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Asbestos Companies and the Corporate Cover-Up

Today, asbestos is universally recognized as a highly toxic substance. But just a few decades ago, asbestos was one of the most widely used materials in the U.S. It was used as a building material and the base ingredient for thousands of products. Sadly, this proliferation of asbestos resulted in the biggest man-made epidemic in history which claimed countless lives.

The scale of the human tragedy caused by asbestos could have been significantly reduced if the companies that mined and sold asbestos and asbestos-based products had not denied and concealed the true danger of asbestos from the American public.

If you or someone in your family has been impacted by asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, you can get financial compensation from these companies by filing an asbestos lawsuit. Contact our asbestos lawyers today.


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Asbestos Companies Knew About the Dangers Very Early On

The industrial use of asbestos dates back to around the 1870s when the mineral started being mined and used commercially on a large scale. It didn’t take long for the first signs of danger to emerge. By the late 1890s, the European medical community first began to notice and document signs of respiratory problems in people who mined and worked with asbestos.

The first documented report identifying a link between occupational asbestos exposure and serious respiratory disease came from a British factor inspector in 1898. Similar accounts were published in France (1907) and Italy (1908). The U.S. publication regarding the health hazards of working around asbestos did not come until 1918.

Medical case study reports documenting the symptoms of asbestosis appeared in the 1920s. IN 1930, a magazine published a Report on the Effects of Asbestos Duston the Lungs and Dust Suppression in the Asbestos Industry, which was one of the first scientific articles about the hazards of asbestos. Later that year, the U.S. Department of Labor called for the asbestos industry to implement exhaust systems and other safety measures.

Origins of the Asbestos Cover-Up

The conspiracy by the asbestos industry to conceal the health dangers of asbestos dates back to 1935. During that year, a group of over 50 of the most significant industrial companies in the country sent representatives to the “Symposium on Dust Problems at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research.” At this symposium, the groundwork for the asbestos cover-up was laid.

A crucial part of the plan involved the creation of various industry trade groups that were deceptively named to create the false and misleading impression that they were quasi-government organizations aimed at promoting health and safety. For example, the Air Hygiene Foundation (later renamed the Industrial Hygiene Foundation) was established in 1936. The primary purpose of this organization was to protect industrial corporations against occupation injury claims, but it outwardly appeared to be a public interest organization.

The Industrial Hygiene Foundation and the other trade groups posing as health agencies then started publishing what were held out to be “official” health and safety standards for things like air quality, and asbestos exposure. These standards purported to be based on scientific research and data, but they were actually not based on anything. These safety standards were very high levels that were arbitrarily set to help protect companies from liability.

After creating and publishing these self-serving safety standards, the industry organization then started lobbying various government organizations to formally adopt the standards and give them the force of law. For the most part, these efforts were successful and once the standards were adopted by the government agencies, they gave the companies a powerful shield that would take decades to penetrate.

Suppression of Asbestos Occupational Exposure Claims

The creation of their own self-made safety standards and regulations beginning in the 1930s was so effective that it gave the asbestos companies a free pass that lasted for several decades. The companies used the safety standards to effectively block all external claims and questions about the possible hazards of asbestos.

Meanwhile, executives at asbestos companies continued to receive a steady stream of internal evidence and information about the impact that asbestos exposure was having on the health of their employees. Medical reports detailing the clear link between death and disease and asbestos were deliberately concealed from the public and the employees.

Rather than implement protective safety measures or provide employees with personal protective equipment to prevent harm from asbestos exposure, the asbestos companies simply fell back on their safety standards and ignored the evidence. When employees got sick, they were bought off with very small compensation payments.

When the first asbestos lawsuits started getting filed, the asbestos companies claimed they were unaware of the potential dangers of asbestos. They also cited the safety standards as evidence. These defenses worked fairly effectively and many of the earliest asbestos cases resulted in defense victories.

The Sumner Simpson Papers

The industry-wide asbestos conspiracy was dramatically and conclusively exposed in 1977 by a stash of 6,000 pages worth of documents called the Sumner Simpson papers were found during civil discovery in an asbestos lawsuit. The Sumner Simpson papers provided detailed proof of how the asbestos industry collectively concealed and covered up the dangers of asbestos for decades.

The “Sumner Simpson Papers” are documents from two American asbestos-producing corporations: Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville. Named after the president of Raybestos-Manhattan at that time, these documents have been used as evidence in lawsuits and have played a significant role in the history of asbestos litigation.

In the early 20th century, the harmful effects of asbestos were already known among the scientific and medical community, but the general public was largely unaware. The “Sumner Simpson Papers” reveal that both the Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville corporations were aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure but chose to suppress this information in an effort to protect their profits.

They Knew What Asbestos Did

This secret correspondence between Sumner Simpson of Raybestos-Manhattan and Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville took place during the 1930s and 1940s. In these letters, the executives discussed the need to keep quiet about the health risks of asbestos to their workers and the general public. They also conspired to influence scientific research and publications regarding asbestos in order to downplay its harmful effects.

The papers were discovered in the 1980s and have since played a crucial role in asbestos litigation. They have been used as evidence to prove that the asbestos industry was aware of the dangers of their products, yet continued to produce and sell them without warning their workers or the public.

Litigation Turning Point

The extent of the corporate conspiracy revealed by these documents was shocking and generated much public attention. This was the pivotal turning point in the history of asbestos and asbestos litigation. The Sumner Simpson papers led to thousands of asbestos lawsuits, billions in compensation payouts to victims, and countless corporate bankruptcies.

The exposure of the asbestos cover-up conspiracy has enabled victims who were harmed by asbestos exposure to bring civil lawsuits and get billions of dollars in jury payouts and settlement compensation for victims of asbestos-related diseases and their families.

List of Companies Involved in Asbestos Lawsuits

All of the companies listed below have or had some involvement or connection to the manufacture, design or sale of asbestos or asbestos-based products. This list also includes companies that have indirect liability for asbestos injuries because they owned subsidiaries that used to make asbestos products or they made products that required the use of asbestos.

If you believe you have been exposed to asbestos through your work, browse our partial list below of companies linked to asbestos exposure. If you have worked at one of these asbestos companies in the past, you should tell your doctor you may have been exposed to asbestos.

3M Companies

ABB Inc.

ABB Lummus

ABB Lummus Global, Inc

A.P. Green Industries

A.P.I. Inc of Minnesota

Aldrich Pump L.L.C. & Murray Boiler L.L.C./Trane U.S. Inc.

Alfa Laval Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to Sharples, Inc., Alfa-Laval Separation, Inc. and DeLaval Separator Company

Allis-Chalmers A.W. Chesterton Company

Allis-Chalmers Corporation

American Asbestos Company

American Biltrite Inc.

American Cyanamid

American Electric Power

American Foreign Steamship

American Home Products

American Honda Corp.

American Insulated Wire

American International Co.

American Optical Company

American Olean Tile Co.

American Saturated Felt

American Standard

Amatex Corporation

Amber Supply Co.

Amchem/American Chemical

Amcord

Anchor Packing Co

Anco Insulation

Anheuser Busch

API Heat Transfer

Aqua Chem

Argo International Corp.

Armstrong International

Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Ashland Specialty Chemical

Astra Flooring Company

AT&T Corp.

Atlantic Richfield Company

Atlas Electric Supply Co.

Atlas Heating and Ventilating

Atlas Turner

Attransco Ship Management

Aurora Pump Company

Auto Barn Stores

Automatic T.L.C. Fuel Oil

Autozone Inc.

Avco Corp.

Aventis Cropscience U.S.A. Inc.

Avocet Enterprises

Avondale Industries Inc.

Babcock & Wilcox

Badger Metals Inc.

Baker Hughes Oilfield

Bakers Pride Oven Co.

Baldor Electric Company

Barko Hydraulics, Llc

BASF SE

Bartells Asbestos Settlement Trust

Bath Iron Works

Bayer Corp.

Bayonne Plumbing Supply

Beadex

Bear Stearns Companies

Bechtel Corp.

Beckett Corp.

Beech Aircraft Corp.

Belden Wire and Cable Co.

Bell & Gossett Company

Bell Asbestos Mines Ltd.

Bell Atlantic Corp.

Bendix Corp. fka AlliedSignal

Bergen Tile & Linoleum Co.

Best Manufacturing Co.

Bestobell Steam Traps

Bethlehem Apparatus

BF Goodrich Company

B.H.P. Copper

Biltrite Corp., The

Bird Incorporated

Blackman Plumbing Supply

BMW of North America, Llc

BNSF Railway Company

Boeing Company, The

Bohn Aluminum

Boise Cascade Corp.

Borg Warner Automotive

Bostik

Bondex International

B.P. Amoco

Brauer Supply Company

Bridgestone Tire Co.

British Airways Plc

Buffalo Air Handling

Buffalo Pumps

Burnham Corp.

Burns & Roe

Burns International Services

CE Thurston

California Portland Cement

Camden Flooring Company

Canteen Corp.

Capital Gypsum

Carboline Company

Carborundum Company

Carey Canada Mines

Carlisle Companies Inc.

Carrier Corporation

Carver Pump Company

Caterpillar

C.B.S. Corp.

Celotex

Central Hudson Gas & Electric

Central Jersey Supply

Central Pipe Supply

Central Power & Light

CertainTeed Corporation

Champion Friction Co.

Chemrex

Chevron Corp.

Chevron Shipping Co.

Chicago Bridge & Iron

Chicago Fire Brick

Chicago Pneumatic

Chiquita Brands International

Ciba-Geigy Corp.

Cilco Energy Corp.

Clarage Fan Company

Cleaver Brooks Co.

Colonial Sugar & Refining

Coltec Industries

Columbia Acoustics

Columbia Boiler Co.

Columbia Pictures Industries

Combustion Engineering

Comet Auto Supply

Commonwealth Edison

Compudyne Corp.

Conagra Foods

Conair Corp.

Congoleum

Connecticut Light & Power

Consolidated Edison of N.Y.

Consolidated Insulation

Consolidated Rail Corp.

Conval

Conwed Corp.

Cooper Industries

Cooper Tire & Rubber

Cooper-Standard Automotive

Core Furnace Systems Corp.

Corning Inc.

Corrpro Companies

Courter & Company

Crane Co.

Crescent Electric Supply

Crocker-Wheeler Company

Crosby Valve

Crown Boiler Co.

Crown Cork & Seal Company

C.S.R. Limited

CSX Transportation Inc.

Custom Building Products

Cutler-Hammer

Cypress Plumbing & Heating

Cyprus Amax Minerals Co.

D.A. Stuart Company

D.L. Steiner

DAL-Tile International

Dana Corporation

D.A.P.

DB Riley

Dean Pump Division

Deere & Company

DeKalb Tile Company

Delaval Steam Turbine

Dereco Inc.

Dial Corp., individually and as successor to Griscom-Russell Schack Company, Inc.

Detroit Stoker Company

Diamond National Corp.

Dole Foods

Domco Products Texas, L.P.

Donald Durham Company

Donaldson Acoustics Co.

Donlee Technologies

Douglass Insulation

Dow Chemical Company

Dowman Products

Dresser-Rand

Duke Power Energy Carolinas

Dunkirk

Dupont

Durabla

Durametallic Corp.

Durfee Hardware

Dynamic Seals

Duro Dyne Corporation

E&B Mill Supply

E. J. Bartells Company

Eagle-Picher Industries

East Kentucky Power Cooperative

Eastern Refractories Co.

Eastman Kodak Company

Eaton Electrical Inc.

Eckel Industries

Edward Valves

EI Dupont de Nemours

Electric Boat Corp.

Electrolux

Eli Lilly and Company

Elliott Turbomachinery Co.

Elm Supply CoInc.

Empire Ace Insulation Mfg.

Enpro Industries

Equistar Chemicals, L.P.

Equitable Company, The

Ericcson

Essex Plumbing Supply

Essex Wire Corp.

Evcon Industries

Expo Industries

Exxon Mobil Corp.

F. A. Richard & Associates, Inc.

Fairbanks Morse Pump Corp.

Fairchild Corp.

Falk Corp., The

Farrell Lines

Federal Boiler Company

Feldman Lumber Industries

Fel-Pro

Felt Products Mfg. Co.

Fiat U.S.A.

First Hartford Corp.

FirstEnergy Corp.

Fisher Scientific Company

Fitzgibbons Boiler Company

Flexitallic

Flowserve Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Byron Jackson and Sier Bath Gear & Pump Co.

Flowserve U.S. Inc., f/k/a Flowserve Pump Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Anchor Darling Valve Company

F.M.C. Corp.

Ford Motor Company

Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation

Foster Wheeler, L.L.C.

Forty-Eight Insulations

G&G Seal Co.

Gage Company, The

G.A.F. Corporation

Gardner Denver, Inc.

Garlock Sealing Technologies, L.L.C., individually and as a successor-in-interest to Garlock, Inc.

Garson Plumbing Supplies

General Cable Corp.

General Dynamics Corp.

General Electric Company

General Motors

General Refractories Co.

George A. Fuller Company

Georgia-Pacific Corporation

Gould’s Pumps, Incorporated

Graham Corp.

Granite Construction Co.

Granite Rock Company

Grant Wilson

Graphic Construction Corp.

Graves Automotive Supply

Graybar Electric Company

Grinnell Corp.

Grossman’s Lumber

Gulf Oil Limited Partnership

H.B. Fuller Company

H.B. Smith Company

H.B. Smith Company Incorporated

Hamon Research-Cottrell, individually and as successor to Research-Cottrell

Hanson Permanente Cement, Inc. f/k/a Kaiser Cement Corporation

Hardie-Tynes Co., Inc.

Harley-Davidson

Harris Corporation

Harrisburg Glass, Inc.

Harbison Walker

Hedman Mines, Ltd.

Henry Vogt Machine Co.

Henry Technologies, Inc., f/k/a Henry Valve Co.

Highland Stucco

Hill Brothers Chemical Co.

Hirsch Pipe & Supply Co.

Holland Furnace

Hollinger Company

Hollingsworth & Vose Co.

Homasote Company

Honeywell International L.L.C.

Hopeman Brothers

Hudson Heating

Hudson Iron and Metal Co.

Hunt Construction

Hysol Aerospace Corporation

I.C.I. Composites

I.M.O. Industries, Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to DeLaval Turbine, Inc. and Warren Pumps, Inc.

I.M.O. Industries, Inc., as successor-in-interest to and f/k/a DeLaval Turbine, Transamerica DeLaval, I.M.O. DeLaval and Enterprise Engine & Foundry Co.

Imerys

Industrial Holdings Corp.

Industrial Insulation

Industrial Welding Supply

Insulation Supply Corp.

Intelli-Pack Corp.

Interlake Corp.

International Paper Co.

International Salt Co.

International Shipholding Corp.

I.T.T. Corp.

Jacuzzi Brands, Inc.

JH France Refractories Corporation

J.M. Asbestos Sales Co.

J.M. Huber Corp.

John Crane, Inc.

Johns-Manville

Johnson & Johnson

Johnston Boiler

Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc.

Kaiser Permanente Cement

Keene Corp.

Kelly-Moore Paint Co.

Kentile Floors, Inc.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Kohler Co.

Koppers Co.

Kroger Co.

L&M Insulation Supply

Lamons Gasket Co.

Lancaster Chemical

Lear Corporation

Leslie Controls, Inc.

Lewellyn Insulation

Libby-Owens-Ford Co.

Linde Air Products Co.

Lockheed Martin Corp.

Louisiana-Pacific Corp.

Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc.

L.T.V. Steel Co.

Lubrizol Corp.

Lyondell Chemical Co.

M&M Insulation Supply

M & M Manufacturing

M.H. Detrick Co.

MacArthur Co.

Madison Industries

Maremont Corp.

Marshall Durbin Food Corp.

Marshalltown Mfg. Co.

Masonite Corp.

Master Flo Valve

McCord Corp.

McDonnell Douglas Corp.

McKesson Corp.

Mead Corp.

Medusa Corp.

Merck & Co.

Metalclad Insulation Corp.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Mid-Valley Plumbing & Supply

Mid-Valley Supply

Midwest Asbestos Co.

Midwest Insulation Supply

Milford Pipe Supply

Mills Insulation Supply

Mobil Oil Corp.

Mohawk Industries, Inc.

Monsey Products Co.

Monsanto Co.

Moore & Munger

Morgan Crucible Co.

Motorola Inc.

Murphy Valve

NARCO/Honeywell

National Gypsum

New Jersey Insulation Supply Co.

Newark Insulation Supply

Newport News Shipbuilding

Noble Drilling Services, Inc.

Norandex Building Materials Distribution

Norfolk Southern Railway Co.

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Northwestern Insulation Supply

Norton Company

Oakfab Co. Inc.

Oglebay Norton Company

Okonite Company

Olin Corp.

Olympus America Inc.

Ormet Corp.

Outboard Marine Corporation

Owens Corning/Fibreboard

Owens-Illinois, Inc.

Pacor

Paddock Enterprises L.L.C. (Owens-Illinois Inc.)

Parker-Hannifin Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Dennison Engineering

P.C.C. Flow Technologies Holdings, Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to Johnston Pump Company

Peerless Industries Company, Inc.

Peerless Pump Company, Inc.

Pentair, Inc.

Pfizer Inc.

Plant Insulation Company

Plant Products & Supply Co.

Plibrico

Plibrico Construction

Plumbing Distributors Inc.

Plumbing Wholesalers Inc.

Porter-Hayden

Pratt & Whitney

P.P.G. Industries, Inc.

Preservation Co.

Proctor & Gamble Co.

Puget Sound Energy

Pulaski Plumbing & Heating Supply

Pulaski Products Corp.

Purity Wholesale Grocers

Puron Refrigerants Inc.

Pyrotenax

Quaker Chemical Corporation

Quigley Company, Inc.

Quimby Equipment Co., Inc.

Quintec Industries, Inc.

Rapid-American Corporation as successor-in-interest to Phillip Carey Manufacturing Corp.

R.B.C. Bearings Inc.

Reardon Co., The

Redken Laboratories Inc.

Refractory & Insulation Supply Co.

Republic Powdered Metals

Rheem-Manufacturing Company

Robert A. Keasbey, Co.

Robinson Plumbing & Heating Supply

Roofers Mart of N.J.

Roofing and Insulation Supply Co.

Roper Pump Company

Roto Insulation Co.

Saberhagen Holdings, Inc., as successor to Tacoma Asbestos Company and The Brower Company

Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp.

Schutte & Koerting, Inc.

Selby Battersby & Company

Sepco Corporation

Sertex Insulation Supply Co.

Sherwin-Williams Co.

Shook & Fletcher

Sigma-Aldrich Corp.

Spirax Sarco, Inc.

Sprague Products, a division of Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation

S.P.X. Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to United Dominion Industries, The Marley Company, Wylain, Inc., Weil-McLain, a Division of Wylain, Inc., and Weil-McLain Company

Sterling Fluid Systems (U.S.A.), L.L.C., as successor to Peerless Pump Company

Stewart Warner Corporation

Swenson Technology, Inc.

Syd Carpenter Marine Contractor, Inc.

TACO, Inc.

Tennessee Insulation Supply Co.

The Anchor Packing Co.

The Dial Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Griscom-Russell Company

The Fulton Companies, individually and as successor to Fulton Boiler Works

The Gorman-Rupp Company, individually and as successor-in-interest to Patterson Pump Company, and C.H. Wheeler

The Nash Engineering Company, Inc.

The Trane Company, individually and as a subsidiary of American Standard, Inc.

Thermal Control Systems Inc.

Thomas Dee Engineering Co., Inc.

Thorpe Insulation Company

Treadwell Corporation

Triple A Machine Shop, Inc.

Tuthill Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Westinghouse Electric Corporation and BF Sturtevant

Tyco Flow Control, Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to Yarway Corporation

Union Carbide Corporation

Uniroyal, Inc.

United Gilsonite Laboratories

United Insulation Company

United States Gypsum

United States Mineral Products

United Technologies Corp.

U.S. Electrical Motors

Viacom, Inc., by merger with C.B.S. Corporation f/k/a Westinghouse Electric Corporation successor-in-interest to BF Sturtevant Co.

VIAD Corp, f/k/a The Dial

Viking Pump, Inc., a Unit of IDEX Corporation

Vulcan Materials Co.

W.R. Grace

W.W. Grainger, Inc.

Wacker Chemical Corp.

Ward Boiler Co.

Warren Pumps, Inc.

Weil-McClain, a division of the Marley Company

Westinghouse Electric Corp.

Westvaco Corp.

Weyerhaeuser Co.

Whirlpool Corp.

White Consolidated Industries

Whiting Corporation

Wilkes Barre Plumbing Supply

Williams & Company

Wilson Auto Electric

Winkler, Inc.

Wolverine World Wide Inc.

Wood Conversion Co.

Woodward Governor Co.

Worthington Industries

Wylie Plumbing Supply

Wyman-Gordon Forgings

Xerox Corporation

Xerxes Corporation

Yarway Corporation

York International Corp.

Young Insulation Group of St. Louis

Zurn Industries, Inc.

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