National network of attorneys offers free evaluations involving consumer inquiries about compensation for exposure to asbestos as government officials cite peak in number of asbestos-caused diseases.
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) July 06, 2013
http://www.resource4thepeople.com/occupationaldisease/asbestos-lawsuits.html
Resource4thePeople announced today that it is recommending that consumers who may have developed malignant mesothelioma seek legal advice into whether their exposure to asbestos may make them eligible to seek compensation for medical costs and other expenses.
“Mesothelioma is a deadly cancer that is caused by exposure to asbestos and affects thousands of Americans each year,” said Resource4thePeople. “When this exposure is caused by negligence or violations of the laws designed to protect workers and the public at large these victims may be entitled to seek compensation.
“Our national network of experienced, aggressive mesothelioma lawyers will continue to offer free consultations to consumers who believe that they have developed mesothelioma as a result of first or second-hand exposure to this toxic material.”
In researching the U.S. government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site, reports show that federal officials say that the number of cases of asbestos-caused diseases is now peaking in the country. Here is part of the CDC report* that documents the changing asbestos scenario:
“In the past, asbestos exposure was associated mainly with mining and milling of the raw material and with workers engaged in construction and product manufacture or use of end products. In the industrialized west, these heavy asbestos exposures peaked during the 1960s and 1970s and then it declined as worker protection regulations were put in place and later as industrial use of asbestos decreased. Because of long latency periods (10–40 years), workers exposed to asbestos in the 1960s and 1970s are now manifesting asbestos-associated diseases. Indeed, the incidence of asbestos-associated diseases among people occupationally exposed is beginning to peak and will likely begin to decline sometime in the next 2 decades.
“Today in the United States, most occupational exposures occur during repair, renovation, removal, or maintenance of asbestos that was installed years ago. People can also be exposed at home, both to old sources of asbestos as a result of activities such as home renovation or to new sources of asbestos as a result of certain types of recreational activities and hobbies such as auto repairs or gardening, which may disturb natural outcroppings of asbestos in the environment.”
“Unfortunately, because mesothelioma is a rare cancer it has not drawn much public attention,” said Resource4thePeople. “However, the disease has such a long latency period that more and more victims are being diagnosed in their 50s, 60s and 70s."
The CDC also reported in an April 24, 2009 study,** that “Despite regulatory actions and the sharp decline in use of asbestos, potential exposure to asbestos continues, but most deaths from mesothelioma in the United States derive from exposures decades ago.”
The study also reported that “the annual number of mesothelioma deaths is still increasing, and future cases will continue to reflect the extensive past use of asbestos. New cases also might result through occupational and environmental exposure to asbestos during remediation and demolition of existing asbestos in buildings if controls are insufficient to protect workers and the surrounding community.”
Resource4thePeople is finding that the government officials have been correct in anticipating growing numbers of asbestos victims.
“There has been a recent surge in requests for complimentary consultations from those who, tragically, have been diagnosed with this deadly, aggressive cancer for which there is no cure," said Resource4thePeople.
Mesothelioma develops after victims unknowingly inhale microscopic particles of asbestos which lodge in the linings of the lungs, heart or abdominal organs and eventually generate cancer cells which form tumors or spread to other parts of the body.
In providing referrals to lawyers experienced in the area of asbestos litigation, Resource4thePeople notes that legal representation for asbestos victims has over the last several decades provided billions of dollars of compensation for loss of loved ones, medical and funeral expenses, loss of wages and pain and suffering.***
"One of the factors repeatedly raised in asbestos litigation is the question of negligence on the part of manufacturers, distributors and employer," said Resource4thePeople. "Many mesothelioma victims were completely unaware that they were being exposed to this toxic material and unaware of the life-threatening consequences.
Resource4thePeople also notes that over the last few years the average amount of compensation awarded by juries or reached in out-of-court settlements has continued to increase. These figures were recently documented in an investigative report published May, 11, 2012 by Reuters News Service:***
"No central registry keeps track of asbestos lawsuits filed yearly or their outcomes," Reuters said. "A tabulation of jury verdicts and settlements, based on an average of all asbestos-related lawsuits reported in Westlaw Journal Asbestos, a Thomson Reuters publication, found that the average award was $6.3 million in 2009, $17.6 million in 2010 and $10.5 million in 2011 — amounts much greater than what lawyers say was the norm more than a decade earlier.
"Clearly, mesothelioma and other asbestos-related payouts persist at levels companies and their insurers never expected. Insurers have been adding hundreds of millions of dollars to their asbestos-claim reserves. Travelers Cos, in its annual report for 2011, echoed its peers when it cited a "high degree of uncertainty with respect to future exposure from asbestos claims."
Resource4thePeople notes that in its Jan. 7, 2013 Report to the Nation about cancer statistics the National Cancer Institute, which says there are about 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma diagnosed in the country each year, reports encouraging news about decreases in cancer death rates.****
However, while some of the most common cancers such as lung, colon and rectum, female breast and prostate showed declines, mesothelioma was not among the cancers mentioned as showing an improvement in decreasing death rates.
Sources:
*http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/asbestos/docs/asbestos.pdf
**http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5815a3.htm
***http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/11/us-usa-asbestos-lawsuits-idUSBRE84A0J920120511
****http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/newsfromnci/2013/ReportNation
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/7/prweb10896578.htm
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