Opinion ID: 1939634
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Asbestos Hazard and Its Public Health Consequences[5]

Text: Asbestos is the generic term for a group of naturally occurring hydrated magnesium or calcium silicate fibers consisting of long, thin, rock crystals formed from old rock by metamorphism and obtained by mining. H. POLLACK, MATERIALS SCIENCE AND METALLURGY 417 (3d ed.1981); 4 L. GORDY & R. GRAY, ATTORNEYS' TEXTBOOK OF MEDICINE ¶ 134A.30 (3d ed.1988). Because its long fibers can be dissolved, bonded, compacted, or spun into fire-, heat- and chemical-resistant materials, asbestos is easily manufactured into automobile linings, aircraft air ducts, fireproof gloves and clothing, insulating board, fireproof cloth, shingles, tiles, siding and pipe covering. H. POLLACK, supra, at 417. Under pressure, it may be molded with cement to produce asbestos board, or combined with sodium silicate to make thin paper sheets, useful to protect pipes, gaskets, and electrical wiring from fire or heat. Id. at 417-18. It may be bound with rubber to package chemicals, or with clay to insulate against high voltage. Id. at 418. Since the nineteenth century asbestos has also been widely used to insulate boilers, turbines, ovens, kilns, and other high-temperature equipment. P. BRODEUR, OUTRAGEOUS MISCONDUCT: THE ASBESTOS INDUSTRY ON TRIAL 11 (1985). Because of its protective qualities and its versatility, asbestos has long been in wide use in a variety of settings. Consequently, large numbers of people have lived with, worked with, and been exposed to environments containing, asbestos. It has been incorporated into manufactured products such as protective clothing, containers and heavy equipment, and it has been used extensively as a fire-retardant in building construction. H. POLLACK, supra, at 417-18; L. GORDY & R. GRAY, supra, ¶¶ 134A.30, 134A.31. In efforts to prevent tragedies, builders have used asbestos in public facilities housing large numbers of workers, residents, visitors and other occupants, such as schools, hospitals, offices, and large-scale housing. See P. BRODEUR, supra, at 324. Further, hundreds of thousands of workers in the mining and manufacturing industries have worked directly with raw asbestos and asbestos products, exposing themselves unwittingly to extraordinary health hazards. See generally id.; see L. WHITE, HUMAN DEBRIS: THE INJURED WORKER IN AMERICA 15 (1983); W. HAMMER, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY MANAGEMENT AND ENGINEERING 406 (3d ed. 1985). The nature of these hazards has long been known. Greek and Roman chroniclers observed a sickness of the lungs in slaves who wove asbestos fabric. P. BRODEUR, supra, at 10. Modern knowledge of asbestos-related diseases dates back at least to the turn of the century, when Dr. H. Montague Murray, a British physician, discovered, in the autopsy of an asbestos textile worker, that the patient had suffered from severe pulmonary fibrosis, a degenerative disease of the lung tissue, and linked that condition to asbestos spicules found in the patient's lungs. Id. at 11. Since then, an increasing flow of medical literature has documented the incidence of lung diseases associated with exposure to asbestos. [6] Asbestos is highly friable, and upon disintegration, its particles float freely in the air, dusting skin and garments, and thus come to be handled and inhaled. Penetration of the skin can cause asbestos warts. 4 L. GORDY & R. GRAY, supra, ¶ 134A.33. Much more serious diseases result from inhalation, including cancer of the lungs, bronchi, stomach and intestines; mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest wall (pleural mesothelioma) or abdominal cavity (peritoneal mesothelioma); and asbestosis, a fatally degenerative disease of the lung tissue involving heavy internal scarring. [7] Id., ¶ 134A.34. Asbestos exposure is known to increase the risk of lung cancer five-fold, and in combination with heavy smoking, can multiply that risk 87 times. Id., ¶ 134A.34(3). Studies have shown that 40% to 53% of insulation and shipyard workers with substantial exposure to asbestos have died of asbestos-related diseases. See L. WHITE, supra, at 15. In a seminal study, the incidence of asbestosis in workers ten years after their first exposure was 10.4%; twenty years after, 44.1%; and forty years after, 94.2%. Selikoff, Churg & Hammond, The Occurence of Asbestosis Among Industrial Workers, 132 ANN. NEW YORK ACAD. SCI. 139, 147 (1965). It is impossible to appreciate fully the social costs of these diseases without approaching their most distinctive feature: asbestosis, mesotheliomas and other asbestos-related cancers can result from relatively minimal exposure in a variety of environments, and do not begin to appear until long after the exposure itself occurs. It has been found that persons who have been subjected to otherwise comparatively minor exposures can be affected. Workers employed for only a few days at plants where asbestos is used or even handled, although they did not process it, have been afflicted. Workers have inadvertently carried asbestos on their clothing to their families at home where members have sickened and died. W. HAMMER, supra, at 406. In the mind of the public, this is the most worrying and unsettling facthave I already been exposed to a chemical that will kill me in 10 years time? The scientific community has no answer to this emotive question. H. CRONE, CHEMICALS AND SOCIETY: A GUIDE TO THE CHEMICAL AGE 169 (1986). This impact has also been felt by industry and government. Litigation by those afflicted with asbestos-related diseases reached a watershed with the first major tort recovery, Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir. 1973), and has already prompted the largest manufacturer, the Johns-Manville Corporation, to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from an estimated 50,000 tort claimants seeking more than $2 billion. In re Johns-Manville Corp., 26 B.R. 420 (S.D. N.Y.1983); see generally Comment, The Manville Bankruptcy: Treating Mass Tort Claims in Chapter 11 Proceedings, 96 HARV.L.REV. 1121 (1983). Massive litigation has proceeded in many forums. The government has responded by designating asbestos a hazardous air pollutant [8] and enacting extensive consumer product, occupational, and environmental regulations. [9] It is evident that environmental contamination by asbestos poses a pervasive and lethal threat to public safety.