Kansas Asbestos Exposure

Agriculture is Kansas' primary industry, and agricultural workers are not known suffer from asbestos disease in any significant numbers. During the last twenty years of the 20th Century, deaths from asbestos in the state of Kansas numbered 360 out of a general population averaging 2.5 million. Interestingly, two-thirds of these died due to mesothelioma rather than asbestosis.

Kansas Cities where Asbestos Exposure Occurred

Provided below is a list of cities in the state of Kansas where asbestos jobsites are known to have been located. If you worked at any of these companies and/or jobsites in Kansas there is a possibility that you may have been exposed to harmful asbestos which is known to cause mesothelioma. Click on any link to view a complete list of jobsites in that city.

Asbestos Sites

According to the Environmental Working Group, the three most serious asbestos exposure sites:

• Farmland Industries
• Frontier Oil
• Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Company

The first of these is a chemical plant, the primary product of which is ammonia. Here, the most likely form of asbestos was crocidolite, or “blue” asbestos, which is highly resistant to caustic chemicals. In 2004, the plant underwent a major asbestos abatement program under the supervision of the state Department of Health.

Statistics

As is the case in the rest of the nation, most asbestos disease cases were found in the more urbanized regions of the state, particularly the Topeka area. Most of these were patients suffering from mesothelioma, which is rarely diagnosed at mesothelioma clinics in its earliest stages when it is actually treatable. Most cases of non-malignant asbestosis (a far more common disease) were found in Butler, Leavenworth and Riley Counties.

Natural Asbestos Sources

Kansas is far from the geologically more active Rockies or complex geology of the Appalachian Range. However, there are three locations in the eastern part of the state in which natural deposits of serpentine, a source of chrysotile asbestos, can be found. Two of these sites are located approximately 35 miles northwest of Topeka near a group of small farming towns located between U.S. Highways 77 and 75. The third is near the community of Parsons in southeastern Kansas, approximately 20 miles north of the Oklahoma state line. If you believe you have been negligently exposed to asbestos you should contact a mesothelioma lawyer.

Other Kansas Jobsites Where Asbestos Exposure Occurred

If someone you know has ever worked at one of the Jobsites listed below, they may have been exposed to high levels of asbestos. Asbestos exposure at any one of these Jobsites could put them at risk for developing one of the following asbestos related diseases: malignant mesothelioma (a terminal cancer), asbestos related lung cancer, asbestosis or pleural mesothelioma.

Sources

Evans, David and Greg Johnstone. "Asbestos Use Companies and Locations in Kansas." All About Malignant Mesothelioma, September 2005.
http://www.allaboutmalignantmesothelioma.com/asbestos-use-locations-kansas.htm (accessed 23 August 2010).

Geological Research, Analyses and Services Programs. "Naturally Occurring Asbestos Locations in the Contiguous U.S. and Alaska." Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 25 May 2007.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/noa/usamap.pdf (accessed 23 August 2010).

Kansas Department of Health and Environment. "Asbestos Abatement Underway at Farmland Industries in Lawrence." News release, 30 July 2004.