When the latency period for asbestos disease is factored in cases of mesothelioma will continue to be diagnosed for years to come. Symptoms of asbestos disease usually are not be apparent until decades after exposure. See our page on mesothelioma risk factors. 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. Asbestos was used commercially in north america as early as the late s but its use increased dramatically during the world war ii era when shipyards produced massive numbers of ships for the war effort. For more than years products containing asbestos remained unregulated and the manufacturers of those products continued to prosper knowing full well that many of the millions of workers who came into contact with their products would ultimately suffer as the result of their actions.