Tipton Power Plant

The rate of asbestos disease among Iowans is relatively low compared to the rest of the country. Being largely agricultural, Iowa has had few industries in which asbestos has played a significant role. One that did however is the electrical generation industry. The vast majority of mesothelioma, asbestos lung cancer and other asbestos disease cases in Iowa are among patients who have been employed at one of the state's twelve electrical power generation facilities.

Power generation plant workers are at high risk from asbestos exposure and are substantially more likely to contract disease such as mesothelioma. In 2003, Puerto Rican researchers analyzed the chest x-rays of 1,100 workers who had worked at least fifteen years in such a facility. 13% of the images showed signs of asbestos disease.

Asbestos is more than a flame retardant; the “blue” and “brown” varieties most likely to cause asbestos cancers such as mesothelioma are also excellent electrical insulators. Asbestos-containing materials were used extensively throughout the construction of power plants prior to 1980. Some of the areas in which asbestos-containing materials were found include:

• fire doors
• electrical cloth
• pipe fittings and conduits
• insulation
• gasket materials
• turbines and other machinery

When these materials became friable (a crumbling state in which fibers are released into the environment), the resulting asbestos dust was not only inhaled, but could become lodged in workers' hair and clothing, subjecting unsuspecting family members to the hazards of secondary exposure.

It is true that most asbestos customers such as those responsible for the construction of Iowa's electrical grid were unaware of the dangers posed by asbestos; engineers only knew that such materials could prevent deaths from fire injuries as well as millions of dollars in property damage. The health hazards of asbestos were kept hidden from the public by a corporate conspiracy on the part of asbestos product manufacturers for over four decades before a 1977 court case forced it into the open – starting a flood of litigation over the next quarter-century.

Those who were employed at a power generation plant prior to 1980 should get regular checkups if possible and discuss the asbestos exposure with their primary care physician. When diagnosed and treated early, asbestos cancer patients can survive for many years.

Given its ability to block fire, the mineral asbestos could frequently be found in numerous job sites across the country. Although asbestos' abilities as an insulator undoubtedly saved lives, the eventual results of its use were tragic: thousands of people contracted serious illness due to inhalation of or other contact with asbestos. The reason so many workers have become ill from diseases such as "miner's lung" and lung cancer is that when humans inhale strands of asbestos, the mineral embeds itself into internal organs; once there, the tiny, jagged bits of asbestos damage organs. Furthermore, job-related asbestos exposure can cause the deadly cancer called mesothelioma, which affects the mesothelium, the tissue that lines the pleural cavity (pleural mesothelioma) or the abdominal cavity (peritoneal mesothelioma). Often, mesothelioma chemotherapy treatments are available from doctors like Dr. David Sugarbaker in Boston, MA. at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Now, regulators are much more knowledgeable about the risks of inhaling asbestos, and health and safety statutes ensure the well-being of people who work with or near this material. Even up to the late 1900s, though, laborers all too often were forced to toil in areas in which air filled with asbestos dust was unfiltered; in most cases, the risks of asbestos exposure were little understood. In addition, workers carried asbestos particles home with them in their clothes and hair when showers were not offered at the company; the consequence of this was that this carcinogen also endangered wives and husbands of those who worked around asbestos.

Asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma can take many years to manifest, and their symptoms can be difficult to distinguish from those of less serious conditions, so those who worked at these jobsites at any time in the past, as well as family members of such workers, should talk with their medical care providers about their history of contact with asbestos.

Sources

Bowker, Michael. Fatal Deception. (New York: Touchstone, 2003)

Cabrera-Santiago, Manuel et al. “Prevalence of Asbestos-Related Disease Among Electrical Power Generation Workers in Puerto Rico.” Presentation at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, 2007.