America’s Parade of Corporate Scandals

Asbestos Industry's Legal Evasion Campaign (1980s–2010s)

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.

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' lungspmc.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 injuriessokolovelaw
The Saranac Laboratory studies of the 1930s-1940s, funded by asbestos companies, demonstrated clear cancer links but companies agreed to suppress findingsasbestosnation

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 sciencemesotheliomalawyercenter
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 defensesmesotheliomalawyercenter
Companies manipulated scientific literature, agreeing in 1947 to suppress any research showing "any relation between asbestos and cancer"asbestosnation

Massive Regulatory Delays Despite Clear Evidence

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

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 2027forthepeople
Current estimates show asbestos kills approximately 40,000 Americans annually, comparable to car accidents or firearm deathssimmonsfirm
27 million American workers experienced exposure from 1940-1980, with 1.3 million still exposed todayforthepeople
Total economic costs reached $275 billion, with costs nearly 10 times greater than victim compensationmesotheliomahope

Strategic Bankruptcies to Escape Liability

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

What Could Have Been Done Differently

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

Corporate Sins Comprehensively Illustrated

Fraud: The asbestos industry engaged in systematic fraud through deliberate misrepresentation of known health risks, suppression of scientific research showing cancer links, and false claims about product safety in marketing materials. Companies knew asbestos was lethal as early as 1900 but actively deceived workers, regulators, and the public for over 50 years.

Exploiting Weaknesses in Society's Protective Systems: Companies exploited the fragmented nature of state-by-state safety regulation, took advantage of the long latency periods for asbestos diseases (which delayed recognition of harm), and manipulated regulatory agencies and standard-setting bodies to prevent effective oversight.

Manipulating or Subverting the Public or Government: The industry conducted coordinated lobbying campaigns to prevent regulation, infiltrated scientific organizations and journals to suppress unfavorable research, and applied sustained political pressure to hide corporate behavior from public scrutiny.

Economic Harm: The conspiracy resulted in billions in litigation costs passed on to society ($275 billion total), strategic bankruptcy filings to avoid full compensation to victims, and significant job losses and economic disruption when the truth finally emerged.

Harming the Structure of the Economy, Justice System, or Other Civil Institutions: The asbestos crisis overwhelmed the civil justice system with mass tort litigation, corrupted scientific research and publication processes, and fundamentally undermined public trust in corporate responsibility and regulatory protection.

Debasing Social Norms or Culture: Companies normalized the sacrifice of worker health for profits, created a corporate culture where "plausible deniability" replaced honest disclosure, and contributed to a broader erosion of basic ethical standards in corporate conduct.

Physically Harming People: The industry directly caused cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis in millions of workers, created secondary exposure that harmed family members, and is responsible for preventable deaths numbering in the hundreds of thousands, with 40,000 Americans still dying annually.

Environmental Destruction: Asbestos manufacturing and use contaminated worksites and surrounding communities, created legacy pollution at former manufacturing sites, and resulted in numerous locations requiring Superfund cleanup efforts that continue today.

The asbestos case is remarkable for demonstrating the full spectrum of corporate misconduct, making it one of the most comprehensive examples of how powerful industries can systematically harm society while evading accountability through coordinated deception and legal maneuvering.

America’s Parade of Corporate Scandals

Asbestos Industry's Legal Evasion Campaign (1980s–2010s)

Corporate Sins Comprehensively Illustrated

The Post-Partisan Network