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The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town
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THE FINANCIAL PAGE
ASBESTOS, INC.
Issue of 2006-03-06Posted 2006-02-27
In the first half of the twentieth century, asbestos was known as the “magic mineral.” Its strength and durability made it ubiquitous in the industrial world, as a flame retardant, insulator, and adhesive.
In the United States alone, it was used in more than three thousand products—acoustic tiles, brake linings, air-conditioning systems, fireproofing.
Unfortunately, asbestos also does enormous damage to the human body.
In the nineteen-twenties, doctors first documented deaths from asbestosis—a scarring of the lungs caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibres—and it later became clear that asbestos was also to blame for a deadly cancer called mesothelioma.
Asbestos manufacturers knew at least some of these risks before the Second World War, but hid them.
This prevarication led to the deaths of tens of thousands of workers.
It also laid the groundwork for one of the costliest legal battles in U.S.
history.
Over the past thirty years, seventy billion dollars has been spent on asbestos litigation, and more than seventy companies have been driven into bankruptcy, and yet it’s far from certain that the guilty have been punished or the victims fairly compensated.
This year, the Senate seemed ready to pas...
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