Washington, D.C. – Florida’s Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties share a great quality of life, pleasant climate and central location between Tampa and Orlando. They also have a less pleasant feature in common: asbestos death rates more than twice as high as the state or national average.

The annual mortality rate from asbestos-triggered diseases is 4.9 per 100,000 deaths in the U.S. and 5.3 per 100,000 deaths in Florida. But an analysis by EWG Action Fund finds that the rate is 13.2 per 100,000 in Hernando County, 12.3 in Sumter County and 11.7 in Citrus County. Those rates are much higher than in major urban counties such as Pinellas, Orange or Miami-Dade.

The asbestos death rates in these three counties exceed or rival Florida’s mortality rates for leukemia and for cancer of the pancreas, cervix, brain or stomach. Between 1999 and 2013, nearly 700 residents of Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties, with a combined population of about 420,000, died of diseases caused by asbestos. In the same period over 14,000 Floridians died from asbestos exposure, more than in any other state except California.

Sonya Lunder, a research analyst with EWG Action Fund, said the elevated death rates could be a legacy of mining and cement production. The three-county area once had or still has a number of limestone, phosphate or crushed-rock mines, which can all contain asbestos deposits. Until the 1970s, when its deadly risks became well known, asbestos was often added to strengthen cement.

To come up with her estimates, Lunder combined federal records of deaths from mesothelioma and asbestos, two diseases caused only by asbestos exposure, with a formula developed by international cancer researchers of the World Health Organization for estimating asbestos-related lung cancer deaths.

Asbestos was once widely used in the construction, auto manufacturing and repair, shipbuilding and electrical industries, as well as in many consumer products. It is no longer mined in the U.S., and its use has declined significantly. Although many Americans believe it has been banned, it remains legal for import and for many uses. Asbestos is almost certainly in homes, schools and other buildings constructed before 1980.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) warns that there is no “safe” level of asbestos exposure, adding that, “[a]sbestos exposures as short in duration as a few days have caused mesothelioma in humans.”

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EWG Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that is a separate sister organization of the Environmental Working Group. The mission of EWG Action Fund is to protect health and the environment by educating the public and lobbying on a wide range of environmental issues. Donations to EWG Action Fund are not tax-deductible.