Asbestos disease usually traces back to a place. This category maps the mines, factories, shipyards, and towns where people breathed asbestos, whether they worked there or simply lived nearby.
Some of these names are notorious. Libby, Montana, where vermiculite was pulled from the Rainy Creek operation, exposed miners and residents alike. Wittenoom, in Western Australia, became a company town built on blue asbestos. Thetford Mines in Quebec and Casale Monferrato in Italy anchored the chrysotile trade for decades. A few places, like Cappadocia in Turkey, saw exposure from naturally occurring fibers in local rock and soil, not industry.
Others are workplaces. The Paterson Plant, the Billerica Plant, and Liberty Ship construction sites put asbestos into products and into workers' lungs. Even buildings like the Time & Life Building show up, because installation and later removal carried their own risks.
Recognizing a location in your own history can help connect a diagnosis to an exposure source, which matters for a claim. Every term below links to a full plain-language definition.
Terms in this category
- BiancavillaBiancavilla is a town on the southwestern slope of Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy, where an unusual cluster of m…
- Billerica PlantThe Billerica Plant was a manufacturing facility in Billerica, Massachusetts operated by H.K. Porter Company …
- Bound BrookBound Brook is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, that was home to one of the largest and longest-oper…
- CampolungoCampolungo is a high-altitude locality in the Swiss Alps (Canton Ticino, Switzerland) historically known to m…
- Cape Asbestos Barking facilityThe Cape Asbestos Barking facility was an asbestos processing factory operated by Cape Asbestos Company Limit…
- CappadociaCappadocia is a region in central Turkey where several villages experienced extraordinarily high rates of mal…
- Casale MonferratoCasale Monferrato is a town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy that became one of the world's most deva…
- Coalinga DistrictThe Coalinga District is a region in western Fresno County, California, on the eastern slope of the Diablo Ra…
- Coast RangesThe Coast Ranges are a series of mountain ranges running along the Pacific coast of North America from Southe…
- Eastern TownshipsThe Eastern Townships is a region of southern Quebec, Canada, southeast of Montreal, that was the heart of th…
- EdgewoodEdgewood refers to Edgewood Arsenal (later part of Aberdeen Proving Ground) in Harford County, Maryland, a U.…
- El Dorado HillsEl Dorado Hills is a community in El Dorado County, California, built on and around naturally occurring depos…
- Gallatin GatewayGallatin Gateway is a small unincorporated community in Gallatin County, Montana, located southwest of Bozema…
- Hamersley RangeThe Hamersley Range is a mountain range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia that hosted the world's pr…
- Iron RangeThe Iron Range is a region in northeastern Minnesota where iron ore, primarily taconite, has been mined and p…
- Jefferson CountyJefferson County refers most often in asbestos litigation to Jefferson County, Texas, home to the heavy-indus…
- KarainKarain is a small village in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey that became internationally known for an…
- KimberleyKimberley is a remote region in the far north of Western Australia closely associated with the nearby Witteno…
- Libby MontanaLibby is a small town in Montana that was the site of a vermiculite mine contaminated with a highly toxic for…
- Libby VermiculiteLibby vermiculite is a vermiculite ore mined near Libby, Montana, that was heavily contaminated with a toxic …
- Liberty ShipLiberty ships were a class of mass-produced cargo vessels built in the United States during World War II to t…
- LutoLuto was a pliable, paste-like sealing and insulating material historically used to pack joints, seams, and o…
- Manville Stockton plantThe Manville Stockton plant was a Johns-Manville Corporation manufacturing facility in Stockton, California, …
- MatsubaseMatsubase is the name of a historic chrysotile asbestos mine and surrounding deposit located in Kumamoto Pref…
- MillingtonMillington refers to a community in Morris County, New Jersey that hosted asbestos manufacturing operations d…
- New CaledoniaNew Caledonia is a French overseas territory in the southwest Pacific known for vast deposits of ultramafic r…
- New IdriaNew Idria is a remote area in San Benito County, California, that hosts one of the largest natural deposits o…
- Northern Cape ProvinceThe Northern Cape is a large, sparsely populated province in South Africa that was historically home to exten…
- Paterson PlantThe Paterson Plant was an asbestos textile and insulation factory in Paterson, New Jersey, operated at differ…
- Pindus MountainsThe Pindus Mountains are a range in Greece and Albania whose serpentinite and ophiolite rocks contain natural…
- PrieskaPrieska is a town in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa that was a major center of crocidolite (blue …
- PylesvillePylesville is a small unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, historically associated with serp…
- Rainy Creek OperationThe Rainy Creek Operation was the W.R. Grace & Company vermiculite mining and milling complex near Libby, Mon…
- S.S. IowaThe S.S. Iowa refers to U.S. ships bearing the name Iowa, most notably the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) and me…
- SekukunilandSekhukhuneland (sometimes spelled Sekukuniland) is a mountainous region in northeastern South Africa that was…
- Southern AnatoliaSouthern Anatolia is a region of south-central Turkey notable in asbestos science because several rural villa…
- Thetford MinesThetford Mines is a city in Quebec, Canada, that was one of the largest chrysotile asbestos mining regions in…
- Time & Life BuildingThe Time & Life Building is a Manhattan skyscraper at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center, comp…
- Val TremolaVal Tremola is a steep alpine valley in the Swiss canton of Ticino, on the southern approach to the Gotthard …
- Val-des-SourcesVal-des-Sources is a town in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada, that was known as Asbestos from its foundin…
- WittenoomWittenoom is a former mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia where blue asbestos (crocidolite…
- Yancey CountyYancey County is a rural county in the mountains of western North Carolina that contained one of the largest …
Terms in this category
Browse the full Lexicon, or talk it through with a member of our litigation team, not a screener, at 833-4-ASBESTOS.