So I was talking to some of the parents from my old school last month and one of them works in construction and when I mentioned Joe's diagnosis he just... looked at me and said 'yeah that stuff's still out there.' That got me thinking.
I taught high school science for 32 years before I retired and we covered asbestos in the environmental unit but I always thought it was mostly phased out in the 80s and 90s. Apparently not?
I started looking into it because honestly I was angry. Like, how is this still a thing in 2026. If it's so dangerous why are people still getting exposed. One of my former colleagues mentioned her nephew works in HVAC repair and he has to deal with it in old buildings all the time.
I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether we should be warning people or if it's really not that common anymore. Because when Joe got diagnosed it felt like something from the past, you know? Like some 1970s factory worker problem. But now I'm wondering if people working today are actually at risk.
Does anyone else have experience with this? Are you guys still seeing new exposures happening or is it mostly people who were exposed decades ago like Joe was?