Where are the victims?
MMMF Exposure in the workplace

• Direct work with MMMF
• Indirect work with MMMF
• Exposed at work, but do not work with MMMF

MMMF Exposure in the home

• During remodeling
• Air ducts not installed right
• Faulty ducts
• Old insulation
• The strange and unforseable

The cancer issue
Factors that intimidate victims
Where to look for victims

People always say--if this MMMF is so dangerous, where are the victims?

There are a number of reasons why victims have not yet come to the forefront. I average one or two phone calls and letters a week from people who think either they or someone they know has been injured by exposure to MMMF. I see common threads running through their stories. People show the same symptoms. Doctors and attorneys make the same errors and omissions. Often the victims do not have sufficient resources to truly pursue their claims. A few, however, have won settlements; a number of others are working through the judicial system.

I have identified several categories and sub categories in which most of the victims of fiberglass belong:

I MMMF exposure in the workplace

Workers have been the main concern with fiberglass exposure, and deservedly so. Sometimes, workers bring their poisons home to the family; asbestos was notorious for that. Studies of fiberglass plant workers are useful, but in my opinion studies on end users of the products would be better. So far, end users have not been studied and this should should begin immediately.

A.   An important class of workers are those who work directly with MMMF products regularly, if not daily;

For instance, people who manufacture and install insulation. One fiberglass factory worker from Ohio donated his lungs to VOF a few years ago. He was a non-smoker. When he died of lung cancer at age 60, we sent his lungs to be examined by a doctor in Texas. The results were more than 7.5 million fibers per gram of his dried lung tissue. The dried lung of an average man weighs around 120 grams, so this victim had close to a billion fibers in his lungs.

One of VOF's founders installed fiberglass insulation into refrigerator doors at a General Electric plant in Illinois. He died of lung cancer, too. A doctor from California who X-rayed other workers at that plant found radiographic abnormalities in a number of the workers which he called "indistinguishable from asbestosis." But many of these people had no known exposure to asbestos.
The manufacture of many products besides insulation falls into the category of those who work directly with MMMF. The most tragic story belongs to a group making fiberglass headliners for automobiles in Michigan. They formed big sheets of fiberglass on hot presses and trimmed them with circular saws. One male worker was diagnosed with occupational asthma before he was 30 years old. He was not a smoker and was a real physical fitness buff. His worker's compensation case has dragged on for years. The company recently offered him $25, 000, but they had a whole page of stipulations for him to sign, including no talking to the media, or anybody else, about the affair. This is very common. Eventually, this person settled and signed the papers. Several workers in this company have died from cancer. Among the children of workers at this plant, there are several occurrences of juvenile asthma, at least one Down's syndrome and a fatal liver failure. Because of the number of complaints, both federal and state OSHA inspected this facility. They found a lot of different stuff in the air, real dangerous stuff, but no one thing exceeded the official "safe" levels.

B.  Workers can also be exposed to MMMF during the transport and disposal of MMMF products.

When I worked at the giant retailer Sears, Roebuck &&& Co. in the early 1980s, I unloaded truckloads of insulation and stacked the rolls in our warehouse. Everybody hated fiberglass duty. My boss sure wasn't going to do it, so I wound up doing it. In Sears and a million other stores across the world, there are people just like I was.

Disposal of MMMF is going to be a major issue in the future. One group of workers at a steel recycling plant in Ohio were instructed to tear apart old railroad cars to salvage the steel. They all got sick from the fiberglass in the walls and doors. They sued their employer, but this was Ohio, not far from the world headquarters of Owens Corning Fiberglas, probably the world's largest producer. You just don't win cases like that in Ohio. The judge basically threw the case out.

C.   Tradesman working in related fields are often exposed to MMMF.

Plumbers and electricians have to crawl around in tight spaces; often these spaces contain MMMF insulation. They frequently install or remove small amounts of insulation. I talked to a man last week who had recently moved to Martha's Vineyard, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts where a lot of celebrities and very wealthy people live. He was working for a plumber. The building codes on Martha's Vineyard call for unfaced fiberglass under the floors, above the basement. Every house was that way. In those tight spaces, your mask (if you choose to wear one) gets knocked off often. He got a few big facefulls of fiberglass and got sick. He quit his job a few weeks later.

D The occupational exposure case which has produced the biggest judgment in the U.S. courts, $825,000, was won by a lady who was exposed to fiberglass due to a faulty design in the heating and air conditioning system in the building where she worked.

Everyone in the building got sick and an investigation occurred. They found out the fiberglass-lined ducts were poorly installed, and the cold air return blew right across unfaced fiberglass batts. When the building was fixed, most of the people got better, but this lady already had portions of her sinus surgically removed. She has been diagnosed with asthma. The case was strong enough to make the general contractor, the architect and a few of the sub contractors settle out of court.

II.  Residential MMMF exposure

A.  People get exposed during home remodeling projects.

Workers often contaminate the entire house with MMMF. The carpeting, the upholstered furniture, clothing and just about everything else winds up infested with fiberglass. In most cases these materials will then have to be disposed of; by then the person is thoroughly sick.
In one case in Los Angeles, an elderly woman was being evicted by new property owners. Rather than go through the proper eviction process, the owner began aggressively remodeling the house while the woman was still attempting to move out. Workers tore down the ceilings and the blown-in fiberglass insulation was six inches deep in the hall. As the work progressed the fiberglass became imbedded everywhere. She became very ill and has not been able to recover. He court case is in the preliminary stages.

B.  Probably the most common way people are exposed in a residential setting is when air ducts in a home are not properly installed, and then are immersed in loose-fill fiberglass, which is blown into the attic in a blower.

If the ducts have any leaks, (they usually do) the fiberglass will be sucked up by the vacuum of the heating/air conditioning system and distributed throughout the house. Soon, everyone in the house is sick, even the dog or cat.
One lady in Northern California won $56,000 for this situation. That was five years ago. In Maryland, a group of people living in a retirement community are suing the builders of the development. The court case has been in depositions for three years. The defendants are hoping the plaintiffs will all die before they go to court.

C.  I believe the ducts themselves are faulty if they are lined with fiberglass.

The lining is done for acoustical reasons. The ducts erode over time and shed fibers, particularly if the joints are not properly treated. Fiberglass ducts are not impervious to molds and bacteria, as the manufacturers claim. Any attempts to clean the fiberglass further break the surface down and result in more fiber shedding. Ultimately, the ducts will all have to be replaced; this affects both workplaces and homes.
Eliminating fiberglass-lined ducts is a good idea. Eliminating the blown in fiberglass is very important, too, for homeowners and especially for workers.

D.  Another common exposure is old MMMF insulation deteriorating in the attic or basement.

My own house is a perfect example. The fiberglass in the attic is very old, dusty and dirty. I always wear a respirator when I go up there. It's going to cost a lot of money to have that removed, and possibly contaminate the rest of our environment. I resent that stuff being there very much.

E Sometimes people are exposed at home through strange and unforeseeable situations.

One couple, for instance, had the vent tube from their clothes dryer break off in the wall, blowing the fiberglass insulation out of the wall cavity. Their clothes were all contaminated, as was the room. They had some very bad rashes and infections.

In one case, a Florida man was exposed to MMMF both at home and at work! His home had faulty ducts and a lot of fugitive fibers. The fiberglass-lined air ducts at work were bad too; there was a lot of mold and bacteria growing in there. A lot of people were sick. The ducts were cleaned, but the problems came back. This man totally ripped out the ductwork at his home, replacing it with something called flextube, which has a mylar coating. At work, they did the same thing. He reports feeling much better these days, since both situations were cleaned up.

The Cancer Issue

A lot of attention has been focused on the cancer issue; that is proper because cancer is so final. But those are not the only hazards of MMMF. Most of the letters and phone calls I receive are not complaining about cancer. That takes 20 years or more to manifest. The problems I hear about most include asthma-like symptoms-tightness in the chest, respiratory infections, wheezing-allergy-like symptoms including sinus infections, a dry, hacking cough, sometimes with blood in the sputum-eye and ear infections, severe and persistent rashes, dizziness, nausea, fatigue and hyper-sensitivity to chemical fumes of nearly any kind. Fiberglass, like many products, contains formaldehyde; many people have a very strong reaction to formaldehyde. There is something which is known in the US. as multiple chemical sensitivities, which many people do not recognize as a legitimate injury. Some of the symptoms of MMMF overdose are similar to multiple chemical sensitivities. The clinical evidence regarding MCS keeps growing.
In the long run, cancer will not be the sole malady attributable to MMMF. We must keep our eyes and ears open because I think there are at least a half dozen other ailments in which MMMF may be a factor. Some of these ailments will prove permanent and debilitating.

II FACTORS THAT INTIMIDATE VICTIMS

A Economic pressure:

1. In the US, and most countries, it is very expensive to bring legal action against others. This is particularly so for an individual who might have to fight a large corporation, such as a home builder or the insurance company representing a business which installs insulation, who has nearly unlimited resources. The plaintiff will almost always go broke first.
2. Workers are doubly resistant to taking on their employers because they will probably lose their job. At the very least, the prospect of any promotion or pay increase is out. Re-assignment to undesirable jobs or locations is a frequent result.
3. On a bigger scale, a union representing workers who work with MMMF but seem to be having health problems does not want to risk losing jobs to workers in other cities, or countries. Most workers, if they have to choose, will chose unhealthy jobs over unemployment and poverty. Thus, unions don't make an issue out of MMMF health concerns. This is particularly true in the U.S.

B Social pressure:

1. Workers value the camaraderie of their co-workers. Those who speak out risk ridicule and alienation from the rest of the work force. There is a certain amount of what the Mexicans call "machismo" among workers.
2. Many of those who are suffering from MMMF exposure truly are not sure what is causing their problems. They may think they have a mental problem. Their self-esteems sinks; many become depressed. Few people seem to be able to understand their problems. Their true illness becomes even more mysterious.
3. Trusted professionals seem to be against them. When they tell their doctor about their fiberglass exposure, and how their symptoms seem to be related, the doctor is more likely to refer them to a psychiatrist than to show real concern. Doctors, with the exception of a select few occupational specialists, are totally ignorant of the fiberglass situation. Even fewer doctors know enough to ask the questions that could uncover a fiberglass-induced injury. A number of doctors blindly believe what the MMMF industry tells them.

III OTHER FACTORS WORKING AGAINST VICTIMS

1. Coverage of the MMMF-hazard situation is absent in the mass media, any coverage there is--is dominated by corporate interests. Unbiased information is extremely difficult to find.
2. Legal community unsure about MMMF. Precedent-setting cases are difficult and expensive to win. Most plaintiffs lawyers are not up to taking on the better funded corporations who sell and install MMMF. They are looking for the perfect case with no confounding factors.
3. Regulatory community unwilling to make definitive statement; lack of a firm position from regulators may give workers a false feeling of security. Regulators on receiving end of pressure from politicians to take no action.
4. Political community has no incentive to help MMMF victims; MMMF manufacturers and trade groups give more money to politicians than victims ever will. Resulting pressure on regulators causes inaction. Jobs will remain a bigger issue than public health for foreseeable future, so we cannot look for too much help from the political sector.
5. Exposed workers outside of factories, particularly in end users in construction trades, are non-union and tend to be somewhat transient. This makes them very hard to track down for studies.

IV WHERE TO LOOK FOR VICTIMS

A. Fiberglass manufacturing plants not such good places

1. economic and social pressures too great for workers to bear
2. engineering controls keep dust levels very low. At these levels, asbestos disease would probably not have been detected.

B. Those who work directly with MMMF regularly are good choices

1. insulation installers, esp. blowing wool installers
2. appliance factories (blanket shops)
3. aerospace plants (blanket shops)
4. heating & refrigeration trades (including sheet metal)
5. manufacturing and fabrication of MMMF parts:

1. Auto headliners, body panels, other auto parts
2. Tanks for fuel, chemical storage
3. Fiber composites for aircraft
4. Boat hull construction and repair
5. Military MMMF applications

C. Those exposed to MMMF indirectly, but regularly, during work: