America’s Parade of Corporate Scandals

Asbestos Companies Duck Liability After Hurting Thousands

Early Knowledge and Systematic Deception

Industry Knowledge Stretched Back Over a Century

Companies had clear evidence of asbestos dangers as early as 1900, when London physicians first identified asbestos fibers in workers' lungs pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
By 1918, U.S. insurance companies routinely denied coverage to asbestos workers due to "assumed health-injurious conditions" sokolovelaw
Johns-Manville produced internal reports in 1930 documenting worker fatalities and injuries sokolovelaw
The Saranac Laboratory studies of the 1930s-1940s, funded by asbestos companies, demonstrated clear cancer links but companies agreed to suppress findings asbestosnation

Coordinated Industry Conspiracy Through Front Organizations

The Industrial Hygiene Foundation served as a central coordination mechanism, with Metropolitan Life's Dr. Anthony Lanza manipulating dust disease science mesotheliomalawyercenter
The Sumner Simpson Papers revealed extensive executive correspondence coordinating the cover-up, with Simpson writing in 1935 that "the less said about asbestos, the better off we are" mesothelioma
The Asbestos Information Association formed a "Legal/Medical Research Program" in 1976 specifically to improve legal defenses mesotheliomalawyercenter
Companies manipulated scientific literature, agreeing in 1947 to suppress any research showing "any relation between asbestos and cancer" asbestosnation

The 50-Year Delay and Its Human Cost

Massive Regulatory Delays Despite Clear Evidence

Systematic cover-up lasted approximately 50 years, from early 1900s evidence through 1970s federal regulation brownlawyers
OSHA's first asbestos regulations didn't take effect until 1971, and adequate standards weren't adopted until 1994 asbestosnation+1
Companies successfully delayed regulation by covering up cancer links and manipulating exposure standards mesotheliomalawyercenter

Preventable Human Devastation on an Enormous Scale

The CDC confirmed 18,068 American deaths by 2005, with an estimated 29,667 additional deaths projected through 2027 forthepeople
Current estimates show asbestos kills approximately 40,000 Americans annually, comparable to car accidents or firearm deaths simmonsfirm
27 million American workers experienced exposure from 1940-1980, with 1.3 million still exposed today forthepeople
Total economic costs reached $275 billion, with costs nearly 10 times greater than victim compensation mesotheliomahope

Corporate Evasion Strategies and Accountability Avoidance

Strategic Bankruptcies to Escape Liability

Johns-Manville filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982 despite $60 million in profits and over $2 billion in assets asbestos
Companies employed "Texas Two-Step" strategies, creating artificial entities to shift liabilities before bankruptcy mantrust.claimsres
Asset transfer schemes saw executives moving $59.7 million to stockholders to avoid paying victim claims illinoiscourts

What Could Have Been Done Differently

Simple safety measures like ventilation, protective equipment, and worker education were technically feasible from the 1930s chlwlaw
Dr. Merewether's 1930 British recommendations for dust control and medical examinations could have been implemented immediately chlwlaw
Worker disclosure requirements could have prevented the systematic suppression of known health information

Corporate Sins Comprehensively Illustrated
This case demonstrates fraud through deliberate misrepresentation; exploitation of regulatory weaknesses; manipulation of government and scientific institutions; massive economic harm; corruption of civil institutions; debasement of ethical norms; direct physical harm to millions; and environmental destruction across numerous sites.

The asbestos industry's legal evasion campaign represents one of history's most extensive corporate conspiracies, where companies with full knowledge of lethal health risks chose coordinated deception over worker safety, costing hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths while pioneering legal strategies to avoid accountability that continue to influence corporate behavior today.

America’s Parade of Corporate Scandals

Asbestos Companies Duck Liability After Hurting Thousands

Early Knowledge and Systematic Deception

The 50-Year Delay and Its Human Cost

Corporate Evasion Strategies and Accountability Avoidance

The Post-Partisan Network