He is kind
enough to sit for an interview at the uncomfortable kitchen table. He is eager
to talk on the subject. His breathing is rapid and irregular. When he speaks,
E. Wayne McKenzie is able to articulate normally. Only with a tight ear can one
hear the breaths taken between the words. When asked if he knows what the topic
of conversation will be, he replies, "Asbestos. Terrible stuff." From
1966 to 1996 Wayne worked for Argonne National Laboratory-West as a maintenance
specialist. One of his responsibilities under this pay grade was to insulate
the pipes that carried steam in excess of 600 degrees Fahrenheit to heat the
facilities. Throughout his career he insulated 42 buildings, including work on
the EBR-1 research reactor in the Idaho desert. Asbestos is little understood,
its effects are frightening, and the health issues are every bit as bad and
unexpected as the experts claim.
Wayne
opens by describing what the substance is. He holds his fingers together with
only a slight part two millimeters wide and says, “It’s like needles. They are
fibers. Not a powder. Fibers. They float in the air. The slightest movement of
air flow and they . . .” he lifts his hands into the air to illustrate, “You
can breathe them and not even know it. This stuff floats in the air and you
can’t even see it. If you were in the dark and got some of it airborne and
shined a light through the air you could see it. But in daylight; forget it.”
The fibers are the result of
crushing the minerals into a powder-like substance. “Asbestos includes
chrysotile, amosite,crocidolite, tremolite asbestos, anthophyllite asbestos,
actinolite asbestos, and any of these materials that have been chemically
treated and/or altered" (www.osha.gov, 2012). Asbestos, unlike many
industrial materials, is mined. “[This] group of minerals [occur] naturally in
the environment as bundles of fibers that can be separated into thin, durable
threads. These fibers are resistant to heat, fire, and chemicals and do not
conduct electricity" (National Cancer Institute, 2012). The maintenance
specialist at Argonne mixed the asbestos powder with water, making a kind of
mud or paste that he spread over a surface to insulate it. The substance dried
solid and would hold up if an adult walked on the piping. Asbestos is harmless
in this inert form.
In its processed form, as a
powder, the substance is harmful. In its processed state the asbestos escapes
into the air and is inhaled, alighting onto surfaces, and settling into hair
and clothing. Once inhaled here is no way for the fibers to be processed
through the system. Instead they embed after inhalation. Lightly barbed, the
fibers dig through the membrane of the air sacs to the pleural, or lung
coating. There the fibers combine like strata to form a hard layer. The
condition Wayne suffers is pleural thickening of the lungs. His lungs, in
essence, are encased in a layer of asbestos rock. “I can’t take deep breath,”
he says.
Asbestos had been extracted from
the earth since the late 1800s. During World War II, however, the commercial
use of asbestos grew. Since then asbestos has been utilized for insulation,
roofing, brake shoes, ceiling and floor tiles, adhesives, paints, and coatings
to name a few. The industry was huge, the applications were extensive, and the
cash flow was healthy.
When asked when the industry
became aware of the issue Wayne replied, “Suspicions arose around 1975.” Like
similar stories throughout history the laborers became aware of a problem, in
this case breathing issues, and while immersed in the cause the medical
professionals began looking into it. For 11 more years Wayne went to work
without any special clothing, equipment, or breathing masks. Then, on June 17th,
1986 OSHA established the final amendment to the occupational exposure to
asbestos standard 29 CFR 1910.1001. This standard clarified regulations for the
respirators, and protective coverings necessary to interact, and work with
asbestos. Unfortunately, Wayne had been working with minimal protection for 20
years. In the years leading up to 1986 he was feeling the effects.
Even with new safety regulations
Wayne knew one important thing, “At that time all the pipe insulation that you
could even buy at the manufacturers had asbestos in them. [It] had to have
asbestos in them.” Asbestos production is still active, and utilized in
production. In 2002, however, chrysotile (white asbestos) mining had ceased in
the United States (Kogel, Trivedi, Barker, Krukowski, 2006).
After he had laid out his history,
Wayne answered a difficult question with firmness. The question was, “If you
were in their position, if you were making all that money, but you knew how
dangerous [asbestos] was, what would you do?”
“Fiberglass.” No hesitation. In
1966 fiberglass was a safe, albeit less sturdy, alternative to asbestos. There
are safe alternatives to asbestos available today in the form of ductile-iron,
or polyvinyl-chloride pipe cement (Kogel,
Trivedi, Barker, Krukowski, 2006). With safe and sturdy alternatives in
place the global demand for asbestos has declined steadily, except in China,
because of strong opposition to the mineral.
An honest man sits at the kitchen
table with rocks for lungs. He is one of thousands affected by exposure to
asbestos. This is a substance that causes diseases; the same way poisons cause
death. The link between asbestos and lung disease is absolute. “The three types
of asbestos-related lung disease are scarring (asbestosis), non-cancerous disease
of the tissue of the lining of the surface of the lung (pleural disease), and
lung cancer (of the lungs or their outer lining tissue [mesothelioma])"
(www.medicinenet.com, 2012). Unlike most toxins, asbestos has its own version
of cancer. Asbestos is the only known cause for malignant mesothelioma. This progressive
cancer affects the pleura or the peritoneum, the lining of the lung or the
abdomen.
When asked how he was affected
when he learned the truth about asbestos Wayne replied, “I was upset about it.”
He leaned forward, “But what could I do about it?” He was sincere. He dismissed
the question about a lawsuit like a man who truly experienced forgiveness. It
is inspiring and uplifting. As the interview reaches an end Wayne recounts how
many people he worked with at Argonne. With a wistful look in his watery, blue
eyes he said, “Seven. There were seven of us, and six of them are dead. [All]
from breathing problems.” He sits back and smiles, “I still have good lungs,
yet.” Among his peers he is literally the last man standing.
When E. Wayne McKenzie sat at that
kitchen table he was the only man in town who was a known victim of asbestos.
The public knows it is harmful, but the awareness is minimal. Even the health
consequences are not entirely clear to them. The families suffering from the
conditions of asbestos afflictions know the deadly effects. Their awareness is
peaked while the rest of us can only speculate at the lawsuit ads and the talk.
Asbestos is first a mineral that, when processed, becomes a powder of fine
fibers whose insulative properties are extremely valuable, particularly
in post World War II industry. The effects were little understood until the
mid-1980s, and by then, for thousands, the hazards were already blossoming.
Like Wayne many suffer debilitating, signature afflictions that kill 9900
people per year (www.esg.org, 2012). Still the survivors, if that is what they
can be called, represent the best in humanity. With rocks for lungs their
spirit is such that the last men standing will smile and say, “I have good
lungs, yet.”
Citations
Kogel, J. E., Trivedi, N. C.,
& Barker, J. M., Krukowski, S.T., (2006). Industrial
Minerals & Rocks: Commodities, Markets, and Uses (6th ed.). Littleton, Colorado:
Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME).
http://www.cancer.gov. (2012). Retrieved
from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/asbestos
http://www.ewg.org. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.ewg.org/sites/asbestos/facts/fact1.php
http://www.medicinenet.com.
(2012). Retrieved from http://www.medicinenet.com/asbestos-related_disorders/article.htm
http://www.osha.gov. (1994). Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=13404
http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_AsbestosFacts/asbestos-factsheet.pdf.
(2002). Retrieved fromhttp://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_AsbestosFacts/asbestos-factsheet.pdf
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