Asbestos solution must be FAIR

It is good to know that Congress has taken an interest in the innocent victims of asbestos such as hundreds of residents of Libby, Montana. It shows that government does have a heart.

Unfortunately, the enormity of the environmental health crisis caused by asbestos is proving to be almost beyond the scope of human solutions. There are so many victims, with so many sources of illness, and so many different levels of liability, that the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act is almost like a Chinese box of legislation. There seems to be no end to its complications, and the hidden message inside may be nothing more than a muted cry for help.

Think of that plea as coming from the asbestos workers and their families, many of whom are in the throes of illness or facing death because of the actions or inaction of companies that traded in the "miracle fiber" for many years before its dangers had been acknowledged to the public.

If the bill does not help them, then it really will not be FAIR despite the acronym that the legislation proudly carries. As written, the bill would create a $140 billion fund provided by asbestos-using companies, such as W.R. Grace, and their insurers. That money would be used to settle at a predetermined level of compensation the claims of many, but by no means all, victims of asbestos. In large part, the covered class of victims would be asbestos workers with at least five years of exposure, or their families. Consumers of asbestos products would not be covered, nor would workers with milder forms of asbestos disease. Yet the asbestos industry would gain immunity from all lawsuits, even those from people not covered by the legislation.

And even though $140 billion seems like an inexhaustible supply of money, it isn't. Some estimates suggest that even with the limits on coverage, the fund will come up $100 billion short, which raises the possibility that down the road it will be taxpayers picking up the bill instead of the guilty parties.

All that having been said, we still hope that Congress will manage to find the right combination of protections and safeguards to make the asbestos legislation work. Short of such a solution, it will be up to every individual victim to file a lawsuit for compensation. This would not only tie up a huge amount of court time, it would also probably bankrupt the companies involved long before many victims even became ill.

It is absolutely imperative that when the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act again this week, it must remember the innocent victims and make sure their rights are protected. Last month, Sen. Burns and Baucus were able to get special coverage for Libby's workers included in the bill. As the bill is taken up again, the wording may be changed, but those workers and their families must not be forgotten.

If Congress is going to get involved in this monumental issue, it must do the job right.