What the Asbestos Companies Knew About Mesothelioma

by Robert Linebaugh

The asbestos industry caused a great amount of pain to many families by ignoring the startling evidence that asbestos exposure is harmful and often deadly. All of the suffering could have been avoided because the asbestos companies knew a lot more than they informed the public about. The companies considered the protection of the industry more important than the lives of their workers.

A Quick Guide to Asbestos and Health Issues

Gerard Simington

Unless you have been completely out of touch, you have probably heard all the hubbub about the dangers of asbestos. So, what is the big deal?

A Quick Guide to Asbestos and Health Issues

Asbestos is a fibrous material that is highly resistant to burning. It has a long history. While it was first used on a large scale commercial basis at the turn of the twentieth century, it has actually been around much longer. In fact, the ancient Egyptians were known for using it burial clothes.

Common modern applications used to include building materials, products and automobile brake pads, which all required a fire resistant element. Asbestos is still used today, but on a fairly small scope. The reason has everything to do with health. Asbestos in and of itself is not harmful to people. What is harmful, however, is asbestos dust.

Asbestos dust is a vicious thing. Due to the chemical makeup of the material, the dust is like a cloud of fine glass particles. While they will not damage your skin, they do great damage to the lungs. Making matters worse, asbestos dust is so fine that it is easily raised from asbestos material like ceiling tiles and walls. Once in the air, it is all but invisible. Prolonged exposure, such as when working on or in a building with asbestos materials, can result in massive amounts of the toxic dust entering the lungs.

Once asbestos dust is in your lungs, you cannot expel it by coughing. That doesn’t mean the body does not try. Asbestosis is scarring of the lungs from acid created by the body in an effort to get the asbestos dust out. If this process is allowed to occur for 10 to 20 years, the lungs may stop functioning because of excess scarring. If that sounds bad, it only gets worse. Asbestos dust can lead to terminal cancer in the form of mesothelioma. [What is Mesothelioma?]

Asbestos is an excellent fire resistant material that saves us from burning while killing us in a much slower manner. Since 1989, it has been banned in the United States in all but a few commercial areas.

Gerard Simington is with FindAnAttorneyForMe.com - offering asbestos and mesothelioma legal information.

Back in the 1920s, a large variety of medical articles showed that there was scarring on the lungs of asbestos factory workers. This evidence was revealed during autopsies of those workers. Asbestos companies had full knowledge of these articles, but chose to ignore the facts presented because the public reaction to such information would kill the asbestos industry. Further studies in the 1930s revealed that asbestos miners and factory workers were indeed dying of lung disease and cancer. There was enough evidence to support an undeniable correlation between asbestos exposure and the development of mesothelioma. Sadly, the companies decided to suppress this overwhelming evidence and in a series of letters between asbestos companies. In these same letters, executives revealed how far the companies were willing to go in order to protect their own interests. These letters that were circulated in the 1930s are called the "Sumner Simpson Papers." In these letters, certain asbestos company executives made statements such as "the less said about asbestos, the better off we are." Owens Illinois and Owens Corning Fiberglas conducted studies in the 1940s, attempting to prove that asbestos exposure was harmless, and save the asbestos industry. The studies revealed the exact opposite. They showed that exposure to asbestos was indeed quite harmful and even deadly. In light of the studies, the companies attempted to force scientists to change their conclusions.

Asbestos companies had full knowledge of the potential harm that could be caused by exposure to asbestos. Scientists and studies confirmed that there was a direct relationship between asbestos exposure and early death. Asbestos companies first tried to cover up the knowledge and silence scientists who conducted studies showing the harmful effects of asbestos exposure. Once the information about asbestos came to the public, these same companies attempted to deny having knowledge that people simply working around asbestos-containing products would suffer. The companies denied knowledge in order to avoid lawsuits. The simple fact is that asbestos-containing products cause serious injury and often lead to premature death. For this reason, mesothelioma lawsuits are quite valid and are in no way frivolous. Lung disease, lung cancer, and mesothelioma all stem from asbestos exposure. Many lives could have been saved if the asbestos companies were willing to release the information that they had access to.
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