|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
On March 9, the U.S. House of Representatives inititated markup of H.R. 1283, The Fairness in Asbestos Compensation Act. However, this bill is anything but fair to the victims and families of asbestos, and would only shield the manufacturers of deadly asbestos products from full accountability for the devastation they have caused by stripping dying and injured Americans of their legal right. To truly understand the significance of this legislation, it might be good to review the facts about asbestos. Most people know that inhaling asbestos is dangerous, and that workers in shipyards and mines have died from being exposed to it. But what is asbestos, exactly? And how does it impact your life? What is Asbestos? "Asbestos" is actually the name for several minerals that can be broken down into fibers. These tiny, needle-shaped mineral fibers are resistant to heat and fire. People who inhale them do not feel their eyes or nose become irritated; for the most part these asbestos fibers have no bad taste or smell. When asbestos was first added to construction and consumer materials a hundred years ago, it was thought to be a great scientific advancement for our society. Manufacturers and consumers alike thought the fire-retardant properties of asbestos would save hundreds of lives. It would take another decade or so to learn the real danger of asbestos: the strong, thin fibers pierce the soft inner tissue of the body when they are inhaled or ingested, and once the asbestos fibers are embedded in the tissue they stay there, causing devastating diseases. The body tries to remove these fibers by breaking them down, but this removal process causes inflammations in the tissue. The body's reaction to the fibers can eventually lead to the development of diseases such as pleural disease (a thickening of the lining of the lung), asbestosis (a scarring of the lung tissue), lung cancer, and mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen). Asbestos: What They Knew, When They Knew It The medical and asbestos-manufacturing communities learned of the harmful effects of asbestos early in this century: . In 1918, medical articles describing asbestosis first appeared in scientific literature. In 1930, a medical inspector of factories in Great Britain published an article describing the clinical characteristics of asbestosis, the dust control required to prevent the disease, and the importance of educating workers about the hazards of exposure. In 1934, the first major medical article linking asbestosis with lung cancer was published. In 1948, a lab director for Owens-Illinois Glass Company (parent to Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation) determined that since its asbestos-laced pipe insulator Kaylo "is capable of producing asbestosis, it is better to discover it now in animals rather than later in [humans]..." However, in 1955, Owens-Corning's Kaylo sales brochure states, "[Kaylo's] light weight, pleasant handling and non-irritating and non-toxic nature contribute to worker well-being." In 1967, Louis P. Gray, assistant head of the Pipecovering Department at Newport News Shipyard, wrote a memo mandating the use of respirators when working with asbestos. Workers handling asbestos never saw the memo, and it was not enforced. In 1979, Gray testified, "if you tell 300 people that what they are working with might cause cancer, you might not have anybody show up the next morning." In April 1980, a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) stated that "[e]valuation of all available human data provides no evidence for a threshold or for a 'safe' level of asbestos exposure ...." In 1989, after 10 years of investigation, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule banning the use of asbestos in the manufacture of products. In 1991, in response to a lawsuit brought by the asbestos industry, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturns much of the EPA's ban, allowing many asbestos-laced products to be manufactured and sold in the U.S. In fact, asbestos-containing products are still being sold in the U.S. today.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mesothelioma Information