Deseret Morning News, Jerry Spangler
Published May 3, 2005
WASHINGTON -- More than 200,000 asbestos liability lawsuits are now pending in state and federal courts, according to Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah.
But an analysis by the Environmental Working Group Action Fund has found that Utahns are noticeably not jumping on that bandwagon.
Only 313 Utahns have "sought justice" for asbestos exposure, the study found, whereas 155 Utahns have died of asbestos poisoning since 1979. Nationally, more than 10,000 people die every year from asbestos diseases -- about half of them asbestos-caused lung cancer -- the study found.
Those small numbers come despite the fact 50,339 tons of highly toxic vermiculite was shipped from Libby, Mont., for industrial and manufacturing use in Utah, most of it going to Salt Lake City and a smaller amount to Richfield.
The shipments were enough to rank Utah 25th nationally in terms of Libby shipments.
The analysis of the Libby shipments is part of a campaign by Environmental Working Group Action Fund to force fundamental changes in a Senate bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would create a $140 billion asbestos trust fund that would pay out claims.
While the legislation provides special treatment for people living in Libby, the group claims the legislation is "unusually harsh" on people elsewhere who are dying of asbestos-related diseases by denying or limiting assistant to those exposed after 1974.
"The people of Libby are entirely deserving of special consideration, but they aren't the only ones who were exposed to Libby's particularly toxic vermiculite," said Laura Just with Environmental Working Group.
The Senate bill devalues asbestos exposure by 50 percent if it occurred after 1976 and by 90 percent after 1986.
"By the time most people with asbestos-caused lung cancer accumulate enough exposure to qualify for help under the bill's convoluted criteria, they will already have died of the disease, or the fund will have run its course and terminated," said Richard Wiles Sr., vice president of the fund.
The group is concerned that the asbestos trust fund legislation would make it harder for victims to receive compensation. And it points out that the legislation does not incorporate standard medical criteria.
Cannon has introduced a competing asbestos litigation reform bill that utilizes medical criteria established by the American Medical Association. It also specifies that people can sue only after they become sick.
The Action Fund has not reviewed Cannon's bill and could not comment on whether that approach would satisfy its concerns.
Republicans and Democrats agree that asbestos litigation has gotten out of hand, with 60,000 lawsuits last year alone, many by people who aren't even sick, Cannon said. He added the lawsuits have resulted in scores of bankruptcies, 60,000 lost jobs and billions of dollars in lost revenue to the economy.
Between 1940 and 1980, some 27.5 million workers were exposed to asbestos on the job, and almost 19 million were exposed to high levels over long periods.
Workplace standards limiting asbestos exposure were not adopted by federal regulators until 1994.
