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ABC News: Gloomy asbestos study criticized at Senate hearing
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Gloomy asbestos study criticized at Senate hearing
ReutersNov 17, 2005 — By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study that said a proposed $140
billion asbestos victims' compensation fund would quickly run
out of money came in for criticism at a U.S.
Senate hearing on
Thursday.
An economist and a medical director who have worked on
asbestos issues questioned the analysis by Bates White, a
Washington economic consulting firm.
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Several senators nonetheless said questions about the
proposed fund's viability had to be resolved before the Senate
takes up a bill to establish the compensation plan.
"If this isn't known before the New Year, I don't know how
we can consider this bill on the floor in January," said Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who supported the fund
when the Judiciary Committee approved the bill in May.
The Senate bill would end hundreds of thousands of asbestos
injury lawsuits and create a trust of $140 billio...
Read more...