Asbestos has many properties (flame retardant, heat resistant, good electrical insulator, flexible and excellent tensile strength) which made it into a favored material of many industries in the twentieth century. It was used for diverse applications such as flame retardant coatings, insulation on pipework, and clutch and brake pads in automobiles. There are actually six silicate minerals which are classed as asbestos. There all share the property of having long, fibrous crystals, and it is those crystals (fibers), which present the health danger to workers who breath the dust. For almost one hundred years it has been known that the material caused diseases including cancers, mesothelioma and asbestosis. Compensation cases brought by the victims have led to substantial amounts of litigation in the courts.
The use of asbestos became very widespread in the second half of the nineteenth century, and at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was used as an insulation material as early as 1866, and commercial scale mining started in 1874 in Canada. During the twentieth century applications included fire-retardant coats, automobile brake pads, pipe insulation, fireplace cement and many others.
The health problems associated with fiber/dust inhalation began to be noticed in the early years of the 20th century. At the start of the century people became concerned about the high levels of lung disease and premature death in mining towns. The diseases asbestosis and mesothelioma were identified for the first time in the 1920s and 1930s, and industry regulation was enforced by statute on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1930s and 1940s.
It is now thought that the death and illness rate from asbestosis, mesothelioma and related cancers will grow for at least the next ten years. Many workers who were exposed to the dust will develop diseases, as the latency period is very long. There is also continuing and widespread use of the material in developing countries, including India and China, and also in Russia.
Many asbestosis and mesothelioma claims have been made in courts in the US and in other countries. In the largest ever tort case in US history there were more than 700,000 claimants and over 8,000 defendants.
Court settlements have also been brought before the Supreme Court. In 1997 and 1999 two class action settlements were rejected by the court. This was because they would have unfairly treated future claimants. Diseases like mesothelioma have very long latency periods, and mesothelioma claims can be expected for many years from people who have been exposed to asbestos already.
The US Congress has attempted to legislate for some of the compensation problems. An act was proposed in 2005, which would have set up a trust fund. Contributions to the fund would come from insurers, manufacturers, and bankruptcy trusts, but the bill did not become law, as it did not gain support from either the victims or the corporations.
Many companies have been forced to file for bankruptcy protection because of the liabilities they face from asbestosis and mesothelioma claims. John-Manville Corporation was the first of these, in 1982. At the time they faced more than 16,000 law suits. Companies which file for bankruptcy protection are usually required to set up trust funds to pay out future claims. Generally payments from these funds will be less than those obtained by taking a non-bankrupt company to court, but it is fairer that the money is shared out amongst more claimants.
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