Asbestos lingers in aging college and university buildings across the United States. Were you exposed?
Michael “Mickey” Robb, Esquire
Partner, Bailey & Glasser, LLP
Each day, millions of students, faculty, and staff study and work in buildings on college and university campuses, many of them unknowingly being exposed to cancer-causing asbestos.
After someone is exposed to asbestos, it can take several decades before a malignancy develops. The long delay between one’s exposure to asbestos and the onset of cancer, known as the latency period, means most victims are unaware their lung cancer or mesothelioma may have been caused by asbestos exposures they sustained decades earlier.
Could your cancer have been caused by the asbestos that lingers in the college or university you attended or worked in years ago?
Asbestos-containing building materials (such as ceiling spray, floor tile, ceiling tile, and pipe insulation) were commonly installed in college dorm rooms and classroom buildings constructed from the 1940s through the early 1980s. Many of these buildings are still in use today and, sadly, these cancer-causing materials remain in place to this day. With time, fibers are shed from these products and are scattered throughout buildings via heating and cooling ducts, inevitably being inhaled by people in the building.
A management approach that has allowed exposures
Asbestos contamination in buildings was once thought to be mostly a problem found in blue-collar industrial settings, such as steel mills, chemical plants, and factories. A multi-year investigation, however, has uncovered widespread asbestos contamination in aging college and university structures across America. This is because higher education institutions employ an “in-place” management approach when it comes to asbestos contamination, which means asbestos is handled or removed only before renovations, demolitions, or when the material could be disturbed or damaged. Any other asbestos present in non-renovated areas, or if it appears to be undamaged, is typically allowed to remain in place.
It is this “in-place” approach that has allowed millions of people to be exposed to asbestos in the United States. Asbestos-related diseases like lung cancer and mesothelioma are developing in individuals whose only known exposures to asbestos were during their time studying or working inside of contaminated college and university buildings. This hazard must be completely eliminated.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma and attended or worked inside any American college or university, it is critical to act quickly. You need a team of attorneys with the skills, knowledge, experience, and unrelenting passion to help you secure the justice and compensation you and your family deserve.
Call attorney Michael “Mickey” Robb at the law firm of Bailey & Glasser, LLP for a free consultation.
College should not cause cancer.
This article has been paid for by Bailey & Glasser, LLP.
