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Laboratory Gloves - Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure Risks

Since the advent of scientific exploration and investigation, scientists have tried to find safe methods for experimenting with potentially dangerous chemicals and solvents. For many years, scientists have protected themselves with items such as laboratory gloves, so that they could conduct important investigations with potentially hazardous substances. The sad irony involving laboratory safety clothing and equipment is that many of these items were constructed with a material more hazardous than many of the chemicals with which the scientists worked. Why weren't these scientists warned of the dangers and properly protected?

Until the 1970s, the public was largely unaware that asbestos is a health hazard. Because it was thought to be safe, durable, and extremely heat resistant, asbestos was used in over 5000 consumer products, including laboratory gloves and other protective, fire resistant clothing. When many thousands of victims of asbestos-related illnesses began to file claims against manufacturers of asbestos products in the 1970s, many of these consumer products were discontinued, as corporations and manufacturers feared they could be held liable for the hazards posed by their products. Many of these lawsuits were successful, punishing manufacturers for their negligence and exerting pressure on them to rid store shelves of asbestos products. However, the possibility for profit was too great a temptation for the corporations, and many hundreds or thousands of American asbestos products remained for sale on the market.

In the 1980s, at the behest of the Environmental Protection Agency, Congress enacted a ban on many asbestos containing products, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated many items of the ban, rendering it largely inefficient at protecting consumers against asbestos exposure. As a result of this vacation and the continuing greed of manufacturers, many asbestos products such as laboratory gloves can still be found on the market and in laboratories across the nation today. Scientists and researchers who used these laboratory gloves to protect themselves from harmful chemicals are at risk of exposure to asbestos. If the laboratory gloves rip open, catch fire, or simply wear with use and time, the asbestos contained within the fabric may become friable. Once the fibers are friable, having been broken into a particle dust, they may be released into the air, where innocent, unsuspecting laboratory technicians or researchers may inhale the particles.

What happens if you inhale asbestos particles? Each year, ten thousand Americans die of an illness, such as mesothelioma, that is caused by asbestos. Researchers estimate that, worldwide, the number of individuals who die from asbestos-related illnesses will continue to rise through the first half of this century. Even though asbestos is the exclusive, proven cause of some of these diseases, asbestos remains on the market in thousands of products like laboratory gloves, products that you and people within your community may use on a daily basis. These asbestos products are the cause of many highly fatal diseases, particularly asbestosis and mesothelioma, which are a form of non-cancer lung scarring and a cancer of the lung lining and respiratory tract, respectively. Many of these asbestos-related illnesses take many years to develop, so that scientists who have been exposed by their laboratory gloves may not know for three or four decades that they have been exposed and are developing a deadly disease.

If you use laboratory gloves or another product that could contain asbestos, you may be at risk of exposure. Don't gamble with your safety! If you believe you may have been exposed to asbestos, please contact an attorney today. An experienced asbestos attorney can help you to find the correct treatment and secure the justice you deserve.

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