Letter to the Editor: Missing trail of asbestos-related lung cancer

Why workers and veterans in northwest Ohio need lifetime exposure records

Northwest Ohio has been a crossroads of American industry where generations of skilled workers fueled energy generation, automotive manufacturing, transportation, logistics and distribution, and defense. Unfortunately, for a large number of this workforce, among the most drastic impacts of their dedication is measured not by what they built, repaired, or produced, but by diseases that may not appear long after the job is done. And asbestos-related lung cancer is among the clearest examples.

Unlike other workplace injuries that can be recognized immediately, this illness—and several more stemming from frequent exposure to the toxic mineral—often remain undetected for up to four decades. As such, when symptoms eventually emerge, establishments may have closed, ownership may have changed, and the records documenting hazardous conditions may have faded.

Veterans face an even greater challenge, as many were exposed during military service before continuing into high-risk civilian careers. Consequently, that mismatch exposes a fundamental flaw in occupational health policy, which northwest Ohio—and the entire country—can no longer afford to overlook. 

Northwest Ohio’s industrial success left an enduring asbestos burden

For much of the 20th century, the same industries that propelled northwest Ohio’s prosperity also relied on one component that was once considered a miracle material: asbestos. Praised for its resistance to heat, fire, and corrosion, asbestos was woven into factories, power plants, rail equipment, commercial buildings, military facilities, and myriad other industrial products—exposing countless workers in the region.

It took decades before the health hazards of asbestos became widely recognized. Once inhaled, asbestos fibers can embed deep within the lungs, where they may cause debilitating illnesses such as lung cancer. And to this day, the consequences of this issue continue to unfold and impact numerous Buckeyes—including those residing in the northwest region.

An interactive map revealed that just between 1999 and 2017, Ohio witnessed nearly 12,700 residents succumb to asbestos-related diseases, with over 9,400 lung cancer deaths. Lucas County alone—home to the state’s fourth-largest city, Toledo—logged roughly 640 cases, which signifies how this problem can be illustrating the substantial impact, especially for major urban centers. 

More concerning, many of northwest Ohio’s more than 86,100 veterans may face an even greater risk because their asbestos exposure often spanned both military service and civilian employment. Many veterans were first exposed to asbestos during their service in military installations like the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, approximately 155 miles from Toledo. And rather than ending with discharge, their exposure may have accumulated across multiple workplaces over the course of a lifetime, making long-term occupational records especially important decades later. 

However, this is not a challenge unique to workers and veterans in northwest Ohio. Across the country, an estimated 27 million American workers were occupationally exposed to asbestos from 1940 to 1979, and the consequences continue to surface decades later. Consistent with this, one study reported deaths from occupational asbestos-related diseases increased by 20.2 percent between 1990 and 2019—emphasizing that the toxic mineral remains an ongoing public health concern and not just a relic of the nation’s industrial past.

Building asbestos exposure records that last as long as the risk

Northwest Ohio’s experience illustrates a challenge that extends well beyond one region or one generation. Asbestos-related lung cancer often emerges decades after exposure, yet the records needed to trace where and when that exposure occurred are still treated largely as temporary employment documents—and not long-term public health resources. And that disconnect leaves workers, veterans, physicians, researchers, and even authorities struggling to reconstruct occupational histories long after the evidence has been fragmented.

For veterans, on the one hand, this challenge has gained greater attention as the nation has begun confronting the long-term consequences of toxic exposures connected to military service. In fact, the Honoring Our PACT Act—enacted in 2022—marked a significant expansion of federal recognition and support for veterans affected by hazardous substances. Yet even with this effort, preserving accurate exposure histories that can connect individuals to the risks they encountered remains a problem.

Addressing that gap will require rethinking how occupational exposure is documented throughout a person’s working life. Whether through stronger record-retention requirements, a secure lifetime exposure registry, improved coordination between military and civilian employment records, or another practical approach, the objective should remain the same—ensuring that exposure histories endure for as long as the diseases they help explain.

Such records could strengthen medical evaluations, improve occupational health research, support public health surveillance, and provide workers with a clearer understanding of the risks they may have faced over decades of employment. After all, the workforce in northwest Ohio—and the country—has spent generations building industries that powered the nation. The least the nation can do in return is ensure that the history of hazardous workplace exposures is preserved long enough to protect the people who helped build it.