Delaware has one of the worst asbestos exposure records in the nation, ranking fifth nationally for age-adjusted mesothelioma death rates with 7.5 deaths per 100,000 population between 1999 and 2017—nearly double the national average—and recording 164 mesothelioma deaths from 1999 to 2015 across its three counties.

The state's chemical industry, dominated by DuPont Chemical which built facilities in Wilmington and Seaford beginning in 1905, represents the largest source of asbestos exposure, as company executives knowingly used asbestos in furnaces, pipes, pumps, valves, gaskets, and insulation despite awareness of health dangers as early as the 1930s, ultimately exposing thousands of workers including up to 1,300 employees at the Seaford nylon plant alone.

Wilmington's shipbuilding operations, particularly Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and Dravo Corporation, exposed additional thousands of workers to asbestos-containing materials in ship insulation, pipe lagging, gaskets, boilers, and floor tiles during decades of peak activity.

Sussex County faces the highest county death rate at 9.6 per 100,000, while New Castle County averages 38 asbestos-related deaths annually, and Kent County averages 8 deaths per year, with oil refineries like Getty Oil and numerous power plants throughout the state contributing to widespread occupational and environmental asbestos contamination that continues to impact Delaware residents and their families, including through secondary exposure as evidenced by landmark legal cases recognizing the dangers of laundering contaminated work clothing.

Asbestos in Delaware