Comments on: Battleships and Asbestos http://conflicthealth.com/battleships-and-asbestos/ Defending Health Against Persecution, Violence, And Armed Conflict Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:29:49 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Theodore http://conflicthealth.com/battleships-and-asbestos/comment-page-1/#comment-461 Theodore Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:30:30 +0000 http://warandhealth.com/battleships-and-asbestos/#comment-461 The site asbestos.com (Allen Dutton's employer) is a for profit site that works to generate cases for asbestos lawyers. The image and resulting post are nothing more than advertising potential plaintiffs. The site asbestos.com (Allen Dutton’s employer) is a for profit site that works to generate cases for asbestos lawyers. The image and resulting post are nothing more than advertising potential plaintiffs.

]]> By: Christopher Albon http://conflicthealth.com/battleships-and-asbestos/comment-page-1/#comment-460 Christopher Albon Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:24:29 +0000 http://warandhealth.com/battleships-and-asbestos/#comment-460 You are right TEJ. That is why I wanted to find the original source. I am unsure if the graphic shows presence of asbestos, or is from a study of exposure. The graphic's title "Levels of Risk for Asbestos Exposure" makes me think it is the former. Also, the graphic (if it is really from an Iowa-class) is certainly not representative of the modern Navy. Still, the graphic is interesting. You are right TEJ. That is why I wanted to find the original source. I am unsure if the graphic shows presence of asbestos, or is from a study of exposure. The graphic’s title “Levels of Risk for Asbestos Exposure” makes me think it is the former. Also, the graphic (if it is really from an Iowa-class) is certainly not representative of the modern Navy.

Still, the graphic is interesting.

]]> By: TEJ http://conflicthealth.com/battleships-and-asbestos/comment-page-1/#comment-459 TEJ Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:17:20 +0000 http://warandhealth.com/battleships-and-asbestos/#comment-459 Disregarding that this 65 year-old ship is hardly representative of the modern Navy (or even the often-vintage USCG), I must take exception to the statement that this is a figure ". . . depicting the level of asbestos exposure by compartment. . . ." Presence of a material simply does not mean exposure. The asbestos must get airborne and into someones lungs, perhaps settling and resuspending in the interim. The pipe lagging in the passageway will get knocked around alot and make dust, but the cable trays above your work center and the transite panels next to your rack aren't going to bother you unless you punch holes in them. Then again, I'm not even going to start discussing vibration. Certainly there is asbestos still in use in the military, and certainly all exposures are not tracked. That being said, all the services have modern occupational medical monitoring programs and hazmat inventory systems to try to stem this tide of disease. With direct experience in these programs I can tell you many claims of asbestos exposure involve (1) serving near intact encapsulated asbestos containing material and (2) exposure to fiberglass, gypsum, and other non-asbestos materials. There is a huge body of work available on asbestos exposure estimation and risk assesssment, and much nuance which simply cannot be captured in a 300 word article. Disregarding that this 65 year-old ship is hardly representative of the modern Navy (or even the often-vintage USCG), I must take exception to the statement that this is a figure “. . . depicting the level of asbestos exposure by compartment. . . .” Presence of a material simply does not mean exposure. The asbestos must get airborne and into someones lungs, perhaps settling and resuspending in the interim. The pipe lagging in the passageway will get knocked around alot and make dust, but the cable trays above your work center and the transite panels next to your rack aren’t going to bother you unless you punch holes in them. Then again, I’m not even going to start discussing vibration.

Certainly there is asbestos still in use in the military, and certainly all exposures are not tracked. That being said, all the services have modern occupational medical monitoring programs and hazmat inventory systems to try to stem this tide of disease. With direct experience in these programs I can tell you many claims of asbestos exposure involve (1) serving near intact encapsulated asbestos containing material and (2) exposure to fiberglass, gypsum, and other non-asbestos materials.

There is a huge body of work available on asbestos exposure estimation and risk assesssment, and much nuance which simply cannot be captured in a 300 word article.

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