Women and Secondary Asbestos Exposure
These days, more and more attention is being paid to the plight of the woman who has been exposed to asbestos in ways other than through workplace exposure. Because so many fewer women than men worked directly with asbestos, rates of asbestos-related diseases among men remain much higher, but the world is slowly realizing that the work those men did every day may have affected the lives and health of the women who loved and cared for them.
Secondary Exposure in the Home
Asbestos fibers are tiny, shard-like objects that can be inhaled through the nose, eventually becoming lodged in the lungs. Because these fibers, in their airborne state, take the form of powdery dust, it is necessary to understand that this asbestos "dust" can readily cover all surfaces with which it comes in contact. This includes not only machinery and other things found in a factory or mine, but also the body and/or clothes of the person who worked with the toxic mineral on a daily basis.
The women who were most susceptible to secondary asbestos exposure were the wives and daughters whose task it was to clean the clothes of their spouse or father each day when they arrived home from work. Often, overalls or other work clothes would be shook out in the family laundry room, allowing asbestos dust to circulate through the air and prompting inhalation of the fibers by those in close proximity.
Many women performed this task day in and day out, providing their husbands/fathers with clean clothes for the next work day. To further complicate matters, men who worked with asbestos were seldom provided with showers so that they could clean up before heading home, so asbestos dust stuck to the hair, body, and clothing was common. And because the men were never warned of the dangers of the mineral, they didn't give a second thought to bringing the dust into their homes.
Cases have emerged that describe the unassuming little girl who would climb on her Daddy's lap after a long day at the factory. She would snuggle with her father, unaware that the white substance covering his hair and clothes might be a health hazard that would affect her far into the future. The closeness of Dad and daughter resulted in the inhalation of asbestos fibers, and decades later, that now-grown woman would be diagnosed with some sort of asbestos-related disease, possibly mesothelioma.
While some may think that secondary exposure in the home occurs only in a handful of asbestos disease-related cases, studies conducted over the last few decades demonstrate that more than half the cases of mesothelioma in women were a result of household exposure to a family member who worked with the toxic material.
Courts of law are also recognizing that these women have the same legal rights to compensation that their spouses/fathers/grandfathers would have if they were to develop asbestos-related diseases due to on-the-job exposure. The awarding of compensation to these women for their suffering is not unusual in this day and age.
