Document ZLV2k1qe0kGx2oeYRKbNjbk7

FILE NAME: Todd Shipyards (TODD) DATE: 1999 TODD005 DOC#: TODD005 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal Declaratio of Barry Castleman 1 DECLARATION OF BARRY CASTLEMAN 2 3 I, BARRY CASTLEMAN, declare: 4 5 1. I am an environmental consultant based in Baltimore, Maryland. This 6 declaration is being offered in opposition to the motion of defendant Todd Shipyards for a 7 summary judgment or summary adjudication of issues. As to those matters set forth $ below, I have personal knowledge and am competent to testify thereto. 9 10 2. I received a B.E.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from Johns 11 Hopkins University in 1968. I received an M.S.E. Degree in Environmental Engineering 12 from the same university in 1972. My Masters thesis was on the health effects of asbes 13 tos. I received my Doctor of Science Degree from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and 14 Public Health in 1985. My Ph.D. thesis was entitled "Asbestos: An Historical Case Study 15 of Corporate Response to an Industrial Health Hazard." 16 17 3. I am the author of Asbestos: Medical and Legal , now in its 18 fourth edition, published by Aspen Law & Business. 19 20 4. I have been retained as a consultant by the U.S. Council on 21 Environmental Quality, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Congress Office of 22 Technology Assessment, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission and a number 23 of other national and international agencies or bodies concerned with environmental 24 issues. In addition to my book, I have published a number of other articles on environ 25 mental matters. A copy of my curriculum vitae is attached to this declaration. 26 27 5. I have been qualified as an expert and have testified well over 180 28 times in state and federal courts throughout the country on what was known at such points /usr2/a/chiasson/pleadings________________________________ - T * ________________________ 1 in time by the medical community as well as private and public corporations about the 2 hazards of asbestos exposure. I have testified as an expert in the California superior 3 courts on approximately 30 occasions and have given expert witness testimony on this 4 subject in the Los Angeles Superior Court on approximately 8 occasions. 5 6 6. Asbestos is a generic term for a several types of fibrous minerals 7 having properties useful in manufacturing. One of the principal uses of asbestos fibers in 8 this country (from the turn of the century to the mid-1970's) was as a binder or filling mate 9 rial in the manufacture of thermal pipe insulation used to cover high-temperature steam 10 lines. It is my understanding from his counsel that plaintiff, Joseph Daniel Chiasson, had 11 his sole exposure to asbestos fibers from dust generated by the removal of thermal pipe 12 insulation from the U.S.S. Taluga during the November 1965 to March 1966 time period 13 while it was overhauled the Todd Shipyards drydocks in San Pedro, California. 14 15 7. Asbestos exposure causes three principal diseases with differing 16 latency periods (the time from initial exposure to onset of the disease) and differing expo 17 sure levels thought to be necessary to cause the disease (dosages). Asbestosis is a non- 18 cancerous scarring of the lung tissue caused by relatively large (occupational) exposures 19 to asbestos dust and with an average latency period of 20 years from first exposure to the 20 development of the disease under typical exposure levels of the 1950's and 1960's. 21 Asbestos exposure also causes brochiogenic carcinoma (lung cancer.) Finally, asbestos 22 exposure causes mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung. Unlike asbestosis, 23 mesothelioma occurs in individuals exposed to far less asbestos fibers than that known to 24 cause asbestosis. The latency period for mesothelioma is 30-40 years on average. 25 Ill 26 III 27 III 28 III /usr2/a/chiasson/pleadings - 2- DECLARATION ftp RADDV i'AC Ti 1 8. The fact that asbestos exposure caused the non-cancerous disease 2 asbestosis began to receive recognition by 1930 and by the mid- to late-1930's the asso 3 ciation between asbestos exposure and the disease asbestosis was well-recognized in 4 dozens of medical articles and published both here and in the United Kingdom and in 5 other countries around the world. 6 7 9. Recognition of the relationship between asbestos exposure and lung 8 cancer developed shortly thereafter and by the early 1940's there were a number of medi 9 cal articles in the United States and in Europe which had made the connection. In 1949 10 an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) stated that the con 11 nection between asbestosis and lung cancer was then clear. An epidemiological study 12 published in Great Britain in 1955, and widely circulated in the United States, removed all 13 doubt regarding the link between asbestos exposure and lung cancer. 14 15 10. With regard to the disease suffered by Chiasson, mesothelioma, there 16 were numerous case reports, starting as early as 1933 and continuing right up until 1960, 17 which documented the relationship between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma. How 18 ever, it was not until 1960 when Wagner, et al., published the first epidemiological study of 19 33 cases that the association between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma was firmly 20 established. By 1965, when Chiasson was first exposed to asbestos, the relationship 21 between asbestos and malignant mesothelioma was accepted in the medical and scientific 22 community according to my review of the medical and scientific literature published at that 23 time. 24 25 11. By 1965 Todd Shipyards was a publicly traded company that owned 26 and operated at least a half of a dozen shipyards throughout the United States and which 27 employed a few hundred to a few thousand workers per shipyard at any given time 28 depending upon the level of shipbuilding activity. To answer the question of what a rea /usr2/a/chiasson/pleadings________________________________ - 3 - ________________________________________ 1 sonable shipyard knew or should have known about the hazards of asbestos exposure by 2 1965, one would look to the literally hundreds of reports and articles available in any 3 medical library (Todd was headquartered in New York City) which would have alerted a 4 reasonable shipyard to the conclusion that those individuals exposed to asbestos fibers 5 are at a greatly increased risk of developing asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. 6 7 Among the relevant articles I may discuss at trial are the following: 8 1. Minimum Requirements for Safety and Industrial 9 Health in Contract Shipyards (1943). 10 In 1943 the United States Navy published a manual outlining the minimum requirements for safety standards 11 in contract shipyards such as those operated by Todd Shipyards. The manual recognized asbestos as a dust 12 hazard and recommended the use of air line and dust respirators and further recommended the "segregation of 13 dusty work" when dealing with asbestos-containing mate rials. 14 2. Exposure to Asbestos Dust and Diffuse Pleural 15 Mesotheliomas (British Mecial Journal, 1962) 1397 16 In this short report, W. T. E. McCaughey, one of the world's most renowned pathologists of the time recounted 17 his hospital's experience with regard to cases of mesothe lioma. As reported, most of his cases demonstrated that 18 the workers had intermittent asbestos exposure in ship yards. 19 3. Asbestos Exposure and Neoplasia (JAMA, 1964) 20 This landmark study by Selikoff, et al., of 632 insulation 21 workers showed an eight-fold increase in mortality rates and a high incidence of mesothelioma in those that had 22 died. Since mesothelioma is extremely rare in the popu lation in general and almost unknown in the non-occupa- 23 tionally exposed population, the insulators who were heavily involved in shipbuilding were shown to be greatly 24 at risk for asbestos-related diseases, including mesotheli oma. 25 26 Based upon the foregoing, plus many other articles not mentioned in this 27 declaration, it is my opinion that Todd Shipyards knew or should have known that 28 bystanders such as Chiasson were at a markedly increased risk of developing an asbes- /usr2/a/chiasson/pleadings________________________________ - 4 - ___________________________________________ 1 tos-related disease, including mesothelioma, as a result of their exposure to the asbestos 2 dust generated during the insulation rip out during ship overhauls. 3 4 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California 5 that the foregoing is true and correct. 6 Executed th is ___ day of October, 1999, at Baltimore, Maryland. 7 8 9 10 BARRY CASTLEMAN, DECLARANT 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 /usr2/a/chiasson/pleadings -5 -