St. Petersburg is a populous city in Pinellas County with a population size exceeding 250,000 residents. The city’s early years helped the city develop with a reliance on developing the city’s waterfront and port facilities. Once the railroad and automobile spurred American growth and the possibility for faster travel, tourists propelled the city to become the largest city in Pinellas County.

Over the history of St. Petersburg’s development, it is an unfortunate fact that residents and workers were exposed to the harms of asbestos.

Why Is Asbestos Harmful?

Asbestos was widely used at industrial and construction jobsites for its tensile, durable properties and heat/chemical resistance. This usage continued throughout most of the 20th century, until asbestos use was eventually banned based on overwhelming evidence that asbestos exposure harms humans.

Today, we now know that asbestos exposure can cause the following fatal diseases:

• Mesothelioma
• Asbestosis
• Asbestos-related lung cancer

Of these, Florida has been hit particularly hard by malignant mesothelioma. This aggressive form of cancer is caused by an individual ingesting or breathing in the microscopic asbestos fibers once they are disturbed.

For this reason, workers at asbestos jobsites and veterans have been most at risk for mesothelioma, but even residents of old homes built with asbestos-containing materials could be exposed to the harms of asbestos.

However an individual is exposed to asbestos, mesothelioma generally progresses the same way. An individual swallows or inhales asbestos fibers that enter the body and begin to slowly mutate body’s cells within the body cavity. This slow progression can take decades, ending only once the cells have mutated into cancerous mesothelioma cells.

St. Petersburg, too, has suffered from asbestos exposure and mesothelioma deaths.

St. Petersburg Asbestos Exposure

Known asbestos jobsites that exposed St. Petersburg workers and residents to asbestos include:

• Bartow Power Plant
• Bayboro Station
• First Federal Savings & Loan Association
• Florida Power & Light Company
• Florida Power Corporation
• Saint Petersburg Powerhouse
• St. Anthony’s Hospital

Victims of a wrongful asbestos exposure who received a mesothelioma diagnosis should talk to a lawyer to find out whether legal compensation is deserved.

Talk to a lawyer

The Ledger Law Firm protects the legal rights of asbestos victims by pursuing legal compensation when a wrongful exposure causes a victim’s mesothelioma diagnosis. Our team will investigate the facts of your case and build a case entitles you to compensation once a victim’s mesothelioma is proven to be caused by a responsible party.

Contact us online today to receive the funds you are entitled to under Florida law.