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Hair Dryers - Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure Risks

Researchers for nonprofit health and consumer safety organizations have estimated that during the decades preceding the nationwide asbestos scare in the 1970s, asbestos could be found in more than three thousand consumer products and materials. At that time, asbestos use was rampant -- manufacturers included asbestos in almost any product in which heat insulation or fire-resistance was necessary. While some of these products were used to build homes, schools, and commercial buildings or used in industrial products and materials, very often homeowners bought products containing asbestos without even knowing it. Small home appliances and products that contained asbestos could be found in nearly every room of the house. Some of the appliances were designed for use in the kitchen, where consumers and homeowners could use them to make meals for their loved ones, or in the bathroom, where asbestos' insulation properties would keep a hair dryer from overheating.

The use of asbestos in products such as hair dryers, which blow hot air directly into the breathable air around a user, were particularly dangerous for the small home appliance consumer. Negligent manufacturers used asbestos in hair dryers because asbestos fibers are very poor conductors of heat, so wires or parts insulated with an asbestos heat shield would be effectively protected from the affects of heat. However, consumers and users of hair dryers were not properly protected from the effects of asbestos exposure. Before information leaked to the media a few decades ago, most consumers were unaware that their hair dryers and other small home appliances contained asbestos, because manufacturers did not provide this essential information; had they done so, many lives could have been saved from the deadly effects of asbestos exposure.

Only in the 1970s, during the burgeoning backlash against the manufacturers of asbestos-containing products, did hair dryer makers discontinue many products containing asbestos. They likely discontinued these items out of self-preservation: many individuals and families who had been exposed to asbestos-containing products were filing claims against the manufacturers of these consumer goods. Many of these claims were successful and helped many families to deal with the growing burden of medical care and treatments, but the discontinuation of asbestos-containing hair dryers and other asbestos products came far too late. Thousands of consumers had already been exposed to the dangerous effects of asbestos exposure.

When a heat shield composed of asbestos breaks down with age and use, the constituent asbestos particles may become friable, released into the atmosphere. This makes hair dryers constructed with an asbestos heat shield particularly hazardous, because these friable asbestos particles could be blown directly into the breathable air of the consumer. Many thousands of repairmen and hair dryer users who inhaled these particles have developed serious illnesses, including lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining and respiratory tract. Many of these illnesses, mesothelioma especially, take many years or decades to develop, so many consumers exposed to asbestos from their hair dryer or other small home appliance are just now showing the symptoms of asbestos-related illnesses. Each year, ten thousand workers and consumers die from these deadly illnesses that are caused by exposure to asbestos. Don't be the next victim of the asbestos industry! If you regularly used or worked with a hair dryer before the 1970s, please contact an experienced lawyer today. Mesothelioma claims are complicated by time and circumstance, but a lawyer familiar with asbestos litigation can secure justice for you and your family. Make sure that the manufacturers that harmed you and your family are held responsible. Call an asbestos attorney today!

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