Asbestos-related disease from household exposure

The importance of nonoccupational asbestos exposure has been emphasized recently. To illustrate this problem, we report 4 persons with asbestos-related disease from household exposure. There were 2 wives of asbestos workers, who cleaned their husbands' work clothes. One developed a mesothelioma and the other plaques, calcification, benign asbestos pleural effusion and subpleural parenchymal fibrosis. 2 men were exposed as children while playing in a cellar room which was also used for their father's muffler repair business. At ages 27 and 33, they had pleural and diaphragmatic calcifications.