Press Releases & Statements on Asbestos Poisoning

CBO Report Confirms Proposed Asbestos Fund is Under-funded, Untested, & Unfair

August 26— A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of S. 852, the proposed national asbestos trust fund, confirms the fundamental flaws with the proposal that victims, public health experts, independent claims analysts, and Senators on both sides of the aisle have been pointing out for months. In particular, the CBO concluded that over the first ten years the fund will fall nearly $8 billion short in revenues and would have to borrow money to pay qualified asbestos claims. Full Press Release

Wildly Disconnected Congressional Leadership Tries to Shift Focus

June 9—Americans want clean air, clean water, and clean communities. They're concerned about more mercury in the air and arsenic in the water. But this Congress is instead working to pass an unfair and unworkable asbestos bill that protects corporate polluters, including W.R. Grace and Co., under criminal indictment for poisoning communities across the country with asbestos. Full Statement

Asbestos Bill is Under-funded, Unfair, Unworkable, and Unconstitutional

May 26—Senator Specter’s acknowledgment that he couldn’t pass the ‘perfect’ bill offers little solace to the mesothelioma victim who’ll die before he sees any help from the fundamentally flawed asbestos bailout bill approved by the Judiciary Committee. Full Statement

Americans Poisoned by Asbestos Must be Priority

January 11—AAJ has always said that it does not oppose the concept of a trust fund if it is adequately funded and fair to those poisoned by asbestos. Lawmakers must especially make sure that sick and dying asbestos victims do not have to endure further delays in receiving appropriate compensation for their injuries. Full Statement

President Should Ban Asbestos Now

January 7—Asbestos is still being used in America today. Government figures from the USGS report that 30 million pounds of lethal asbestos fibers are imported into the United States each year. The first step in ending asbestos liability is to stop exposing people to its dangers. Full Statement

All AAJ Press Releases