Mass Tort Update- |
- Asbestos Update
- |
- Philadelphia, PA 215-567-3500
- |
- Red Bank, NJ 732-747-9003
Mass Tort Update Asbestos Update
Part 7: New Jersey Physician Dedicates Life to Asbestos Diseases
The Asbestos Story: America's Greatest Industrial Tragedy
A Tale of Deceit, Design & Temerity
By Christopher M. Placitella
Cohen, Placitella & Roth, P.C.
In the early 1960s, a young physician by the name of Irving Selikoff makes it one of his life works to study the Asbestos diseases that he is observing in workers.
Dr. Selikoff first became interested in Asbestos disease in 1953 when he examined UNARCO Asbestos workers in his clinic in Patterson, New Jersey. While Dr. Selikoff is certainly not the person who discovers Asbestos disease, he believes that it is his mission to publicize the fact that thousands of workers are getting sick and will die from their exposure to Asbestos.
Publicly, certain Asbestos industry members pretend to cooperate with Dr. Selikoff. Privately, however, the monster public relations machine continues to turn for industry and some companies internally even mock the workers:
My answer to the problem is: If you have enjoyed a good life while working with Asbestos products, why not die from it. There has got to be some cause.
* * *
Sheet metal workers constructing new air ducts, high over Asbestos area, no masks. These fellows are getting plenty of Asbestos for their lungs to chew on!
Throughout the 1960s, a few other cases are quietly settled as industry members rejoice in the public's ignorance. Certain members of the insurance industry who are working hand in hand with the manufacturers are clearly aware of the public health time bomb that is being created.
Ten years after secretly settling Mr. LeGrande's lawsuit, Johns Manville and its insurance carrier quietly settle the first environmental Asbestos case. The settlement is memorialized in a 1969 memo entitled Asbestos Dust Hazards.
In the Fetchko case, it is felt that we have no chance of winning when it is litigated since it is evident that Johns Manville had contaminated both air and water in the past. In fact, a Johns Manville attorney stated, Confidentially, Johns Manville has been contaminating the hell out of both the air and the water for quite some time. It is apparent that Johns Manville is concerned and frightened over the implications.
Industry members worry because they know there will be future environmental claims. Insurance Executive, Harry Rapp predicts,
Control of Asbestos in the community air is impossible when you consider the contribution from brake linings, abrasion of pipings, house siding, and other materials widely handled by the general public.
It is certain gross exposures to Asbestos have existed in the past and will continue in the future even if greatly minimized. With the publicity presently given this problem, and with federal involvement in pollution problems, we can find ourselves overwhelmed with claims for the variety of diseases attributable to Asbestos dust.
Other members of the insurance industry also recognize the tremendous public health hazard that has now been created.
It has now found the public in general or has been exposed to Asbestos products to a greater degree than previously recognized. From analysis of human lungs, in 1900 autopsies in New York City, 48% showed Asbestos bodies (particles). Broadly considered 40% of the housewives, 50% of white collar males, and 50% of the blue collar workers showed Asbestos bodies, but males who worked in construction and shipyards had a higher incidence, 70%.
* * *
The general product is at risk if the products of Asbestos are not controlled or eliminated. Solution would be replace all Asbestos products to avoid future exposures, but would not reduce our present situation.
| Enter any relevant background information or case specifics so that we can best understand your situation: | ||
|
To Prevent Automated Submissions, Enter the 4 Digit Number Shown Below
(OR YOU MAY CALL US DIRECTLY AT 888-375-7600) |
||
 8719
|
||