News Coverage
Asbestos Hasn't Plagued Polk County, Officials Say
Published March 4, 2004
LAKELAND -- Florida may rank high with asbestos-related deaths, but Polk County officials say it hasn't been a major problem here.
The Environmental Working Group's asbestos report lists Polk County as 14th in Florida for deaths from asbestosis and mesothelioma, two diseases directly linked to asbestos exposure.
Asbestos was discovered in 1910 and widely used as a fire-resistant insulating material in construction from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Polk County used the material as much as any other county in the nation, said Wesley Nall, a health physicist specializing in radiological health and indoor air quality for the Department of Health.
But Dr. Daniel Haight, director of Polk's Health Department, said he doesn't recall any major asbestos situation in the county.
Based on government statistics, from 1979 to 2001, the environmental group reports that between 81 and 127 people in Polk died from asbestos exposure -- 24 from asbestosis and 51 to 105 from mesothelioma. Statewide, at least 3,025 people died from exposure, the report said.
The low number on the death range reflects data from death certificates while the high number is an estimate of underreporting due to inconsistent record keeping nationally until the late 1990's.
The estimate is fairly accurate, said Polk's chief medical examiner, Dr. Stephen Nelson. The medical examiner is required to examine bodies with work-related deaths, such as asbestosis or metholioma. Nelson said his office sees about two to four asbestos-related deaths every year.
Typically, the office is either tipped off by a lawyer regarding a death or a red flag is raised by the death certificate. Red flags include specific buzz words or asbestos-related diseases, Nelson said. If a law firm contacts Nelson, many times it asks for pieces of lung for further analysis. One test that determines asbestos contamination burns the lung down to ashes. The ash is then inspected for strands of asbestos, which do not burn nor disintegrate in the body, Nelson said.
In these cases, he may not hear the results for years, he said.
The report said 7,002 people have sought legal remedies and compensation for asbestos exposure. It did not specifically mention any in Polk County.
Asbestos deaths are sometimes unrecognized, either mislabeled as a type of lung cancer or a lung disease associated with smoking.
The majority of Polks deaths were probably from people who retired here from a northern, industrial state, Haight said. Nall's office answers questions and guides building owners who want to contain or remove asbestos. Now he receives just a few asbestos calls every year, he said.