Posted on July 22, 2016
Pictured are three generations of the family of Clarence and Thelma Borel. Earl Dotter on the right, next to him Dr. Jeffrey Levin, chairman of the Dept. of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the Dept. of Occupational Health Sciences. Photo: Jeff Johnson, UT Health Northeast
Earl Dotter brought his BADGES: A Memorial Tribute to Asbestos Workers and his LIFE’S WORK: A Fifty Year Photographic Chronicle of Working in the U.S.A. exhibits to Tyler, Texas, a city with a sad asbestos history, this past June. He was invited to present these two exhibits in conjunction with the Emerging Issues in Occupational and Environmental Health Conference and the Occupational Medicine Resident’s UT Health Northeast Graduation. These two exhibits were also well advertised, featured in the Tyler Morning Telegraph Newspaper. They were free and open to the public for several days before the conference and graduation.
It was an honor for Earl Dotter to interact with relatives of former worker’s harmed from asbestos exposure at the Pittsburg Corning Plant who came to see the BADGES exhibit. At the plant in Tyler workers manufactured asbestos products with asbestos imported from South Africa. The management of that plant then sold those empty burlap bags that had contained asbestos for use in wrapping rose bushes, a major local horticultural industry. Not only were workers in the plant exposed but also the workers in the local rose industry were seriously harmed from the asbestos fibers still in the bags.
Three generations of the family of asbestos plaintiff, Clarence Borel also came to see, the BADGES exhibit that highlights the significant role Mr. Borel played in being the first plaintiff “to open up the floodgates” for asbestos victim legal claims against the asbestos industry in the 1970’s. Three of Clarence and Thelma Borel’s children still suffer from the consequences of asbestos exposure today.
BADGES Poster Photo Plays Important Role in Advancing Successful TCSA Legislation
Photo: Jeff Johnson, UT Health Northeast
The photo of asbestosis victim Alan Reinstein held by his widow, Linda was taken at a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington on April 28, 2015. Thirteen months later, on June 22, 2016, President Obama signed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, updating the Toxic Substances Control Act for the first time in forty years. This photograph, is centrally located in the Asbestos Disease Awareness (ADAO) poster. Signed copies of the poster, by photographer Earl Dotter were placed directly into the hands of key legislators, helping to move this vital legislation forward to be signed into law.
By personalizing the loss asbestos victims and their families experienced in a tangible way, the poster image put human faces on those legions of workers who faced premature death with the family members who suffered great personal loss from before WWII to the present time.
Photo: Jeff Johnson, UT Health Northeast
ADAO is pleased to be a sponsor of BADGES: A Memorial Tribute to Asbestos Workers. As the BADGES exhibit continues to evolve in ways to address the present circumstances of today’s asbestos victims, Earl Dotter seeks ways to tell your story with photographs. If you have an asbestos story from your own direct experience that needs telling, Mr. Dotter would appreciate hearing from you. Click here to contact him.