Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in Buffalo

For much of the twentieth century, the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna was one of the largest steelworks in the world, and it anchored an industrial economy that stretched from South Buffalo to Niagara Falls. Steelmaking relied on heat protection, and asbestos was used in furnace work, protective clothing and insulated steam systems. The plant's maintenance departments kept bricklayers, boilermakers and pipefitters busy around those materials year after year. Steelworkers who never handled insulation still worked near relining jobs and breathed the dust those jobs created, and many brought it home on their clothes.

Beyond the steel plant, Buffalo was home to automotive and engine plants, grain elevators, rail yards and power stations such as the Huntley plant in Tonawanda. Insulated boilers and turbines, brake and clutch components, and building materials in factories and older homes all contained asbestos. Workers in the region often moved between these employers as layoffs and hiring rose and fell. As plants closed in the 1970s and 1980s, demolition added another round of exposure for local workers. The result is a regional caseload where one person's work history may include a steel plant, an auto plant and several construction jobs.