“We are now presented with an enormous opportunity to save workers from dying from lung cancer,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “Millions of workers have been exposed to asbestos, silica, chromium, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, nickel and combustion products – and all of these exposures are firmly established as causes of human lung cancer.”

Work-related lung cancer claims 10,000 to 20,000 workers annually and is the leading occupational cancer in the U.S. The landmark study is the first ever to prove that a screening method now exists that detects lung cancer at an early stage, one that permits early treatment and cure. The results were so convincing that the NCI halted the study early in order to inform participants and the general public about the effectiveness of applying low dose chest CT scans for the detection and treatment of lung cancer.

The USW currently sponsors the largest occupational lung cancer screening program in the United States, apart from the NCI trial. It is the CT scan-based Early Lung Cancer Detection Program and is co-sponsored by Queens College (City University of New York), and the Atomic Trades & Labor Council.

This program, funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), uses the same CT scan technique as the NCI trial and has screened over 10,000 nuclear weapons workers in three states between 2000 and 2010. Some 70 lung cancers, three-quarters of which are at an early stage, have been detected.

“Union health and safety leaders and others need to meet in the very near future in Washington DC to devise a strategy for assuring that high risk workers are among the first to obtain the benefits of this new screening method,” said Gerard.

Topics for discussion would include: identifying and notifying workers at high risk of lung cancer; revising OSHA medical surveillance standards to include lung cancer screening; stimulating NIOSH to use its educational and research mechanisms to promote and apply the science of lung cancer screening; engaging professional organizations, government agencies, and health insurers to ensure that high risk workers are a priority in establishing lung cancer screening programs; disseminating  current knowledge about lung cancer screening throughout labor and allied organizations; and, identifying and promoting funding for CT-based lung cancer screening.

“The goal is straightforward but urgent,” said Steven Markowitz, MD, the occupational medicine physician who directs the USW’s Early Lung Cancer Detection Program. “Workers at high risk of lung cancer should have rapid access to a high quality, appropriate, comprehensive CT scan-based lung cancer screening services without financial barriers. We can save many lives.”

The USW is the largest industrial union in North America and has 850,000 members in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. It represents workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, atomic energy and the service sector.

Source: The United Steel Workers Union

Contacts: Wayne Ranick (412) 562-2444
Jim Fredrick (724) 462-5364

This fact did not come to light for more than 45 years. In the meantime, the company was able successfully to avoid damage suits. Had the public known about this settlement, it is likely that the hazards of asbestos would have come to light decades earlier.

Companies like Alcoa that used asbestos in its daily manufacturing processes have denied knowing that asbestos exposure could be a danger to those who worked closely with the mineral. In fact, these companies have managed to set the late-1960s as the benchmark for when they could have known about the dangers of asbestos — nearly 40 years later!

Asbestos has been linked to mesothelioma, an aggressive and deadly form of cancer. It is difficult to diagnose and symptoms often take 20-30 years to manifest. Usually, by the time symptoms show up, it is too late to save the patient.

It is also entirely preventable. The best science we have tells us that those who have mesothelioma were exposed to asbestos at some time in the past. In other words, protect people from asbestos exposure and no one develops mesothelioma cancer.

Industrial concerns in the 1940-1970s knew that asbestos exposure led to harmful side effects, and even side effects that could be fatal. But, because it would cost money to change things, companies like Dow Chemical, Du Pont and Alcoa that used asbestos extensively chose to continue business as usual. Further, they avoided telling their employees that asbestos was harmful and even that they were working around it.

Even after it became well-known that asbestos could hurt — and kill — people, many of these companies continued to deny that there was anything wrong. W.R Grace in Montana gave the local high school asbestos-laced mine tailings to put on the track even though OSHA had been warnign about the dangers of the mineral for two decades. Alcoa’s plants in Texas failed to develop and implement proper safety standards until the mid-1990s, even though OSHA rules had been written in the early 1970s.

So, this is why many victims of mesothelioma feel that their employer’s greed is at fault for their terminal cancer, and why they work with experienced lawyers to file mesothelioma lawsuits against these companies.

Remember, if you have mesothelioma you were exposed to asbestos and could have grounds for a lawsuit. Contact an experienced Texas asbestos lawyer today.