A short two week trial in the New York Supreme Court ended with a victory for mesothelioma victim and former laboratory chemist James Ginter late last week. Ginter spent a good portion of his working career at the Durez Plastics Plant in North Tonawanda, New York. It was here that his job put him in direct contact with asbestos and asbestos materials. Even worse—his job required him to grind these materials releasing asbestos fibers into the air multiplying the risk to his health.
Ginter was one of many who used the FAST (Friction Assessment Screening Test) Machine manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. With the machine, he filed and ground experimental materials, many of which contained asbestos, intended to be used in brake pads for automobiles. Many times his work space was left coated in a visible dust which contained varying percentages of asbestos.
It seems ridiculous that such callous disregard for health and safety went unnoticed seeing as how the dangers of asbestos were known as early as the 1940s and 1950s. However, the Ford Motor Company knew for a fact that their employees were dying of this preventable cancer as far back as the early 1970s and still allowed such work to continue.
This exposure eventually caused Ginter to develop mesothelioma, a deadly type of cancer caused by ingesting or inhaling asbestos fibers. Though he had been exposed to the hazardous materials years before, Ginter was not diagnosed until 2010. This is common, as with many mesothelioma victims, since the latency period can be decades from time of exposure until symptoms of mesothelioma develop. By the time of diagnosis, the cancer has usually reached late stages and is difficult to treat.
Supreme Court Justice Hon. John P. Lane, J.H.O., now retired, presided over the jury which awarded $2.5 million. They found Ford itself to be 15% responsible for the financial damages incurred by Ginter while the remainder of the responsibility fell on other corporate entities, many of whom settled with Ginter before the case went to trial.
Occupations concerned with the manufacture and maintenance of automobiles, trains, and ships of all sizes run the risk of exposure on the job. While the large majority of mesothelioma victims are like Ginter and have worked in factories, plants, and other industrial settings, carpenters, electricians, and other home repair workers are also in danger.
While asbestos use was severely restricted in the 1970s and banned in the 1980s -leaving most current industrial workers “out of the line of fire”- construction materials containing asbestos which were manufactured and put in place before the ban still exist. That means that the danger for asbestos exposure and mesothelioma diagnosis may be growing in populations of tradesmen and women who routinely come into contact with such materials.
In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory bodies urge anyone who must open walls, ceiling spaces, or floor spaces to be wary of asbestos materials.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2011 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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