Asbestos: 2 Years Exposure--20 Years of Illness

Delrook, OHUp to the mid 1980s little was made public about the long–term effects of asbestos exposure. However, that changed with the realization that the mineral can cause asbestos mesothelioma and severe breathing difficulties. For some people, these illnesses can take many years to manifest, but for Bonnie it only took a year.

Bonnie was involved in making break shoes at Delco Moraine. "I had to pull the shoe from a pile and it hit on a metal table, which would leave a pile of asbestos dust by night's end," Bonnie said. "By the end of a shift I could pick up at least 2 handfuls of asbestos dust of the table I was working on. I sat for 12 hours a day breathing that stuff, for 2 years."

Bonnie started at the plant in June 1985. "When I hired in I had a breathing rate of 97 percent," Bonnie said. "One year later when I took the physical it had dropped to 72 percent. The doctor told me that the asbestos had gotten into my throat, and caused my vocal cords to swell. I couldn't speak for about 6 to 8 weeks." Today, over 20 years later, Bonnie can still barely speak. Her voice is no more than a croak, and she has to use nebulizers 4 times a day just to breathe.

"In November 1986 we were all called to attend a meeting on the dangers of asbestos," Bonnie said. "We were told that because of our exposure asbestos would now be in our cars, and clothes, and our carpets at home, everywhere.

I later found out from a United Auto Workers representative that the company was supposed to pull me from my job, because my breathing rate had dropped so drastically. But nobody wanted to it, not surprisingly. I asked how much asbestos was in the pile of dust I was exposed to every day, but was told not enough to even see."

When Bonnie went to the doctor the next time he gave her a letter stating that she had to be removed from her job immediately because of the asbestos exposure and the effect it was having on her lung function. "I was told if I wanted to keep my job to get upstairs and get back on that machine," she said. "So I walked out. I think that was 1987. I couldn't breathe anymore. I couldn't even walk across the parking lot. It only took a year before I began to lose lung function. Now I am chronically ill because although my exposure was brief, in terms of time, it was intense in terms of the amount of asbestos dust I came into contact with."

The Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of asbestos in most products in 1989, a decision that was subsequently overturned in 1991, likely because it is such a useful mineral to manufacturers. Asbestos is resistant to heat and most chemicals, and because of the overturned ban is still used in a wide variety of goods including roofing shingles, ceiling and floor tiles, paper and cement products, textiles, coatings, and friction products such as automobile clutch, brake and transmission parts. Just because the dangers are known, doesn't mean that people are not at risk.

Today, Bonnie can't work, and she is only 60 years old. In fact, she is virtually disabled because she can barely breathe, or talk. She was recently diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a permanent and debilitating disease that causes atrophy of the lung tissue. "My doctor asked me if I'd ever worked anywhere where I could have been exposed to chemicals that can cause lung damage," Bonnie said. "I told her about my exposure to asbestos. I had x-rays taken a while ago, but they never told me what was on them. So I'm going to find out next time I see my doctor, because judging from the questions they were asking me, the x-rays must have shown something."

Although Bonnie can hardly talk, she wants to tell her story. "I would like everybody to know what this does to people, and that they have to take action on their own behalf." And that is where a lawyer may be able to help.