Asbestos a Deadly Carcinogen

Asbestos can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. Yet, companies that manufatured and used asbestos hid the truth about this carcinogen from the public and their own employees. The result of this shameful behavior is that thousands of healthy people of all ages have become stricken with debilitating and deadly diseases that could have been avoided.

For example in the early 1940’s, the president of a major asbestos manufacturing company said that the managers of another company were “a bunch of fools for notifying employees who had asbestosis.” When one of the people in attendance asked, “Do you mean to tell me you would let them work until they drop dead?” According to deposition testimony, the response was, “Yes. We save a lot of money that way.”

One of the people that may have saved these companies money was Paul Kraus. When Paul was a young man he worked downwind from a factory that cut asbestos sheets. Paul remembers the blue dust wafting in the air and settling all around him – on his clothes, hands and arms, and on his work area. Thirty years later he would be diagnosed with mesothelioma – the “asbestos caused cancer.” His prognosis was six months to live. Unlike many others, Paul was quite fortunate. He followed his own path to healing and continues to live a healthy, quality life, ten years after he was first diagnosed. He described his experiences in his acclaimed book: Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient’s Guide.

To learn more about the outrageous corporate behavior that led to exposing tens of thousands of people to asbestos visit asbestos lessons.