Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Author Deborah Rudacille based her book Roots of Steel on the mill workers of Bethlehem Steel in Dundalk, Maryland. Rudacille herself grew up there, but she moved away after going to college. She came back in order to talk to the retired steel workers who had made up the hard-working population there until the steel industry collapsed in the 1970s as well as 1980s.

What she learned from the people she interviewed was that steel work was unclean, difficult as well as dangerous. The coke ovens as well as blast furnaces burned as well as maimed many people. Those who remained wholesome enough as well as whole enough to retire from their jobs later found themselves the victims of work-related diseases similar asbestosis as well as mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Some of the people Rudacille had interviewed died before the book was published.

For the filled story, go to The Urbanite Magazine.