Asbestos Law

Asbestos law is designed to protect workers against the risks of developing mesothelioma or other medical problems due to exposure to asbestos, or to compensate them for the results of such exposure. As well as mesothelioma, asbestosis which is a lung disease which can totally prevent lung function, and other forms of cancer, are also caused by exposure to the chemical.

The law itself, as well as its application, attracts a very wide variety of views. Some say that many claims are unjustifiable. On the other hand some doctors point out that many patients have worked at many different companies each of which might have exposed them to asbestos, and the resulting legal complications cause despair in patients and those who try to help them.

Personally I find it strange that the law seems to suggest that employers are totally responsible for the exposure, where the same data is just as available to the employees who are for some reason considered incapable of responsibility in any way.

While around sixty countries have banned asbestos use totally or partially, there is still complete lack of knowledge or action in many developing countries, inevitably resulting in major medical problems for their future. While developed countries might ban use of asbestos in their own country, they are still currently legally entitled to mine and export it to other countries who use it irresponsibly. An example of this is Canada, who exports the chemical mainly to Asia.

The first lawsuits on the subject were made in 1929. Some companies have been proved to have hard evidence that their workers suffered from associated diseases, yet deliberately withheld such data from the employee so they could continue to work for the company. Many companies defending against legal actions have filed for bankruptcy.

Law firms compete aggressively to represent clients, as the claims can be more than ten million dollars. The mesothelioma latency period of many decades makes legal actions more complex as the disease might not be diagnosed for 50 years after the exposure.

Asbestos law is a controversial area and is likely to remain so. The numbers of those suffering from the disease may continue to increase until about 2016 in the western world and is only just beginning in developing countries.

For more info see Asbestos Claim

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 8:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized, mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.