Hundreds of thousands of families across the country have suffered serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses allegedly caused by their exposure to asbestos, many of which may have been prevented had it not been for a massive cover-up by the asbestos industry. In what has been called one of the largest man-made epidemics in the history of the United States, companies that sold asbestos, manufactured asbestos-containing products and designed products that required the use of asbestos did so for decades without warning employees and others who came in contact with these products that asbestos could seriously harm their health, and now these employees and their loved ones are paying the ultimate price.
The very first successful asbestos lawsuit was won in 1973, and since then, hundreds of thousands of lawsuits have been filed against companies that sold asbestos and asbestos-containing products, making the asbestos litigation the longest running mass tort in U.S. history. According to allegations raised in the asbestos lawsuits, these companies knew about the adverse health effects of asbestos exposure, yet failed to warn employees or provide them with proper protections against asbestos at work. As a result, tens of thousands of Americans die from asbestos-related diseases every year and countless others are diagnosed with painful, aggressive cancers and other devastating diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. Meanwhile, asbestos companies continue to deny responsibility for their role in the deadly asbestos epidemic.
It was in 1977 that 6,000 pages of documents dating back to the 1930’s and 1940’s finally shed light on a decades-long cover-up orchestrated by asbestos industry executives who took deliberate steps to downplay the risks of asbestos exposure and cover up their employees’ asbestos-related illnesses. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, roughly 27 million workers were exposed to asbestos on the job from 1940 to 1979. By the 1980’s, the majority of companies in the United States had phased out most uses of asbestos, and while that reduced the risk of new exposure, it was too late for employees who had already been exposed to asbestos for decades. Since then, thousands of employees and their loved ones have filed asbestos exposure lawsuits to pursue compensation for their illnesses and the deaths of their loved ones, and to hold asbestos companies accountable for their corporate greed and the irreparable damage it caused.
“Asbestos trust funds, also called mesothelioma trust funds, have an estimated $30 billion in reserve for asbestos-disease victims and their families.”
Medical evidence documenting the potential hazardous effects of asbestos exposure dates back to the 1930’s, when medical professionals, observing asbestosis, lung cancer and other illnesses in asbestos factory workers, began warning asbestos manufacturers, asbestos mine owners and factory owners about the dangers of the mineral. Despite these warnings, manufacturers of asbestos-containing products continued making their products and business owners continued exposing their employees to asbestos without providing them with the proper equipment to protect themselves against toxic asbestos fibers and dust. Years went by, and asbestos continued to be used extensively by the manufacturing, construction, automobile and chemical industries, among other industries, as well as by the U.S. military.
At the height of its use, asbestos could be found in everything from cement, insulation, and roofing and flooring compounds, to automotive clutches, brake pads and linings, plus thousands of other products that posed a potential health risk to anyone exposed to the products during manufacturing or use. Unfortunately, rather than prevent asbestos exposure or provide employees with the proper protective equipment, companies that sold asbestos or manufactured asbestos-based products simply covered up the toxic effects of asbestos and quietly settled lawsuits filed by sick employees and their families. Finally, by 2003, 17 countries had established full or partial bans on asbestos as a result of growing concerns about the health risks of the mineral, and by 2005, asbestos was banned throughout the European Union. The United States passed legislation limiting the use of asbestos in the 1970’s, but, unfortunately, has yet to ban asbestos altogether.
Asbestos is the name given to six naturally occurring silicate materials composed of thin-needle-like fibers. These fibers are flexible and soft, yet durable and extremely resistant to corrosion, heat and electricity, which makes asbestos ideal for a wide variety of uses. Unfortunately, these properties also make asbestos highly toxic when the fibers are ingested or inhaled, which was common among employees working for companies that sold asbestos or manufactured products that contained the mineral. The adverse effects of asbestos exposure aren’t immediately evident, which is why employees exposed to asbestos on the job decades ago are just now filing lawsuits. Over the course of decades, microscopic asbestos fibers can build up in the lungs and cause inflammation, scarring and other irreversible problems. The most common illness associated with asbestos exposure is mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that occurs in the thin layer of tissue that covers most of the body’s organs and is caused almost exclusively by asbestos, but there are many other serious medical conditions that have also been linked to occupational exposure to asbestos.
