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The Battle Is Joined in the Northwest
Air quality in the Northwest has been so good that the Environmental Protection Agency is actually slackening standards for benzene content.
In case you don’t know, benzene causes cancer.
All four senators from Oregon and Washington are fighting back. Kudos to them.
Why not give them a little help and tell your own representatives to support them in Congress? What’s good for Americans in the Northwest is good for Americans everywhere. Read more.
Danger Area
Oregonians may have cause for concern.
Gasoline used in Lane County, Oregon and other parts of the Northwest contains two percent more benzene than the national average.
It’s an unfortunate irony, as Oregon’s air was deemed so clean for so long that regulation became slack.
The lesson is that we can never let down our guard when it come to cancer-causing agents and other health risks.
Danger Area!
New federal rules to cut the national level of benzene will go into effect in 2011.
However, the levels will still be high in the Pacific Northwest.
The Northwest is actually being penalized for having cleaner air. A decade ago, the EPA required some cities to switch to reformulated gasoline, which contains far less benzene.
But in the Northwest, where the air was relatively clean, it did not force refineries to upgrade.
Now officials in the Northwest are requesting that the EPA propose tougher regulations for the Northwest. Why the resistance? You guessed it—higher production costs under stricter regulations.
Here’s some more background.
If you live in the Northwest, you have a particularly urgent need to contact your elected officials—and pressure them to pressure the regulators.
Benzene: The Tragedy Continues
The toll continues to mount.
Benzene has not gotten the publicity that asbestos has, but the dangers are incalculably grave.
In fact, the death toll is mounting. Consider just one case in Wisconsin. Nine people there are suing the manufacturers and distributors of benzene.
Two of them are already dead.
Benzene is everywhere. Click on the “Benzene” link to learn more about this secret killer.
Comment [2]
Justice Now
There are mountains of disinformation out there. We need to tell the truth.
It is in order to set the record straight – whenever necessary, and as often as necessary – that we are posting and will continue to update this page.
The asbestos calamity has been going on for decades. Untold thousands of people have died and are dying still. In too many instances, their grievances, and the grievances of their families, have still not been redressed.
Benzene is also a devastating toxin. It is everywhere – in the air, in chemicals, in contaminated water, even in second-hand smoke. We are only now beginning to understand the tragic health consequences for human beings throughout the world.
Many companies have taken heroic measures to ensure that their products – whatever products they are – are safe. Many companies value people over profits. We respect them.
Many people who defend the companies responsible for deadly assaults on public welfare do so in good faith. They make fair points. We respect them.
But many others on the defense are looking for a free pass. And their methodology is unconscionable. They don’t even bother trying to defend bad corporate behavior. Instead, they attack the scientists, officials, regulators, and lawyers who insist on corporate responsibility. Instead of helping victims, they draw caricatures of trial attorneys.
Asbestos and benzene are matters of immediate concern. We will not in the upcoming months ignore other areas of dire public interest. But right now, at this critical juncture, our immediate focus is on the thousands of innocent people who have been tragically victimized and who cannot wait until all the legal wrangling and ideological wars of words have been resolved.
Comment [2]
About Benzene
Benzene damages bone marrow and diminishes red blood cells leading to anemia. It can cause excessive bleeding. It can affect the immune system.
Benzene ranks among the top 20 chemicals in production volume. And it kills people.
Throughout California and in New York, the risks of cancer are increasing to unacceptable levels.
You’ve probably read about the disastrous explosion in China that has exposed vast areas of both China and Russia to benzene. Chinese officials are trying to reassure the world. The Russians don’t agree. They’ve accused the Chinese of a cover-up.
Over 20 million people in northeastern China may be affected. We must not let it happen again, anywhere.
Benzene infestations aren’t always so overtly dramatic as an explosion heard around the world. In Ireland, the culprit is soda pop.
In America, powerful data strongly points toward a rash of leukemia cases tied to an underground gasoline storage leak in Eastern Pennsylvania.
In the United States, benzene cases are being combined and adjudicated in Delaware. Again, the fight is being taken to the source – to the corporate turf of the very companies that are responsible for this tragic assault on public welfare.
Again, you can expect the same accusations against the lawyers who bring these cases to Delaware as you’re hearing about asbestos and mesothelioma.
Don’t believe the disinformation. We are filing these cases in Delaware because that is the fastest way to resolve them fairly and before some of the finest judges in the United States.
Stay tuned to this page for updates on benzene litigation in Delaware – litigation that may decisively affect your health and your family’s health in the years ahead.
In the meantime…
Kraft and PepsiCo are among the companies facing new lawsuits for “exposing the public to benzene.
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Who’s got political clout
Some of the companies responsible for the asbestos and benzene disasters will not, however, give up all their excuses without a fight. Attorneys for the victims of asbestos and benzene have made political contributions to Delaware officials. That’s the only reason why their companies are going to lose, claim their company spokespersons.
To be sure, attorneys for the victims of asbestos and benzene have made contributions to political candidates throughout the country. Delaware is on the list with every other state. We always support politicians who will be the most sympathetic to working men and women devastated by tragedy and deserving justice.
But those politicians in Delaware do not, cannot, and will not affect the judgment of pro-business judges in their state. It’s that judgment that we are counting on. We are happy to be counting on it.
Are they unduly influencing judges in some states? In some states, maybe they are. But not in Delaware. Those judges there are too good.
Just Plain Wrong
In September, SimmonsCooper filed a suit on behalf of a man named Dan Arnold who now has leukemia because of prolonged exposure to benzene.
Now we’re being attacked by friends of the defendants for filing in Madison County, supposedly because we can get a more sympathetic jury there. Supposedly, Mr. Arnold was only in Madison County from time to time.
Wrong!
The facts prove that Mr. Arnold’s exposure to benzene was equally great, and maybe greater, in Madison County as in any other county in Illinois. For sure, his exposure to benzene in Madison County was greater than his exposure to benzene in Colorado, where Mr. Arnold now lives.
Mr. Arnold was exposed to benzene in half-dozen or more counties in Illinois. Why are we filing the case in Madison County?
Because that’s where our law firm is located. Period.
Some people find it very inconvenient to talk about leukemia and benzene. They’d rather talk about forum shopping. About lawyers’ tricks.
But Mr. Arnold’s tragedy, and the tragedy of all benzene victims, won’t go unanswered just because our opponents would rather change the subject.
