Mississippi asbestos exposure by county and industry
If you worked at a power plant, oil refinery, shipyard, or in construction and maintenance in Mississippi, asbestos exposure may have been a part of your job. The Magnolia State is known for many things—being America's number one source of catfish, the music of the Delta, Elvis Presley—but one disturbing fact about Mississippi is its high rates of asbestosis, the lung disease caused by heavy, long term asbestos inhalation.
In a national survey of the counties with the highest mortality rates for asbestosis, three of the top ten counties were in Mississippi. From the table “Asbestosis: Counties with highest age-adjusted mortality rates (per million population), U.S. residents age 15 and over, 1985-1999,” Mississippi showed up on the list six times:
3rd: Jackson County Mississippi (Number of deaths: 110)
5th: George County Mississippi (Number of deaths: 17)
10th: Greene County Mississippi (Number of deaths: 7)
18th: Jones County Mississippi (Number of deaths: 36)
40th: Jasper County Mississippi (Number of deaths: 6)
44th: Wayne County Mississippi (Number of deaths: 5)
(http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2008-143/pdfs/2008-143a-viii.pdf)
When you consider that Mississippi is not as densely populated as New Jersey or California, the numbers are more disturbing. Weitz & Luxenberg provide this information in the hopes that anyone in Mississippi suffering from an asbestos-related disease—mesothelioma, asbestosis, or another—will explore his or her legal options.
For farmers in Mississippi, asbestos exposure is unlikely
If you take part, or took part, in Mississippi’s number one industry—agriculture—your chances of asbestos exposure while on the job are slim. The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce reports that “agriculture employs 17% of the state’s workforce either directly or indirectly. Agriculture in Mississippi is a 6.88 billion-dollar industry. There are approximately 42,300 farms in the state covering 11 million acres.”
http://www.mdac.state.ms.us/n_library/misc/ag_overview.html
If you worked in a shipyard or oil refinery in Mississippi, asbestos exposure was likely
From Ingalls Shipbuilding to the Naval Station at Pascagoula, shipyards in Mississippi shared the same danger every shipyard in the 20th century faced: asbestos exposure. Many jobs at shipyards involved asbestos exposure, so whether you were a pipefitter, an electrician, a welder, a maintenance man, or one of the many other jobs at a shipyard, if you worked in a shipyard prior to the 1970s, it is likely that you were exposed to asbestos.
The national mesothelioma mortality rate by occupation and Mississippi asbestos exposure: construction workers and shipbuilders at risk
The top five industries listed among people whose cause of death was mesothelioma, according to a national study in 1999, were
1. Ship and boat building and repairing
2. Industrial and miscellaneous chemicals
3. Petroleum refining
4. Electric light and power
5. Construction
(http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2008-143/pdfs/2008-143a-viii.pdf)
Among those who had asbestosis at the time of their death, the most frequently recorded industries listed on death certificates were
1. Construction
2. Ship and boat building and repairing
3. Industrial and miscellaneous chemicals
4. Railroads
5. Miscellaneous nonmetallic and stone products
6. General government
7. Blast furnaces, steelworks, rolling and finishing mills
8. Not specified manufacturing industries
9. Electric light and power
10. Elementary and secondary schools
(http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-111/pdfs/2003-111b.pdf)
Shipbuilding, construction, petroleum refining, and electric light and power are large industries in Mississippi, though not as large as agriculture. In this past century, the possibilities for asbestos exposure, especially in construction, manufacturing, and oil refining, were great. Between 1979 and 2001, 606 people in the state of Mississippi have died of an asbestos-related disease. (http://www.ewg.org/sites/asbestos/maps/government_data.php?stab=MS)
From Tupelo to Greenville, Jackson to Biloxi, Weitz & Luxenberg is there
Although we are based in New York, Weitz & Luxenberg has been privileged to work with clients all over the country. We come to you, in all 82 counties of Mississippi. Asbestos diseases are serious, and you deserved the best possible medical and legal care.
If you suffer from an asbestos disease and would like to learn more about your legal options, call Weitz & Luxenberg or fill out a form today for your free legal consultation.
Acknowledgements:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2008-143/pdfs/2008-143a-viii.pdf
http://www.mdac.state.ms.us/n_library/misc/ag_overview.html
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-111/pdfs/2003-111b.pdf
http://www.ewg.org/sites/asbestos/maps/government_data.php?stab=MS
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