Asbestos Used by Brake Workers Linked to Malignant Mesothelioma

A recent study published in the Annals of Occupational Hygiene finds that exposure to chrysotile asbestos fiber manufactured by a friction materials factory, Raybestos Manhattan Inc., was causally to malignant mesothelioma, a rare and fatal disease. This appears to be consistent with the association previously established among Quebec asbestos miners and at a South Carolina asbestos textile factory. 


Raybestos Manhattan formerly had many frictional materials plants in operation throughout the US. One facility was located in Passaic NJ. That plant closed in June of 1975. Hundreds of workers' compensation claims were filed by the former workers who suffered from illnesses as a result of the exposure to asbestos fiber. Claims were also filed against the manufacturers and distributors of asbestos products including the asbestos mines in Quebec. 


Annals of Occupational Hygiene, doi:10.1093/annhyg/meq046 


Click here to read more about asbestos related disease and claims for benefits. For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered asbestos related illnesses.

Quebec to Resuscitate Its Asbestos Industry

Despite a public outcry and world wide outrage, the Quebec government is now poised to infuse the Province's idle asbestos mining industry with financial support to bring it back to life.  The Montreal Gazette reports that the cabinet of Quebec Premiere Jean Charest's cabinet is about to approve a $58 Million loan to activate the Jeffry Mine in Asbestos, Quebec. The mine has been idle since 2002. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been causally linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare and fatal malignancy. Hundreds of thousands of claims have been filed against the asbestos industry for direct liability. Verdicts continue to be reported in record number in cases filed by asbestos victims and their families. While asbestos use has been banned in many countries, Canada and the United States have yet to ban is use.  Click here to read more about asbestos related disease and claims for benefits. For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com  has been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered asbestos related illnesses.

Canadian Asbestos Hypocrisy

Despite the fact that asbestos is a know cancer producing agent, Quebec liberals have won their battle to continue asbestos mining. In 2008 asbestos amounted to a $100 Million dollars business in Canada. Canada exports the majority of its asbestos to developing counties which amounts to 175,000 tons per year. 


Over 100 scientists from 28 nations had written a letter in support of a ban on asbestos production in Canada.  “We appeal to you to respect the overwhelmingly consistent body of scientific evidence and the considered judgment of the World Health Organization (WHO) that all forms of asbestos have been shown to be deadly and that safe use of any form of asbestos has proven impossible anywhere in the world,” the letter began. “Under Canadian law, chrysotile asbestos is classified as a hazardous substance, but the Quebec government has successfully lobbied to prevent it being recognized as such under international environmental law, thus creating a double standard of protection as if some lives were less deserving of protection than others.”


The Canadian Journal of Medicine had also endorsed a ban on Canadian asbestos production. "Canada's government must put an end to this death-dealing charade. Canada must immediately drop its opposition to placing chrysotile under the Rotterdam Convention's notification and consent processes and stop funding the Chrysotile Institute. More importantly, Canada should do its part in alleviating the global epidemic of asbestos-related disease by ending the mining and export of chrysotile, as the WHO recommends."


Asbestos causes multiple diseases including: asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. For decades US victims of asbestos related disease have sought benefits under the workers' compensation system from employers. They have also filed claims under the civil justice system against suppliers, manufacturers and distributors of asbestos products. Due to the latency of the disease from exposure to manifestation, despite the reduction in the use of asbestos fiber, the disease continues to be very prevalent in the US and throughout the world.


Click here to read more about efforts to ban asbestos production in the US.

Quebec's The Selling of Asbestos Called "Immoral"

The Montreal Gazette has called for a ban on the sale of asbestos. Asbestos continues to be  mined in Quebec.

Asbestos is a long known carcinogen causally related to asbestos, lung cancer and  mesothelioma (a rare and fatal disease.) A major effort has been underway internationally to ban asbestos as the epidemic of asbestos disease continues to be rampant.  Injured workers and their families have inundated workers' compensation system throughout the US highlighting insufficiencies in the system to provide adequate benefits and straining the traditional tort system.

In an editorial the paper stated, "The day should be long gone when a civilized society such as Quebec's knowingly sells a carcinogenic substance - asbestos - to a poorer, developing country such as India."" In an interview with an Indian publication in December, New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin said, 'Asbestos and tobacco are the two industries where the industry knows well it is killing people, but it survives by junk science and aggressive lobbying of politicians.'"

"A coalition of more than 100 scientific experts from 28 countries sent a letter to Charest [Quebec's Premier] last week, on the eve of his trade-mission visit to India, pointing out that Quebec is facing an uspurge of asbestos-related illness. Asbestos is to blame, the province's workers' compensation board says, in 60 per cent of the 104 cases of Quebec workers who died from work-related causes in a seven-month period last year."

Click here to read more about asbestos and workers' compensation. 

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NJ Workers' Compensation Carriers Win a "Get Out of Jail Card" on Asbestos Liability Claims

Workers' compensation insurance companies have a long history of guarding themselves from liability from asbestos exposure issues. Recently the NJ courts have ruled that workers' compensation insurance companies are shielded from liability when the insurance company performs hygiene studies and does not take action to protect the employees that it has insured under the policy. This ruling further limits the ability of asbestos victims to obtain benefits.

The court in Fackelman v Lac d'Amiante du Quebec, LTEE, et al ruled on that workers' compensation carriers are shielded from liability for failing to notify workers of known hazards on the job site and take efforts to correct them. An asbestos victim worked at the Owens-Corning plant in Berlin NJ for 10 months as a stripper of Kaylo, asbestos pipe covering. The ambient air conditions were described as "dusty" and "foggy" in the plant. His employer provided no information to the employee about presence of high levels of asbestos fiber and a mask was not required to be worn. Air testing was conducted by the workers' compensation insurance carrier, but the employees were not informed as to the results nor the hazards of asbestos fiber. The employee was diagnosed with asbestosis in 2002.

Between 1958 and 1972 Aetna insurance company conducted air testing at the plant. The testing revealed that asbestos in the air (10,000,000 parts per cubic foot) at the plant far exceeded the minimal standards then in place. Aetna had meetings with Owens and discussed with Owens Corning, the employer, what actions should be taken to improve the industrial environment.

The asbestos worker filed a civil action against Aetna for failing to warn the employees of the hazardous conditions and for its failure to minimize the exposure to a safe level at the Owens Corning plant. The Court dismissed the case and did not extent third party liability against the workers' compensation carrier. The court reasoned that there was no surrender of responsibility to maintain a safe workplace from the employer to the insurance carrier. The court also held that there was no common law liability for an insurance carrier did not have a duty "to reduce the risks of exposure or to warn the employees directly."

The long history of the involvement of the insurance industry with the asbestos industry has been memorialized in depositions and affidavits for decades. The conspiracy of silence has lead to premature and needless and agonizing deaths of those who have been exposed to asbestos fiber. NJ has been reported to have one of the highest rates of asbestos related disease in the US. That should be no surprise since it is the legacy of the State's enormous rate of asbestos production during the war years and shortly thereafter.

The NJ compensation system for the payment of benefits to asbestos victims is stagnant. The recent legislation to provide benefits from the "Uninsured Employers Fund" has been ineffective in moving the cases along and adequately compensating asbestos victims. The civil litigation system has been bogged down in bureaucratic bankruptcies. Hopefully the NJ Legislature will see fit to review this inequitable situation and provide the speedy and remedial benefits to asbestos victims.