Asbestos Info

The asbestos story is one of the great tragedies in modern times.  Beginning in the 1940s many industries began using asbestos to manufacture products we use every day.  These included products like cement, insulation, brake linings, flooring products, room shingles and textiles.

The reason asbestos is so dangerous is that the body cannot eliminate asbestos dust or fibers that are inhaled into the lungs or ingested into the stomach.  These fibers stay in the body and act as an irritant to the fluid and lining that protect our organs.  These irritants eventually produce cancer cells and tumors within the body that develop into mesothelioma.

As the health concerns about asbestos became public knowledge their use in products has been greatly reduced.  Unfortunately for many years companies either failed or refused to put the proper safety programs in place which would have limited exposure to asbestos. Our job as attorneys is to help determine where you may have been exposed to asbestos and to help secure compensation for your losses.

Health officials estimate that between 1940 and 1970 as many as 27.5 million people had work-related exposure to asbestos. This number is not surprising when you consider the ways people can be exposed to asbestos dust or fibers:

• ship building and repair
• residential and commercial construction
• brake and clutch work
• insulation manufacturing

Asbestos related disease can take anywhere from 20 – 50 years to show symptoms so unfortunately the numbers of patients being diagnosed continues to grow each year.