Idaho does have some natural asbestos deposits that were mined many decades ago. Those mines are in remote areas and don’t pose much of a threat to people alive today. Asbestos products themselves have been off the market in the U.S. since the mid 1980s. Prior to that date however there were both household and industrial products that made use of asbestos. In the home and in commercial buildings products included roofing material, flooring, ceiling tiles, wallboard, insulation, caulking and many types of gaskets. In industrial settings asbestos was used as fire retardant material, as insulation, and in a host of plumbing and pipe fittings, for automobile brakes and clutches and generally for any application that called for heat control.
Health Effects of Asbestos Exposure
The damage is done when asbestos fibers are inhaled from dust or debris containing asbestos. That can happen if asbestos coated fittings are being replaced or if old asbestos insulation is deteriorating and is disturbed. Because asbestos products were so prevalent, there are dozens of ways by which an individual can experience hazardous asbestos exposure. If you have been diagnosed with an asbestos related disease such as asbestosis or mesothelioma, you should contact an experienced asbestos lawyer who can make sure you receive the compensation that is owed you by the asbestos product manufacturers and perhaps by a former employer.
Asbestos Exposure Jobsites in Idaho
In Idaho, facilities that used asbestos would include the paper mills in Boise and Lewiston as well as other locations around the state. Power plants were constructed with asbestos components, especially those that burned fuel to generate steam for electric turbines. Chemical plants are known for their use of asbestos to control heat during their processing activities. In fact workers who were assigned jobs in high heat areas were often issued clothing woven from asbestos fibers as heat resistant protection.
The jobsites listed below are likely sites for asbestos exposure for employees in past years. If you were employed at one of these sites at one time, you should discuss the implications of asbestos exposure with your doctor even if your employment ended years ago. Mesothelioma cancer is the deadliest asbestos-caused disease and it does not begin to show symptoms until many years after the asbestos exposure has occurred.
- Lamb Weston – American Falls, ID
- National Reactor Testing Station – Arco, ID
- Laminated Wood Products – Blackfoot, ID
- Boise Cascade Paper Mill – Boise, ID
- Capital High School – Boise, ID
- Intermountain Gas Company – Boise, ID
- J.R. Simplot Processing Plant – Boise, ID
- Saint Alphonsus Hospital – Boise, ID
- Pack River Lumber Company – Dover, ID
- Latter Day Saints Hospital – Idaho Falls, ID
- Naval Training Facility – Idaho Falls, ID
- Waters Asbestos Supply Company – Idaho Falls, ID
- Westinghouse Electric Company, NRF Site – Idaho Falls, ID
- Jaype Stud Mill & Plywood Plant – Jaype, ID
- Lewiston Grade School – Lewiston, ID
- Potlatch Paper Mill – Lewiston, ID
- University of Idaho – Moscow, ID
- Mountain Home Air Force Base – Mountain Home, ID
- Amalgamated Sugar – Nampa, ID
- College of Idaho – Nampa, ID
- Terminal Ice & Cold Storage – Nampa, ID
- Idaho Electric Power & Water Nuclear Plant – Palo, ID
- Boise Cascade Fertilizer Plant – Pocatello, ID
- FMC Corporation – Pocatello, Id
- Idaho Nuclear Corporation , CF Warehouse – Scoville, ID
- National Reactor Testing Station – Scoville, ID
- Phillips Petroleum Company – Scoville, ID
- Bettis Atomic Power Lab – Scoville, ID
- Westinghouse Electric Corporation – Scoville, ID
- Monsanto Chemical Plant – Soda Springs, ID
Deaths from Mesothelioma & Asbestos Exposure in Idaho
A survey was published in 2004 that provided an analysis of asbestos related deaths across the country in the period between 1979 and the end of 2000. The researchers reported death certificates that cited asbestosis or mesothelioma as the cause of death. They assumed that due to little recognition of the threat of asbestos, some deaths attributed to lung cancer may have been in patients that had lung cancer secondary to pleural mesothelioma, a form of cancer that attacks the membranes lining the lungs.
The survey reported that 84 Idaho residents died due to asbestosis during that twenty year period. The number of mesothelioma deaths is believed to number between 96 and 156. In 1999 the federal government began tracking mesothelioma deaths on an annual basis. Between 1999 and the end of 2004 there were 68 deaths in Idaho attributed to mesothelioma. The comparison of numbers makes it clear that mesothelioma continues to cause deaths well after the abolishment of asbestos products.
Mesothelioma Cancer Treatment in Idaho
St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute
St. Luke's Boise Medical Center
190 East Bannock Street
Boise, Idaho 83712-9987
(208) 381-1200
St. Luke’s also has a number of other locations:
http://www.stlukesonline.org/about_us/contact_us.php
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center
1055 No. Curtis Road
Boise, Idaho 83706
Main Phone: 208-367-2121
In neighboring states:
Huntsman Cancer Institute
University of Utah
2000 Circle of Hope
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Tel: (801) 581-4485
Fax: (801) 581-2175
OHSU Cancer Institute
Oregon Health & Science University
3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd.
Portland, Oregon 97239
Tel: (503) 494-1617
Fax: (503) 494-7086
