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Timeline of key events
Asbestos Timeline of Key Events
3000 BC - Earliest known uses of asbestos in Egypt and Scandinavia, according to archeological digs.
2000 BC - Egyptians use asbestos to make burial shrouds.
50 AD - Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar, coins the name asbestos and describes illnesses in slaves who wove the mineral into fireproof cloth.
1828 - First U.S. patent for asbestos is issued.
1860s - Use of asbestos in industry and construction expands dramatically.
1890s - Asbestos is used as a raw material in large manufacturing operations, exposing large numbers of workers to asbestos dust for the first time.
1900 - A London doctor discovers asbestos fibers in the lungs of a textile factory worker who died from severe pulmonary fibrosis at age 33.
1900-1910 - Lung disease is reported among asbestos milling and manufacturing workers.
1918 - A report is released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that reveals abnormal early deaths among asbestos workers.
1918 - An official from Prudential Insurance Company notes that life insurance companies will refuse coverage for asbestos workers as a result of the dangerous working conditions of the industry.
1924 - The first clear case of death due to asbestosis was published in The British Medical Journal.
1926 - The Massachusetts Industrial Accidents Board processes the first successful Workers’ Compensation claim.
1930 - Major asbestos company Johns-Manville produces a report, for internal company use only, about medical reports of asbestos worker fatalities.
1931 - England adopts regulations to reduce workers’ exposure to asbestos.
1932 - Letter from U.S. Bureau of Mines to asbestos manufacturer Eagle-Picher calls asbestos dust “one of the most dangerous dusts” known to man.
1933 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. doctors determine that 29 percent of workers in a Johns-Manville plant have asbestosis. Company settles in lawsuits brought by 11 of those employees.
1934 - A chapter in Aetna Insurance's Attorney's Textbook of Medicine notes that asbestosis is an incurable disease that typically disables and then kills its victims.
1934 - Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan edit the report of a Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. doctor to minimize the danger of asbestos dust.
1935 - Several asbestos companies agree to sponsor research on the health effects of asbestos dust, provided that the companies maintain complete control over disclosure of results.
1942 - An internal Owens-Corning corporate memo refers to medical literature on the lung and skin hazards of asbestos.
1949 - An internal, confidential Exxon memo documents a case of employee lung cancer caused by asbestos.
1951 - Asbestos companies remove all references to cancer before allowing publication of research they sponsor.
1952 - Johns-Manville medical director Dr. Kenneth Smith recommends that warning labels be attached to products containing asbestos. His recommendation was ignored.
1952-1956 - Kent cigarettes use crocidolite asbestos in their Micronite filter.
1958 - An internal office memo at National Gypsum Co. declares, "Just as certain as death and taxes...if you inhale asbestos dust, you get asbestosis."
1964 - The Journal of the American Medical Association publishes a study of asbestos workers, revealing that people who work with asbestos-containing materials have a greater-than-normal incidence of asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.
1966 - First U.S. asbestos product liability lawsuit is filed in Beaumont, Texas against 11 asbestos makers. Sick worker who filed lost the case.
1970 - Congress approves Clean Air Act, allowing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin regulating asbestos as a hazardous air pollutant.
1971 - Federal court verdict against asbestos makers is the first awarding damages to a worker to be upheld on appeal.
1972 - Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets workplace asbestos exposure limits, which are strengthened two years later.
1973 - The EPA bans spray-on asbestos insulation as an air pollution hazard.
1973 - An industry expert forecasts that approximately 25,000 past and present employees will die of asbestos-related diseases. He also confirms, "…the good news is that despite all the negative articles on asbestos health that have appeared in the press over the past half-dozen years, very few people have been paying attention."
1976 - Asbestos production in the United States hits all-time high at more than 1 million tons per year.
1978 - In the face of evidence that some asbestos companies conspired as early as 1930 to suppress knowledge of asbestos hazards, a judge rules there had been "a conscious effort” by the asbestos industry to suppress information on the dangers of asbestos in order to avoid lawsuits.
1979 - The EPA announces intention to ban all uses of asbestos and begins advising building owners and industry about the handling of asbestos.
1981 - A handwritten note on an internal Dow (Chemical Company) office memo states, "We are in trouble, and would be more so if we had an investigation. We need a crash program."
1982 - Under authority of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the EPA issues the first regulation intended to control asbestos in schools.
1982-89 - New federal and state laws are enacted to protect schoolchildren and workers from asbestos in public buildings.
1986 - Congress approves the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act. OSHA tightens asbestos-exposure standard.
1989 - After a 10-year study, the EPA announces that it will phase out and ban almost all products containing asbestos. The specific asbestos-containing products that remain banned are: flooring felt, rollboard, and corrugated, commercial, or specialty paper. In addition, the EPA regulation continues to ban asbestos in products that have not historically contained asbestos.
1991 - Federal appeals court in New Orleans overturns asbestos ban.
1994 - OSHA tightens asbestos-exposure standard.
1999 - Florida Supreme Court rules that Owens Corning willfully withheld information about the dangers of working with its asbestos products.
2001 - The collapse of the World Trade Center twin towers in a terrorist attack unleashes a toxic cloud containing “astronomical” levels of asbestos dust.
2001 - Despite overwhelming evidence of its dangers, asbestos is still not completely banned. Over 29 million pounds were imported for use in products throughout the U.S. this year.
2003 - Federal judge orders chemicals and materials company W.R. Grace to repay the government $54.5 million. This was the amount spent investigating and cleaning up asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana, where the company owned and operated a vermiculite mine and processing facilities from 1963 to 1992.
2003 - The EPA launches a national consumer awareness campaign to educate homeowners about vermiculite attic insulation, which may contain asbestos.
2004 - S. 2290 (Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2004 - FAIR) is introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch. Under the bill, the government would establish a national, privately-funded trust fund for victims of asbestos-related diseases. Versions of this bill were also proposed in 2005 and 2006, but it never became law.
2008 - The U.S. House of Representatives introduces the bill H.R. 6903, the "Bruce Vento Ban Asbestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act of 2008," designed to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to reduce health risks from asbestos-containing projects and to support public asbestos education initiatives. The bill is named after Bruce Vento, a former politician who died of mesothelioma in 2001.
Exposed to asbestos? Contact a mesothelioma attorney today
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or any other asbestos-related disease from workplace or home exposure to asbestos, contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney immediately. Mesothelioma attorneys have helped thousands of mesothelioma victims win compensation to cover last wages and medical costs. A qualified mesothelioma attorney can help you get the compensation that you and your family need and deserve. Asbestos law has become a crucial asset in the fight against the shameful use of asbestos in our recent history.
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