Springfield Republican, Jo-Ann Moriarty
Published May 19, 2005
WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., blasted members of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday for being unwilling to study the link between asbestos exposure, smoking and lung cancer because the result may be too costly to be covered by the $140 billion asbestos trust fund bill.
Last week, members of the Judiciary Committee rejected Kennedy's amendment to restore liability coverage for workers who were exposed to asbestos for more than 15 years, smoked and developed lung cancer.
Kennedy said there is scientific evidence showing that people who smoke and were exposed to asbestos are 55 times more likely than other smokers to develop lung cancer.
Yesterday, Judiciary members rejected Kennedy's amendment to commission a study with the Institute of Medicine "to determine whether there is a causal link between asbestos exposure and lung cancer for individuals who have had substantial exposure to asbestos but have no evidence of bilateral pleural disease or of asbestosis."
To exclude people because of money, not science, was unfair, Kennedy said.
"... If it is a scientific issue, let's get the best science and let the researchers make a judgment decision," Kennedy said. "If you don't, you are making a decision in this committee that those people are going to be denied help and assistance and they are suffering, suffering, suffering."
The Senate Judiciary Committee is in the midst of completing a liability bill that would create a trust fund for asbestos victims instead of having the claims handled in court. The bill will set up the framework for those eligible. The $140 billion trust fund would be financed by asbestos companies and their insurers.
Kennedy said the bill is seriously flawed.
The bill as written would allow only non-smoking asbestos workers who meet certain elevated requirements for exposure and residents of Libby, Mont., where W.R. Grace owned an asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore mine to file claims.
Kennedy argued that W.R. Grace also owned a factory in Easthampton as well as 200 locations across the country. The closed Zonolite plant in Easthampton made attic insulation from the contaminated vermiculite that was shipped into Easthampton from the Montana mine. The plant operated between 1964 and 1983.
The Easthampton site received 258,000 tons of the contaminated ore, according to the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog.
A Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection official Wednesday said low levels of asbestos have been found near the factory and connecting rail trail. State officials asked for a delay in extending the rail trail until further investigation of the site. They said there is no immediate danger to residents or trail users.
The bill, as currently written, Kennedy said, wouldn't allow Easthampton residents, including those who lived in the area of the factory on Wemelco Way, to file a claim for a suspected asbestos-related disease or any of the people who lived in the cities and towns of the other 200 locations.
Kennedy said he plans to introduce an amendment next week to give coverage to Easthampton residents and he will work with U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is drafting an amendment to have residents of all the locations covered by the liability bill.
"If we are going to cover those people out in Montana, we ought to be covering the people of Easthampton, and we are going to address that issue during the course of the markup (the committee process of finalizing a bill)," Kennedy said.
