Document gbmymYxDV1n4O87ead6Z48RgL

A ttorney: Stricter standards won't help disease victims safe because a- single asbestos fiber can cause mesothelioma, a fatal cancer of the lung and intestine lining. . r- Stricter asbestos standards approved Wednesday by the Labor Department were long overdue but won't help the families of workers with asbestos* -The new maximum exposure level of a half-fiber per cubic centimeter of air means workers still could breathe thousands of fibers perhour. caused diseases to win damage suits, a local expert Thus, the new standard should do more to reduce said.' asbestoais, a cfironic lung disease produced by regu "I don't see that it will affect current asbestos liti lar exposure to asbestos fibers, than to reduce can gation at all," said Marlin Thompson, an Orange at cers, be said. torney who pioneeredasbestos liability law. "Our cli ' v Thompson's firm hu bandied asbestos cases since ents have the diseases from exposure under the old 1963, and in 1972he won an asbestosdeathcase which, standards, " so the new exposure limit isn't an issue. when upheld in federal appeals court, first opened the ,,,, ., .. .. , -j ; .x ` door for the thousands of cases now pending against ButI m glad to see stronger reguladotu^ftaat. companies that manufactured asbestos or exposed ly coming down," Thompson said, workerstott standard 10- or 30- or 30-years ago there wouldn't be. DeWey Cox, Boilermaisra International represent nearly aa many people with asbestos diseases who ative for 6,000 members inTexas and Oklahoma, said aredyingrightnow." . ____ ^ ..c:.:healsois.``pleaaed''byanytighteningoftheexpbure toS'STr^e^ oU Industry workers who stiTars exposed to some forms of asbestos, hut won't'completely eliminate aihistiisdiiasfftn our people wfaosre getting tick today. . - those who got in contact withnabestcs 30 yean ago," Cox said. "ItaffscU workgrs sometime 30 years after contact" searchers bellsvs no level ofexpooure to aabwtei is (lIreetlyattriartld;ts*ilWdpeootCt.. DUP 0501592 DU 001331