Opinion ID: 1919140
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: king's experts

Text: Dr. Michael Ellenbecker is a certified industrial hygienist and professor of industrial hygiene at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He testified regarding a proposed industrial hygiene standard for workers' diesel exhaust exposure. The proposed standard called for a worker's maximum allowable exposure to diesel exhaust not to exceed the general population's exposure to diesel exhaust. He stated that the organization had proposed this limit because diesel exhaust is a suspected human carcinogen. He further stated that industrial hygiene standards called for industries to minimize carcinogen exposure to below the permissible exposure limit because any exposure increases the risk of developing cancer. Ellenbecker had examined a study showing that railroad workers in job categories like Bradley's had exposure to diesel exhaust significantly above the general population's exposure. He had reviewed BNSF's industrial hygiene samples from 1983, 2000, and 2002, and concluded that Bradley had a significant exposure to diesel exhaust. He believed the greatest exposure occurred in Bradley's early years of employment. Frank is board certified in internal medicine and occupational medicine. At Drexel University, he is chair of the department of environmental and occupational health. Frank stated that benzene is in diesel exhaust and that the scientific evidence supports his opinion that benzene alone and diesel exhaust can cause multiple myeloma. He conceded that contrary statements existed in the scientific literature and that he did not know of any studies explicitly stating that either benzene or diesel exhaust causes multiple myeloma. He explained that scientific studies usually do not state that a definite causal relationship exists or even that the relationship appears to be causal; instead, the studies usually point to a causal relationship. He believed that the risk of disease would increase with increased exposure. But he rejected the idea that a minimum exposure level had to be reached before there was a risk. Frank conceded that he had not conducted his own research, nor had he published his opinion that diesel exhaust can cause multiple myeloma. He stated that benzene was the only diesel exhaust component that has been separately studied as an agent of disease. Frank did not believe that any other diesel exhaust component was a known cause of multiple myeloma. He admitted that he had not found or performed a meta-analysisa method of pooling the results of smaller studies showing a relationship between multiple myeloma and diesel exhaust. Nor had he found studies comprehensively analyzing animal experiments, toxicology studies, and epidemiological studies. Regarding the specific cause of Bradley's cancer, Frank believed that Bradley's extraordinary exposure level to diesel exhaust made it more likely than not that his exposure was a contributing cause of his disease. Moreover, after reviewing Bradley's medical history and deposition, Frank stated that in his experience as an occupational physician for 30 years, he had never seen a history of that much exposure. Frank stated that there were few known causes of multiple myeloma. He ruled out radiation exposure as a potential cause because he failed to find evidence of unusual radiation exposure. Similarly, he ruled out diabetes as a possible causative agent because Bradley did not have this disease. Regarding Bradley's possible exposure to pesticides, Frank knew conflicting studies existed on the association between multiple myeloma and pesticide exposure. He did not believe, however, that these associations showed causation to a medical certainty. Likewise, he knew studies existed showing an association with smoking, but he did not believe the evidence supported a causal link to multiple myeloma.