Newport News Shipbuilding

Study design: Population-based mesothelioma incidence study of coastal Tidewater, Virginia (1972–1978), conducted by Tagnon and colleagues. The study identified 61 mesothelioma cases among white males in the region and analyzed their occupational histories.

Key findings: The coastal Tidewater region showed a 4-fold increased mesothelioma incidence compared to national rates. Three-fourths of cases had shipbuilding employment, with excess concentrated among WWII temporary workers — men who worked at the yards during the peak asbestos exposure period (1940–1945) and were diagnosed with mesothelioma 30–40 years later, consistent with the disease's latency profile.

Scope note: The study covers coastal Tidewater, Virginia shipyards as a geographic cluster. Newport News Shipbuilding was the dominant employer in the region but the study does not isolate it as the sole yard. Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Portsmouth, VA) and other Hampton Roads facilities are also included in the geographic scope.

Study design: Case-control study of 336 lung cancer deaths, 64 laryngeal cancer cases, and 361 controls among coastal Virginia shipyard workers, conducted by Blot and colleagues (NCI). Smoking history was obtained and adjusted for in the analysis.

Key findings: Smoking-adjusted lung cancer RR of 1.7 (95% CI 1.2–2.4) for shipyard employment begun before 1950. Elevated laryngeal cancer was also observed. The authors attributed the excess to WWII-era shipyard asbestos exposures, consistent with the latency period and the timing of peak asbestos use. Workers who began employment before 1950 showed higher risk than those who started later, when asbestos use was declining.

Significance: The smoking-adjusted estimate is methodologically important — it demonstrates that the lung cancer excess is not explained by smoking differences between shipyard workers and controls, strengthening the causal attribution to occupational asbestos exposure.