Asbestos...
Oregon Action, working with national allies such as USAction, successfully defeated Senate Bill 1125, a bill that would have restricted consumers' legal right to seek damages for illnesses and deaths caused by exposure to asbestos.

A Corporate Subsidy at the Expense of the Rest of Us
Americans are familiar with the dangers of asbestos. Many occupations pose a high asbestos exposure risk. These include insulating, shipbuilding, construction, auto repair, mining, and railroad work. Asbestos has also been used in over 3,000 consumer products. What most people don't know is that asbestos is still in wide-spread use.

Over 43,000 people have died from asbestos related diseases and most of those deaths were avoidable if industry and insurance companies had not colluded to keep their workers, the public and the government from knowing. An asbestos disease such as asbestosis or the cancer mesothelioma may take up to 40 years to develop encouraging companies to believe they could keep their culpability secret. One executive even wrote, "If you have enjoyed a good life while working with asbestos products, why not die from it."

As long ago as 1899, asbestos was believed to cause lung diseases. Even the ancient Romans made the connection between asbestos and poor health. Insurance companies who provided liability insurance to companies using asbestos were well aware of the dangers by the 1930's yet continued to write policies for decades — assuming the risk they now wish to evade. The cover-up of the dangers of asbestos continues. In January, 2003, the White House blocked the publication of an EPA public emergency warning about home insulation containing zonolite -- manufactured from asbestos-containing vermiculite. 35 million homes may be insulated with zonolite.

Even today, asbestos is not banned. Mechanics who work on car brakes and gaskets are exposed. Asbestos was only removed from children's crayons in 2000. Most potting soil is enhanced with vermiculite, which contains asbestos. There are literally dozens of products still on the market that contain asbestos and many of them are used in the home.

The insurance industry and manufacturers - who continued to insure and use asbestos despite knowing its danger - are seeking to evade responsibility by passing the bill to taxpayers. Claiming that litigation endangers their business while telling their shareholders the opposite, companies such as Halliburton are promoting the Hatch asbestos bill, S.B. 1125 to create a government administered trust fund for asbestos victims and eliminate liability on the part of the companies.

Because the companies have launched an extensive, but misleading, media campaign there are a lot is a lot of misinformation about this bill. Their website is worth reviewing just to note how their history of the crisis ignores how people were exposed to asbestos and focuses solely on the cost and inconvenience to the companies whom they hope you forget knowingly exposed workers and consumers to asbestos.  You can link here to an examination of the myths and the facts prepared by USAction.

Why Oregon Action Opposes SB 1125:

S. B 1125 DOESN’T STOP ASBESTOS EXPOSURE

• Doesn’t restrict or ban asbestos
• Doesn’t clean up asbestos contaminated sites
• Oregonians continue to be exposed to products containing asbestos
• The 35 million Americans at risk from asbestos exposure continue to remain at risk.

S. B 1125 DOESN’T ADEQUATELY SUPPORT VICTIMS

• Terminates legal rights of victims (no longer able to sue for criminal wrong-doing)
• Wipes out all pending settlements and confiscates already litigated settlements.
• Replaces settlements with smaller compensation amounts
• Creates a long waiting period; families coping with sickness and financial hardship may wait as long as 10 years and many will die before receiving compensation
• Offers $15.5 billion less to victims than the current negotiated settlements and pending trusts
• Doesn’t provide enough money to cover future claims.
• Sets an end-date after which additional asbestos victims will receive no assistance from the fund and still be prohibited from litigation.

• A dozen companies will save billions of dollars
  • Halliburton, $3.7 billion
  • Honeywell, $1.5 billion
  • W.R. Grace, $1.7 billion
• Shuts asbestos victims out of legal recourse
• Outs an end to the discovery process in these lawsuits that has exposed industry and insurance collusion in keeping the public and the government from knowing the dangers workers and the public were exposed to.
• Protects companies & insurers who knowingly exposed people from legal liability.

Updated February 25, 2007