim.

If my father worked with asbestos, why was I diagnosed with cancer and not him as well?

Even though asbestos is known to cause cancer, specifically mesothelioma and lung cancer, it is still rare. Asbestos exposure takes decades to develop into mesothelioma.

That means that if an entire family is exposed to asbestos fibers, perhaps only one or two people will develop any asbestos-related health problems.

‍This delay in diagnosis makes it hard to recognize the connection between asbestos and your cancer diagnosis.

How hard is it to track down secondhand asbestos exposure?

Every case is different. Our attorneys have decades of experience tracking down possible sources of asbestos exposure-both direct and secondhand.

We also investigate the industrial sites near your home and interview former co-workers to find the asbestos connection. It can be hard work, but worth the effort to help our clients.