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Asbestos Exposure


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Asbestos Company Cover-Up

By the 1930s, the manufacturers of asbestos products were aware of the deadly dangers and health hazards of their asbestos products to people. Workers in asbestos factories, including men, women and children, were developing asbestos lung disease as soon as five or six years after first exposure to asbestos. By the early 1940s, medical and scientific articles were being published, showing the connection between asbestos and the development of lung cancer. By the 1950s, the connection between asbestos and mesothelioma had been made, and by 1960, it was established that persons exposed to asbestos were developing mesothelioma at an alarming rate. Secret internal company documents reveal that the asbestos companies intentionally hid what they knew about the dangers and health hazards of asbestos so that workers and customers would not object to using asbestos products.

The fact that asbestos companies had actual knowledge of the dangers and health hazards of their asbestos products many years ago has formed the basis for the award of punitive damages against a number of asbestos manufacturing companies. Punitive damages are awarded by juries to punish the asbestos companies for their malicious and despicable conduct of concealing the dangers and health hazards of asbestos from their workers, customers, the public and the government, thereby bringing about unnecessary injury and death to tens of thousands of people. Juries have awarded punitive damages against the following asbestos companies to punish them for their malicious, knowing and intentional conduct, which brought about injuries to so many people: Owens Corning, Owens Illinois, W.R. Grace, Armstrong World Industries, GAF, U.S. Gypsum.


Sources of Asbestos Exposure

Most people are exposed to asbestos as part of their work. However, exposure to asbestos in other ways can also cause mesothelioma many years later. Asbestos dust carried home on the clothes of workers has caused mesothelioma to develop in their spouses and children many years later. Asbestos dust released from pipes and ceiling materials in schools has caused mesothelioma to develop in those school children after a long latency period. Asbestos dust released from asbestos product manufacturing factories into the neighborhood air has caused mesothelioma to develop in persons who live in vicinity of the plant. It does not take much exposure to asbestos to cause mesothelioma and this must always be remembered if you think that you might be in a situation where there will be some exposure to asbestos. A little bit of this poison can kill.


Asbestos Companies

Asbestos products have been used in the United States since the 1800s. Over 3,000 different types of products containing asbestos have been manufactured by hundreds of different asbestos companies. Many of the asbestos companies are multi-billion dollar, multinational corporations with enormous assets and large amounts of insurance to pay asbestos claims. Over the years, these companies earned enormous profits by selling their asbestos containing products at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of people who would go on to develop or die of asbestos related disease. The following list of companies that manufactured asbestos products is by no means complete. Instead, this is merely a list of some of the major companies which manufactured or sold asbestos products;

  • Armstrong World Industries
  • Bendix (Brakes)
  • Chrysler (Brakes)
  • Fiberboard
  • Ford (Brakes)
  • GAF Corp.
  • General Electric
  • General Motors (Brakes)
  • General Refractories
  • Georgia Pacific
  • Harbison Walker
  • Johns Manville
  • Kaiser Gypsum
  • National Gypsum
  • Owens Corning Fiberglass
  • Owens Illinois
  • Pittsburgh Corning
  • Philip Carey
  • U.S. Gypsum
  • Uniroyal
  • Westinghouse
  • WR Grace (Zonolite)

Many other companies made asbestos products. These are just a few!


Jobs With Potential Asbestos Exposure

  • Electrical and electronic engineer
  • Industrial engineer
  • Mechanical engineer
  • Boilermaker
  • Railroad and car shop
  • Plumbers and pipe fitters
  • Power station operator
  • Roofers and slaters
  • Asbestos and insulation workers
  • Dry wall installers and lathers
  • Furnace men, smelter-men and pourers
  • Construction laborers, excluding carpenters' helpers
  • Aeronautical and astronautical engineer
  • Civil engineer
  • Sales engineer
  • Engineer, n.e.c.
  • Personnel and labor relations workers
  • Teachers, college and university
  • Elementary school teachers
  • Chemical technicians
  • Draftsmen
  • Technicians, n.e.c.
  • Painters and sculptors
  • Managers and superintendents, building
  • Officers, pilots, and pursers; ship
  • Insurance adjusters, examiners and investigators
  • Blacksmiths
  • Brick masons and stonemasons
  • Cabinetmakers
  • Carpenters
  • Crane men, derrick men, hoist men
  • Electricians
  • Electric power linemen and cable men
  • Excavating, grading and road machine operators; exc. bulldozer
  • Foremen, n.e.c.
  • Forge men and hammer men
  • Heat treaters, annealers and temperers
  • Job and die setters, metal
  • Locomotive engineer
  • Machinists
  • Mechanics and repairmen; aircraft
  • Automobile mechanics
  • Heavy equipment mechanics, including diesel
  • Household appliance and accessory installers and mechanics
  • Loom fixers
  • Miscellaneous mechanics and repairmen
  • Mechanics and repairmen
  • Millwrights
  • Molders, metal
  • Painters, construction and maintenance
  • Pattern and model makers, excluding paper
  • Rollers and finishers, metal
  • Sheet metal workers and tinsmiths
  • Stationary engineers
  • Structural metal craftsmen
  • Telephone installers and repairmen
  • Tool and die makers
  • Checkers, examiners, and inspectors; manufacturing
  • Clothing ironers and pressers
  • Filers, polishers, sanders, buffers
  • Garage workers and gas station attendants
  • Mixing operatives
  • Drill press operatives
  • Grinding machine operatives
  • Sailors and deckhands
  • Sawyers
  • Carding, lapping and combing operatives
  • Spinners, twisters and winders
  • Weavers
  • Textile operatives, n.e.c.
  • Welders and flame-cutters
  • Winding operatives, n.e.c.
  • Machine operatives, miscellaneous specified
  • Miscellaneous operatives
  • Not specified operatives
  • Motormen; mine, factory, logging camp, etc.
  • Freight and material handlers
  • Longshoremen and stevedores
  • Hairdressers and cosmetologists

Asbestos Materials & Products

  • Pipe covering
  • Block
  • Insulating cement
  • Joint compound
  • Ceiling tile
  • Floor tile
  • Brakes
  • Clutches
  • Cloth
  • Fireproof clothes
  • Kent cigarette filters (1952-1956)
  • Grinding wheels
  • Refractory materials
  • Ironing board
  • Paint
  • Electrical wire
  • Electric motors
  • Cement pipe
  • Cement board
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