Authorities Warn About Cancer Risk To Employees Of Former Insulation Firm -- MesoLink.org -- 10-21-05

Federal authorities have warned that the employees of a former insulation firm in Newark, as well as local residents in the area, could be at increased risk of asbestos related cancer. The warning extends to 17 additional former plants across the nation, and the former insulation firm has been classed as one of the worst for asbestos and the risks that come with exposure to this potentially deadly substance.

The Newark plant named California Zonolite and Diversified Insulation baked and bagged hundreds of thousands of tons of ore, which was sold for building insulation. The employees that performed this task unknowingly put themselves at risk, exposing themselves to dangerous and deadly fibers and dust.

Authorities have warned that although all the workers are at risk, the risk is heightened for those working at the plant between 1966 and 1983, a time when workers would have been exposed to the highest levels of asbestos due to lack of regulations at the time.

One public health doctor stated: "These are numbers in the workplace that I would be concerned about. They should be brought in for a medical program to evaluate what their health status is today and be kept an eye on in the future."