No
matter how aggressively defendant asbestos manufacturers try to argue
that Chrysotile asbestos doesn't cause mesothelioma - they're wrong.
Our mesothelioma lawyers
understand the best example of this defense involved a consortium of
three joint compound firms who made the case during an estimation
hearing in their Chapter 11 bankruptcies. Each of the companies - Bondex
International Inc., Specialty Products Holding Corp., and RPM
International - filed bankruptcy as they faced thousands of asbestos
injury and wrongful death claims.
An estimation hearing is one in which a judge will determine how much
money the companies must set aside to meet their liability to cover
current and future asbestos claims. Debtors say they will only need
about $30 million, while plaintiff attorneys say it is likely to be
closer to $55 million.
Part of closing that disparity involves figuring out to what extent
the defendants can be expected to be found liable for each claim, which
is why the home improvement products firms are attempting to argue that
the asbestos their goods contained wasn't actually all that dangerous.
This is not the first time we've heard the argument about Chrysotile
asbestos being somehow safer than other forms, and it probably won't be
the last. Chrysotile asbestos, sometimes called white asbestos, accounts
for roughly 95 percent of the asbestos present in the U.S., according
to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Despite a slightly
differing chemical make-up from the amphibole group of asbestos, it is
no less dangerous - a fact repeatedly underscored in numerous studies.
Most recently, a professor of occupational epidemiology at the
University of Wisconsin conducted a study last year, concluding
definitively, "Chrysotile asbestos, along with all other types of
asbestos, has caused mesothelioma, and a world-wide ban of all asbestos
is warranted to stop an epidemic of mesothelioma."
Yet the defendants in the bankruptcy case brought a medical doctor
specializing in epidemiology to testify that Chrysotile asbestos is
"much less likely" to cause mesothelioma, a long-latent and fatal
cancer. He testified that in most cases, Chrysotile asbestos in and of
itself will not cause mesothelioma.
It is noteworthy that the doctor didn't actually view any of the lung
tissue samples of mesothelioma plaintiffs even though he testified that
if he had, he suspected he would find more than Chrysotile asbestos
present.
Plaintiffs, however, brought their own medical doctor specializing in
occupational medicine. She testified that there is no question that
Chrysotile exposure leads to cancer of the lining of the lung. She knows
this because she personally conducted multiple studies of sheet metal
workers in the 1990s, concluding hands-down that Chrysotile asbestos can
and does cause mesothelioma.
She said this point has been "very well established."
At this the defense put forth another common defense, that of "safe
level of exposure." This was a tactic in which they asserted plaintiffs
couldn't possibly have contracted mesothelioma from their product alone.
Their joint compound products were manufactured for do-it-yourself
renovation projects. They argued that these were not cases in which
people would have been exposed to the asbestos day-in, day-out over the
course of several years.
However, as the plaintiff's epidemiologist correctly pointed out, there is, in fact, no safe level of exposure.
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