More than 730,000 asbestos claims have been filed from the early 1970s through the end of 2002 with more than 90% of recent claims coming from people asserting non-malignant conditions, says a new study by the RAND Corporation.
The study says that from the early 1970s through the end of 2002, businesses and insurance companies spent more than $70 billion to resolve asbestos claims, with about 42 cents of every dollar actually going to the claimants.
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Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice & Democracy, said the RAND study, which is a general analysis of the asbestos litigation system as it stands today, is further proof that asbestos is responsible for one of the largest public health disasters in American history.
This, she said, is due to decades of cover-ups by industry, which consistently fought banning the use of asbestos. CJ&D, Doroshow said, supports a solution for asbestos victims that is adequately funded and covers all future victims.
Under the proposed trust fund that the Senate is now considering, S. 852, victims will get less money than they do from the court system today and it will take them longer to get it, she said. CJ&D strongly opposes this bill, Doroshow said.
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