Well into the 1970s asbestos materials were regularly used in hundreds of brewing and distilling plants across the country, injuring thousands of employees, and leading to terrible medical conditions like lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma.
Some breweries and distilleries in Kentucky had asbestos throughout the buildings, and for decades employees may have been in danger of inhaling and ingesting toxic asbestos fibers.
In more recent years, companies who ran older brewing and distilling facilities have been targeted in several lawsuits by former employees in Kentucky for asbestos exposure claims.
If inhaled at the workplace, the tiny fibers from asbestos can get lodged in the lungs, and cause permanent damage, and deadly tumors. Inhaling asbestos fibers has been proven to directly cause lung cancer, asbestosis, pulmonary fibrosis and mesothelioma.
Many former distillery and brewery workers in Ohi0 and Kentucky could be at risk of developing serious health issues, including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.
Joe Lyon is a highly-rated Asbestos attorney and personal injury lawyer representing plaintiffs nationwide in a wide variety of toxic tort and mesothelioma claims.
Brewery Asbestos Exposure
According to studies published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), occupational exposure to asbestos in the past significantly increases the risk of specific deadly diseases like lung cancer and mesothelioma. The CDC and other health safety agencies now classify asbestos as a cancer-causing agent.
Asbestos materials remain in many older buildings like distilleries and breweries in Kentucky—built in a time when asbestos was used in various applications, and throughout facilities as insulation in boiler rooms, piping and other areas of production.
Even short durations of exposure to toxic asbestos materials can lead to severe damage to the lungs and develop into deadly diseases like lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no safe level of asbestos exposure.
Even though asbestos is no longer installed in buildings in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society thousands of new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year. Because of its latency period, most cases of mesothelioma are not diagnosed until 10 to 40 years after initial asbestos exposure.
Causes & Symptoms of Asbestos-Related Illness
Breathing asbestos fibers into the lungs can permanently damage the tissue, leading to asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Signs of mesothelioma can vary, depending on where the cancer occurs.
Various forms of mesothelioma can present with unclear symptoms, although when symptoms appear the cancer is already advanced. Mesothelioma causes symptoms that may include:
- Chest pain
- Persistent coughing
- Trouble breathing
- Weight loss
- Unusual lumps of tissue in chest
- Abdominal swelling
Kentucky Brewery & Distillery Locations
- Schenley Distillers—Lexington, KY
- Phoenix Brewing Company—Louisville, KY
- Bernheim Distilling Company—Louisville, KY
- Kentucky Valley Distilling Company—Louisville, KY
- Old Kentucky Distillery—Louisville, KY
- Bonnie Brothers Distillery—Louisville, KY
- Brown Forman Distillers—Louisville, KY
- Falls City Brewing Company—Louisville, KY
- Frank Fehr Brewing—Louisville, KY
- Frankfort Distilleries—Louisville, KY
- Shenley Distillery—Louisville, KY
- Sunnybrook Distillery—Louisville, KY
- Old ’76 Distilling—Newport, KY
- Cava Springs Distillery—Newport, KY
- Wiedermann Brewing Company—Newport, KY
- Somerset Refinery—Pulaski County, KY
- Daviess County Distilling Company—Owensboro, KY
- Fleischmann Distilling—Owensboro, KY
- Glenmore Distilleries—Owensboro, KY
- Mealey Distilling—Owensboro, KY
- George T. Stagg Company Distillery—Frankfort, KY
- Taylor Distilling Company—Frankfort, KY
- Old Crow Plant—Frankfort, KY
- Old Grand-Dad Plant—Frankfort, KY
- Schenley Distillery Company—Frankfort, KY
- Heidelberg Brewing Company—Covington, KY
- Bavarian Brewing Company—Covington, KY
- Barton Distilling—Bardstown, KY
- Fairfield Distillers—Bardstown, KY
- Heaven Hill Distilleries—Bardstown, KY
- Independent Distilleries—Bardstown, KY
- Shawhan Distillery—Bardstown, KY
- Tom Moore Distillery—Bardstown, KY
