Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in Camden

New York Shipbuilding, despite its name, operated in Camden from the early 1900s until the late 1960s. During the Second World War it was among the country's busiest shipyards, building cruisers, aircraft carriers and other vessels around the clock. Ship construction required extensive boiler, turbine and pipe insulation, and asbestos was the standard material. Insulators, pipefitters, welders and electricians worked shoulder to shoulder in enclosed spaces, spreading dust through the hull. Workers who swept up or moved materials were exposed as well, and dusty clothing went home to families across Camden's neighborhoods.

Camden sat at the heart of an industrial river corridor. Workers commuted to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, to refineries on both banks of the Delaware and to local factories whose boilers and steam systems were insulated with asbestos. When the shipyard closed, many former employees found work at those other sites, extending their exposure. Older rowhouses and public buildings in Camden also contained asbestos materials, which renovation and demolition work later disturbed. For many South Jersey families, the question is not whether a relative worked around asbestos, but at how many different places.