Posted on October 21, 2013
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is thrilled to be featured in Jim Morris’ recent Center for Public Integrity article, “Facing Lawsuits Over Deadly Asbestos, Paper Giant Launched Secretive Research Program.” In it, Morris explains how the Atlanta based Georgia-Pacific Company attempted to reduce or shift its burden in addressing asbestos litigation claims by performing secret research that would hopefully exonerate its product as a carcinogen.
Morris explains that Georgia Pacific hired consultants, known for their defense work, to conduct studies alongside with the input from the company’s legal department. In their attempts to debunk the claims, Georgia Pacific tried to change how the claims were framed in regards to the effect that asbestos exposure has on an organ. In the article, David Egilman, editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health and a consultant for asbestos plaintiffs, was cited as stating, “the key question is not how long the fibers remain in the target organ, but rather, do the fibers persist long enough to induce the disease (e.g., induction of mutations when cancer is the outcome of interest)? The answer to this question is clearly yes.”
Sadly this isn’t a recent turn of events. “The dangers of asbestos were first noted more than a century ago by British factory inspectors,” said Barry Castleman, an asbestos historian, environmental consultant, and ADAO scientific advisory board member.
Here at ADAO, however, we are noticing a change in public perception that has begun to question and pressure companies and or individuals who have knowingly exposed people to asbestos. The recent reports regarding the deny and delay tactics of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and the calls for Schmidheiny’s honorary degree to be repealed are illustrating a shift. The days of employing the tactics of lie, deny, and delay at the victim’s expense are coming to an end.
Together, change is possible.
Linda Reinstein