Asbestos Victims Get Increased Compensation

The full implication of the hazards caused by asbestos for workers in the shipbuilding, construction, and other industries-and for their family members-are only slowly becoming known. But a decision handed down October I by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. may help make it possible for many of the eight to I 1 million Americans who have worked in asbestos-related industries since the 1940's to obtain compensation for the injuries they have incurred as a result of asbestos exposure. Asbestos-related diseases include: asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma (cancer of the lung or gastrointestinal wall lining).

The court decided that any insurance company which ever insured Kenne Corporation, a manufacturer of insulation products containing asbestos, bears full responsibility for the asbestos-related injuries or diseases of all workers employed at the time Keene was covered by the insurance company-no matter when the diseases manifest themselves. Since Keene was covered by different insurance companies at different times, the firms should decide among themselves how to share their responsibility for damage claims, the judge's decision stated.

By making more than one insurance company liable for workers' claims, the decision greatly enlarges the amount of money which is available to Keene asbestos damage claimants, of which there are already more than 10,000.

It also "clarifies the law" concerning liability for all such work-hazard-related claims, according to Sheldon Samuels of the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union Department. More than 50 chemicals and other substances cause work-related diseases which entitle workers to sue present or former employers for damages, Samuels said. In the case of asbestos, these payments to workers have ranged from a few thousand dollars to more than $20,000; court costs and legal fees can more than quadruple the total cost per claim, however.

Not only workers who encounter asbestos in the workplace, but also their family members, run increased risk of contracting asbestos-related diseases. In a study whose results were released last month by Dr. Kaye H. Kilburn of the University of Southern California's Medical School, 59% of male workers and 10% of their wives -who had no asbestos exposure outside the household-were found to have asbestosis.

The study was conducted in Long Beach, California this year. The respondents were all shipyard workers who had first been exposed to asbestos 20 or more years ago. A small percentage of their sons and daughters, who had no other exposure to asbestos, had also contracted asbestosis.

Asbestos is used as an insulator and as a component of floor and ceiling tiles and cement. In addition to shipbuilding-where substitutes have now been found -the industries where it is used include manufacturing and installation of automobile brake and clutch linings, furnaces, W kilns, and roofing tiles; cement production and application; demolition; paper, paint, plastics, and plumbing industries; and asbestos mining and milling.