Asbestos Related Diseases From 1940 to 1999 - How Asbestos Companies Continued Their Cover Up

Companies that were involved with workers who mined, manufactured, worked with, or were insured by companies in the asbestos industry have known how harmful and life threatening asbestos exposure is since the beginning of the twentieth century. Yet, for the majority of that time, they have denied and/or covered up that knowledge and often have denied the life threatening dangers that are associated with working with asbestos.


As far back as 1918 a medical statistician for the Prudential Life Insurance Company noted that life insurance companies generally deny coverage for asbestos employees because of the "assumed health-injurious conditions of the industry."In the next two decades companies such as Johns-Manville and Raybestos Manhattan attempted to cover up any information that connected asbestos to asbestos related diseases.

By 1942 Owens Corning joined the fray. One of their corporate memorandums referred to "medical literature on asbestosis… [and] scores of publications in which the lung and skin hazards of asbestos are discussed."Following are some additional examples of how the cover up ensued from that point on:1942 - 1943 - The president of Johns-Manville called the managers of another asbestos company "a bunch of fools for notifying employees who had asbestosis."According to deposition testimony, when someone heard this statement and asked, "Do you mean to tell me you would let them work until they drop dead?" the president of the company responded, "Yes. We save a lot of money that way."1944 - Forty two cases of asbestosis are found amongst one hundred ninety five asbestos miners by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.1944 - An article in the Journal of Medical Association says that asbestos is one of the "agents known or suspected to cause occupational cancer."1948 - A summary of a paper that included the statement written by the chief pathologist at E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Company that suggests that the petroleum industry "aim at the complete elimination of the exposure" to asbestos was received by the oil giants who were members of the American Petroleum Institute's Medical Advisory Committee.

1951 - Prior to publication of research that they sponsored, asbestos companies removed any reference to cancer that was related to asbestos exposure.1953 - The safety director of National Gypsum attempted to recommend that the Indiana Division of Industrial Hygiene have acoustic plaster mixers wear respirators "because of the asbestos used on the product."Prior to delivery of the letter another official of the company noted that the safety director's letter was "full of dynamite" and urged that it be retrieved before being sent to the Indiana Division of Industrial Hygiene.

A subsequent memo noted that the company "succeeded in stopping" the letter. It also stipulated that the letter "will be modified."1964 - The Journal of the American Medical Association publishes a study by Dr. Irving Selikoff that proved that people who worked with materials that contained asbestos had an abnormal incidence of lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma.1989 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bans asbestos and most of the uses of asbestos.1991 - A federal lawsuit is won by asbestos companies. It overturns the EPA's ban on asbestos.1999 - The Florida Supreme Court described Owens Corning as having a "blatant disregard for human safety involving large numbers of people put at life threatening risks" when it ruled that the company willfully withheld information concerning the dangers of working with Owens Corning asbestos products.If you have been diagnosed with an asbestos related disease then wouldn't it be in your best interest to hire an asbestos attorney to represent you in a lawsuit directed at the company that caused your illness?