Fatal Deception: The Untold Story of Asbestos

by Michael Bowker

"It's shocking to me that hundreds of thousands of people are dying of asbestos-related disease across this country but most people don't know a thing about it," says Chris Weis, an asbestos coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency. Medical evidence dating back to 1899 has shown that asbestos is a slow but steady killer, even though world governments, including our own, and the popular media have long bought into the idea that a little asbestos won't hurt you. In fact, a single microscopic spear-shaped asbestos fiber lodged in a victim's lung can cause myriad fatal reactions. Physicians estimate that exposure to asbestos will eventually kill millions of Americans. They will die of asbestosis, mesothelioma, tremolite poisoning, or cancer of the esophagus, colon, or stomach.

In 1989, the EPA finally did ban the manufacture, importation, processing, and distribution of commercial asbestos-- but the ban didn't hold. Asbestos is big business, rivaling tobacco in its profitability. By 1991, powerful corporate lobbyists had succeeded in having the ban overturned. Today, asbestos remains an ingredient in more than three thousand products on sale here in the United States and many more that are exported to developing nations around the globe.

In Fatal Deception , Michael Bowker details the gritty struggle for justice in Libby, Montana, site of the most lethal environmental disaster in U.S. history. Bowker also tracks the cover-up that has led to the exposure of more than 100 million Americans to the potentially lethal fibers that still exist in countless homes and in more than a million public buildings and offices. Among these are the World Trade Center, which contained hundreds of thousands of pounds of asbestos. Bowker makes the case that the owners of the vermiculite mine in Libby, and the asbestos industry in general, took terrible advantage of employees, who rarely were told of their peril.

At least fifty American companies have already filed for bankruptcy due to asbestos lawsuits, and jury awards by some estimates may reach a staggering $200 billion. By establishing the serious threat of asbestos once and for all, Fatal Deception is an urgent appeal to cut our collective losses and ban asbestos now.

Genres: Law

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book of the sorry scandal that is Asbestos. The most telling was Chapter 16 detailing the malicious fraud by the EPA that has crippled thousands of good Samaritans who help at ground zero and for whom billions have been set aside for medical relief. I use facts Bowker presents in my own book "Dioxinomics: The Myth of Superpower in the Age of Dioxin."

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Asbestos sometimes enters what I do at work, so I found the subject area mildly interesting, although I found myself skimming certain parts of the book. I have a problem with books like this that claim to be nonfiction but are really are a combination of "creative nonfiction" and opinion. The cover of the book says "why is it still legal and still killing us". It certainly is killing some people and that is very unfortunate but asbestos exposure is not a pervasive problem that most of us face. It's certainly worth a read if you like the science-y nonfiction books but don't expect to end up knowing the entire story.

[Rockconner · Rating 3 out of 5]

infuriating

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding and Infuriating !!! Everyone needs to be aware off the lack of accountability of many of our largest Corporations. Everyone should read this !!!

[Shiftopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. I wish there was an updated version. 2003 was a long time ago..

[Linda Buckland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another cover-up by government and big business. Extremely frustrating to read how so many individuals died horrible deaths through no fault of their own.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard, triggering read, as my father died of mesothelioma. The book itself focused on Libby, Montana. I wish that the topic of asbestos had been covered in more breadth than depth, but that is personal choice. There was good information on Ground Zero. This book is 20 years old, yet little has changed. Asbestos is still not banned in the United States, and is still a major issue. I am so very grateful that this book was written and I wish that more folks were active in the movement to ban asbestos. My father suffered miserably for five years, all the while knowing his prognosis was fatal. I can’t even begin to imagine the lives of those suffering from asbestosis for 10, 20 years and more. Of course Dick Cheney and other corporate bigwigs have been fighting against payouts, and so many corporations have now bankrupted trusts to “pay” victims pennies on the dollar via settlement. Here’s hoping for a kinder future for the working class of this country.

[Anna Engel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extremely one-sided book written by a journalist with an axe to grind. Browker wants to stir up irrational fear and panic; this type of journalistic fear-mongering does little to provide information and serves only to incite the masses unreasonably.

There's no question that asbestos has ruined thousands of lives. The tragedy of Libby, MT and other Libby-related sites is wide-ranging. These sites need to be remediated or completely shut down/capped. Corporate greed and irresponsibility has caused so much wrong.

Browker, however, advocates not just banning asbestos, but also its complete removal from homes and buildings, which ignores the fact that releasing these fibers willy-nilly through unsafe abatement would be much more hazardous than leaving the asbestos-containing products in place.

The reality is the meso is a very rare cancer, however awful it might be. The reality also is that most people are at most at minimal risk for exposure to asbestos at any level relevant to adverse effects.