Manufacturing and Meatpacking: Iowa Asbestos Exposure Legacy

Iowa’s mesothelioma rate of 1.06 per 100,000, roughly twice the national average, traces to industrial corridors that defined the state’s economy for more than a century. The manufacturing hubs of Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, the agricultural equipment plants of the Quad Cities, and the meatpacking facilities that stretched from Sioux City to Waterloo all shared a common feature: asbestos was embedded in their operations.

The workers who ran the production lines, maintained the refrigeration systems, and serviced the boilers are the ones receiving diagnoses now, decades after the plants modernized or closed. Their exposure was not incidental. It was part of the daily routine.

Des Moines Manufacturing Corridor

Des Moines served as Iowa’s manufacturing and commercial center through the 20th century. The city’s industrial base encompassed heavy equipment production, printing, food processing, and a network of power generation facilities. Asbestos was standard in all of them.

Des Moines-area power plants used asbestos insulation on boilers, turbines, and steam distribution systems, exposing pipefitters, insulators, and boilermakers who maintained them throughout their careers. Production plants across Polk County used asbestos in equipment insulation, gaskets, electrical wiring, and fireproofing materials, and maintenance workers and millwrights replaced these components on regular schedules, releasing fibers with every repair. The city’s mid-20th-century building boom layered on another exposure source: commercial construction using asbestos-containing insulation, floor tiles, pipe covering, and fireproofing, installed and later disturbed by construction tradespeople over years or decades.

Cedar Rapids Industrial Base

Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second-largest city, built its economy on cereal processing, manufacturing, and utilities. Quaker Oats (now PepsiCo) operated one of the largest cereal processing facilities in the world, with extensive steam systems insulated with asbestos. Other manufacturers in the corridor added to the exposure footprint.

Steam-intensive food processing required pipe insulation, boiler lagging, and gaskets throughout the production chain, and workers who maintained these systems in Cedar Rapids plants encountered asbestos as part of routine maintenance. Cedar Rapids-area utilities and power plants used the same asbestos insulation in generation and distribution systems, so workers in those facilities faced exposure similar to power plant workers statewide.

The Quad Cities: Agricultural Equipment

The Quad Cities, straddling the Iowa-Illinois border at Davenport and Bettendorf on the Iowa side, was the center of agricultural equipment manufacturing. John Deere and related suppliers operated large-scale production facilities where asbestos was present in multiple forms. The Illinois side of the corridor shares the same industrial asbestos legacy documented in the Chicago-area steel and manufacturing data.

Tractors, combines, and other agricultural equipment used asbestos brake pads and clutch facings, directly exposing assembly workers and mechanics who installed and serviced these components. Manufacturing equipment in Quad Cities plants also used asbestos gaskets, pipe insulation, and electrical insulation, and maintenance crews handled these materials as part of regular operations. Foundry operations added another hazard: metal casting for equipment parts involved asbestos in heat shielding, protective clothing, and mold insulation, and foundry workers breathed asbestos-laden air in high-temperature environments.

Iowa’s Meatpacking Corridor

Iowa’s meatpacking industry represented a unique exposure pathway. Plants operated by Rath Packing Company in Waterloo, Iowa Beef Processors (IBP) in Sioux City, and other major processors used asbestos throughout their cold-chain and heating infrastructure.

Meatpacking requires constant refrigeration, and the insulation on ammonia lines, cold storage rooms, and freezer systems contained asbestos. Workers who installed and maintained this insulation were exposed daily. While Iowa’s meatpacking exposure is distinctive among states, the underlying industrial pattern of asbestos in steam and insulation systems mirrors what happened in Wisconsin’s Fox Valley paper mills and Michigan’s manufacturing plants.

Steam and boiler systems ran alongside the refrigeration. Processing operations required steam for rendering, cleaning, and cooking, and boiler rooms and steam distribution lines were insulated with asbestos. Boilermakers and pipefitters who maintained these systems had the highest exposure levels. The building infrastructure itself added more: meatpacking plants built before 1980 used asbestos in floor tiles, ceiling materials, wall insulation, and fireproofing, and any renovation or demolition work released fibers into the air.

Take-Home Exposure

Iowa’s manufacturing and meatpacking workers carried asbestos fibers home on their clothing. Spouses who laundered work clothes and children in the household were exposed to the same material that was accumulating in workers’ lungs.

Courts across the Midwest have recognized take-home exposure as a valid basis for claims. In January 2026, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that shipyard employers owe a duty of care to workers’ family members exposed through contaminated work clothing, strengthening the legal framework for secondary exposure claims nationally. Families affected by secondhand exposure may have both lawsuit and trust fund options.

For legal outcomes from cases involving these exposure sites, see verdicts and settlements.