All told more than products contained asbestos. This number however does not take into consideration events such as the world trade center disaster on september when millions of new yorkers were potentially exposed to air filled with carcinogenic asbestos particles. Nevertheless cases of mesothelioma have been documented as the result of lesser exposure affecting family members of workers who came into contact with asbestos and brought it home on their clothing skin or hair or affecting those who lived in close proximity to asbestos manufacturing facilities. More commonly those who at some point are diagnosed with asbestos disease have worked in jobs where more substantial exposure occurred over longer periods of time. At some point in our lives nearly all of us have been exposed to asbestos in the air we breathe and the water we drink from natural deposits in the earth and from the deterioration of asbestos products around us. S.