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is asbestos still being used today? my mom keeps asking where she got exposed

Family · · 2,898 views
So my mom was diagnosed with meso back in August and one of the first things she asked me was like, is this stuff even still legal? Are people still getting exposed to it right now? And honestly I didn't have a good answer for her.

I know her exposure was probably decades ago when she worked in that office building in downtown Phoenix back in the 70s, but it got me thinking about whether asbestos is actually banned or if companies are still using it somewhere.

Has anyone looked into this? Like is it completely gone or is there still asbestos in products people are buying today? I feel like I should know this stuff to answer her questions but I'm already juggling my teaching job and being here to help with her appointments and honestly my brain is kind of fried most days.

Also if anyone knows like a simple way to explain to her that this wasn't her fault and she couldn't have known back then, I'm listening. She keeps saying she should have noticed something and it's breaking my heart because there's no way she could have known.

9 Replies

Family
Oh honey, I hear you on the brain being fried. Between Joe's appointments and everything else I'm managing, some days I can barely remember what day it is.

So here's what we found out when we were trying to piece together where Joe got exposed. Asbestos isn't completely banned in the US even now, which honestly shocked me when I learned it. There are still some products that can contain it, but the big exposures now are mainly from people working with old building materials or doing renovation work. Your mom's exposure back in the 70s in that office building? That was peak asbestos use before anyone really understood how dangerous it was. Insulation, ceiling tiles, floor tiles, pipe wrapping... it was everywhere and nobody was talking about it.

What really helped me explain it to Joe was just being real with him. I said "you know how we didn't know cigarettes were bad until way later? Same thing. You went to work, you did your job, you had no reason to think the building itself was poisoning you." He was also blaming himself at first and it took a little while but he finally accepted that there's no way he could have known. Maybe that lands differently coming from you than from me since I'm his wife and I'm kind of required to be supportive, but it's the truth.

The guilt piece is so real though. We spent a lot of time on that before we could move forward into the acceptance part. How is your mom doing with everything otherwise?
Family
Oh man, I feel this so hard. Joe kept asking the same questions when we first got his diagnosis back in September and I had to do a lot of googling to actually answer him instead of just saying "I don't know honey."

So here's what I found out. Asbestos isn't completely banned in the US, which is wild. Like certain products can still have it in them if companies meet certain conditions. But the big exposures, the ones causing mesothelioma now, those are almost always from decades ago. Your mom's office building exposure in the 70s, that tracks with what we're seeing. Most of the people getting diagnosed now worked with it back when nobody really understood how dangerous it was.

The guilt thing though... that one I really understand. I had to sit Joe down and basically use my teacher voice on him, you know? I said "You didn't know asbestos was there because companies didn't tell people. That's not a personal failure, that's a failure of the companies and the government." He still has moments where he wishes he'd noticed something but at least now when he goes there I can redirect him.

One thing that helped us was getting information from his oncologist at Moffitt about the actual timeline of when asbestos dangers became public knowledge. Seeing dates and facts made it feel less like a mystery and more like "oh, this was literally impossible to know in 1973." Your mom's doctors might have similar resources.

You're doing a lot right now with work and appointments. How are you holding up with all of it?
Medical ✓ Expert Response
This is such a common question and the answer genuinely surprises most people. The US has never fully banned asbestos. There was a near-total ban attempted by the EPA in 1989 but it was overturned in court two years later. So right now in 2024 certain products can still legally contain up to 1% asbestos, and the US actually imported about 300 metric tons of it as recently as 2022, mostly for chlorine production. Most other developed countries banned it decades ago.

For your mom's situation specifically, the 1970s office building exposure is extremely well documented in the literature. The NIOSH studies going back to the 80s showed that building occupants, not just construction workers, accumulated meaningful exposure just from deteriorating insulation and ceiling tiles. She was not doing anything unusual or risky. She was just going to work.

And this is the part I want you to tell her: asbestos fibers are invisible to the naked eye. There was no smell, no warning, nothing that would have triggered any alarm. The latency period (the time between exposure and diagnosis) runs anywhere from 20 to 50 years, which is exactly why she's seeing symptoms now from something that happened in Phoenix decades ago. She could not have known. Nobody in that building knew.

Please talk to her oncologist about connecting with a patient advocate or social worker because the guilt piece is genuinely common and genuinely worth addressing directly with someone who has time to sit with her on it.
2 found this helpful
Family
oh wow, so it's not even fully banned? that actually makes me feel a little better about answering mom's question because I can tell her it wasn't some obvious thing she missed. like the government didn't even ban it properly so how was she supposed to know back in the 70s? I think I'll use that when she starts blaming herself again, which is like every other day. thanks for breaking that down so clearly because honestly I've been too exhausted to do the research myself.
Medical ✓ Expert Response
So to answer your mom's question directly, no, asbestos is not fully banned in the US. I know that surprises most people. The EPA actually tried to ban it in 1989 and got overturned in court two years later, and we've been in this weird in-between place ever since. Certain products are prohibited but chlorine plants were still allowed to import chrysotile asbestos as recently as 2022. The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization has been tracking imports for years and the numbers are not zero.

But here's what matters most for your mom's situation. The latency period for mesothelioma, meaning the time between first exposure and diagnosis, is typically 20 to 50 years. So her Phoenix office building in the 70s fits the timeline almost perfectly. Buildings from that era used asbestos in floor tiles, ceiling insulation, pipe wrapping, all of it. She was breathing air in a building that was constructed to code. There was nothing to notice.

I've sat with patients in my office at the cancer center and watched them go through exactly what your mom is doing, this backward search for a mistake they made. The research is really clear that occupational and secondary exposures in that era were widespread and invisible. She had no way to know.

Please do talk to her oncologist about connecting with a patient advocate or social worker on the team. That guilt piece is real and it deserves real support, not just reassurance from people who love her.
2 found this helpful
Veteran
Yeah the guilt thing is rough, my wife went through the same deal after her diagnosis. Truth is asbestos was everywhere back then and nobody really knew what it could do, that's on the companies that hid it, not on her.
Family
God thank you for saying that, because I've been trying to tell her the same thing but hearing it from someone who actually gets it might help more than me repeating myself. The part about the companies hiding it really does hit different when you say it that way. I'm gonna share your message with her if that's okay, she needs to hear from people who understand instead of just her worried daughter telling her it's not her fault.
Medical ✓ Expert Response
This is such a common question and honestly the answer surprises most people. Asbestos is not fully banned in the United States. I know that sounds almost impossible to believe in 2024 but it's true. The EPA tried to ban it in 1989 and that ban was largely overturned by a federal court in 1991. There's been recent progress, the EPA finalized a rule in March 2024 banning chrysotile asbestos (the most commonly used form) in certain products, but legacy asbestos already in buildings from decades ago is a completely separate issue and remains in place.

Your mom's Phoenix office building in the 70s is actually a very classic exposure scenario. Asbestos was used heavily in commercial construction through the late 70s, ceiling tiles, floor tiles, pipe insulation, fireproofing spray. She would have had no way to know. The fibers are invisible. There's no smell. The NIOSH data on this is pretty sobering, occupational exposure from just being present in these buildings was documented as a real risk even for people who weren't doing any construction work.

And the latency period (the time between exposure and diagnosis) is typically 20 to 50 years. So someone exposed in 1975 getting diagnosed now is actually exactly what the epidemiology (the study of disease patterns) predicts. She couldn't have noticed anything because there was nothing to notice at the time.

Please do talk to her oncologist about connecting with a social worker. The guilt piece you're describing is genuinely hard and there are people who specialize in exactly this.
2 found this helpful
Patient
The asbestos situation is frustrating because it's not a clean yes or no answer. In the US it's not completely banned, which is what shocked me when I started researching this after my diagnosis. The EPA banned certain products back in the late 70s and 80s but there are still loopholes. Some asbestos-containing products are still manufactured and imported, though in much smaller quantities than decades ago. I read a report from 2023 that said around 300 tons are still used annually in things like brake pads and certain industrial gaskets, so it's not gone.

But here's what matters for your mom: she couldn't have known. I worked at the Johns-Manville plant in Cleveland from 1978 to 1985 and we didn't get proper warnings until the mid-80s. Before that, asbestos was considered safe by most people. It was everywhere in building materials and nobody talked about the risks. The company knew but workers didn't. I found the actual training materials from my employment records a few months ago and they literally said nothing about asbestos hazards. Nothing. So when she tells herself she should have noticed something, she's being unfair to herself.

The guilt piece is real though and it doesn't go away just because logically you know better. I've been in my symptom journal noting when the guilt thoughts hit and honestly talking to a therapist who specializes in cancer patients has helped more than I expected. There's no simple explanation that will make her stop blaming herself but knowing the timeline of when warnings actually came out can help a little bit.

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