News Coverage
Area 2nd in state in asbestos deaths
Published February 15, 2005
According to an environmental study released Monday, the Beaumont-Port Arthur area is second in Texas in asbestos-related deaths.
At least 259 Texans died in 2002 from two forms of asbestos diseases, the most recent data from the National Centers for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control showed.
Houston was first with 44 deaths and Beaumont/Port Arthur had 34. Dallas followed with 25. Texas ranks fifth nationwide for reported asbestos deaths from asbestosis and mesothelioma, the two most commonly recognized forms of asbestos disease, the study said.
From 1979 to 2002, 451 people have died from asbestos diseases in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area, according to study data.
The Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based research organization that produced the study, said this data reflects deaths only from two types of disease.
"On the national level, roughly 60 percent of the 10,000 people who die each year from asbestos exposure die from cancer or causes not reflected in mesothelioma or asbestosis mortality statistics," the study stated.
The study estimated the same trend holds true for Texas. It projects peak asbestos mortality rates in the state of about 1,000 people per year between 2015 and 2020.
On Feb. 7, a federal grand jury indicted the Libby, Mont.-based W.R. Grace asbestos company on multiple criminal charges of withholding from employees information on the dangers of working with asbestos, the study said.
The Grace company sent more than 675,000 tons of its product, contaminated with the most deadly form of asbestos, to 24 plants in Texas. Most went to the Dallas, Houston and San Antonio areas between 1963 and 1992. No shipments to the Beaumont-Port Arthur area appeared on a graphic map included in the study.
Federal health and environmental officials estimate that plant workers, families and people living near those plants probably had been exposed and should be examined for diseases, the study said.
As asbestos deaths continue to climb in Texas, a group that promotes controversial asbestos litigation legislation says its measures should help those most harmed by the treacherous fibers, not harm them in their efforts for relief.
Ken Hoagland, a spokesman for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, said the legal system as well as industry is in dire need of relief from the "tens of thousands" of lawsuits now flooding the courts from "plaintiffs showing no discernible illness."
Asbestos-related injury claims are not tracked in Texas, but some put the number of pending cases at about 100,000.
About 500 people from Texans for Lawsuit Reform will be in Austin today to present their case for asbestos litigation reform to the legislature.
Hoagland said rather than restricting the rights of those harmed by asbestos, the group's proposal would protect them.
Its plan is to put criteria in place to screen out plaintiffs showing no symptoms and dismiss their cases without prejudice, meaning that they can refile if they develop symptoms later.
The criteria are based on criteria developed by the American Bar Association in consultation with leading medical authorities, Hoagland said.
"We believe that so much money is being awarded to healthy claimants that true victims are receiving a fraction of what they should be receiving," Hoagland said. "Companies go out of business that need to provide compensation to victims.
"This legislation puts true victims first and takes out of the system healthy claimants -- but protects their right to sue at a later date," Hoagland said.