Opinion ID: 1751837
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Dr. Waddell's Testimony Relevant to Key Issue in Dispute.

Text: Not only was Dr. Waddell sufficiently qualified to render an opinion and his opinion sufficiently supported on a scientific basis, his testimony was relevant because it addressed the disputed issue of general causation: whether the solvents Burton was exposed to have been shown to cause cognitive impairment and long-term brain damage. Dr. Waddell testified to having reviewed the scientific literature regarding the effects of long-term occupational exposure to solvents in the workplace. In his opinion, studies to that point failed to establish conclusively that long-term occupational exposure to solvents caused cognitive impairment. Dr. Waddell criticized the studies on several grounds. He criticized many of the studies as not identifying specifically what type of solvent was studied, since there are many different solvents with many different chemical properties. He also stated that the studies failed to provide adequate controls because they did not control for factors such as I.Q., age, or educational level. He also criticized them as not establishing doseresponse levels (indicating at what dose exposure is safe versus the dose at which the substance has a harmful effect). He also noted that many studies involved animals exposed to massive doses of solvents and stated that it could be very difficult to infer anything from these studies about the effects of long-term, small-dose exposure to humans. We find no error in the trial court's allowing Dr. Waddell's critique of the studies upon which Burton's general causation experts based their opinions. His testimony essentially presented another voice and another view in the dialogue over whether causation was proven. Burton's experts essentially presented the opposite voice and opposite view in this dialogue, concluding on the basis of their reviews of literature that solvents had been shown to cause cognitive impairment. [29] Just as one of Burton's experts, Dr. Linz, admitted that the general causation question here was somewhat controversial among the scientific community with criticism of studies and with a need for further research, we find no error in the trial court's allowing Dr. Waddell to critique the literature and provide an opposing viewpoint in light of his specific qualifications and the support for his positions in objective scientific sources. [30] So we find no error in the admission of Dr. Waddell's testimony.