Baldwin, MOFor twenty years Johnny worked at a factory that produced cans. He was exposed to asbestos the entire time he worked there. Four years ago he became seriously ill. In October 2007 he died with severe respiratory problems very likely caused by asbestos.
"My husband lost his vision and had to quit his job," his wife Tanya said. "But his lungs were bad before he left the company. He worked just feet away from ovens that were insulated with asbestos. But there was asbestos insulation everywhere in the area where he worked. He ran the printing presses- which were located near the ovens."
But it wasn't until after Johnny left the company that the signs of asbestosis started to manifest. "Four years ago he went to a pulmonary doctor because he just couldn't breathe," Tanya said. "He told us that Johnny was suffering from allergies - that everyone in the area was suffering from allergies – and that we shouldn't worry – and sent us home.
So I took my husband him home but he had tremendous difficulty breathing all that night. I took him back to the primary care doctor first thing the next morning, and he put him oxygen, put him in a wheelchair and told me my husband was going to die within a couple of weeks. We were completely shocked. Especially having been told it was allergies the day before."
But Johnny didn't die immediately. "He lived longer because I kept looking information up on the Internet, and I took care of him," Tanya said. "I was by his side every day. My husband was on oxygen, and it he got so bad towards the end that we had to inject something into the oxygen to make it stronger. He went to hospital about 15 times over the last two to three years. He just couldn't breathe.
A lot of the men that worked at the plant were sick. They used to meet once a month, because they were sick and decided to get tested for asbestosis."
But the company didn't care, and they had a reputation for not caring. "At one point the company received complaints from the local residents about the noise coming out of the factory. So they closed all the windows – there was no air coming in. That lasted for about a week. The Environmental Protection Agency used to do sporadic checks on the factory, but nothing ever came of it."
It wasn't until the 1980s that the dangers of asbestos exposure became widely known, and that it could cause lung cancer and mesothelioma – a rare type of cancer.
Consequently, the EPA banned asbestos in most products in 1989, a decision that was 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.
"My husband needed special oxygen in the years before he died," Tanya said. "He never got a nickel for his suffering and pain. In fact, the insurance company continued to charge us premiums for his care even after he had passed. I 'm glad to tell my husband's story, because he was treated so badly. It just shouldn't happen to anyone else."