ASBESTOS HEAT SEALS

Automobile mechanics risk contracting asbestos-related mesothelioma

Asbestos heat seals cause mesothelioma.

June 4, 2010 – Automotive industry asbestos exposure has plagued mechanics and car enthusiasts for decades. That’s because asbestos (which resists heat friction and fire better than most materials) has always been generously utilized in brake pads, automobile clutches, gaskets, heat seals, valve rings and hoodliners.

Asbestos heat seals and other asbestos-based automobile products still remain in millions of highway vehicles on the road today, continuing a long tradition of ignorance and danger for current and retired automobile mechanics everywhere.

The dirt on asbestos heat seals

For decades, asbestos-containing heat seals were used in virtually every system that involved the transport of fluids or gases.

The workers who were most at risk were the ones who manufactured heat seals in factories.

Others at risk are the thousands of car mechanics in the country who install, remove and repair asbestos heat seals on a daily basis. Their very work site is a minefield where asbestos exposure can occur at anytime.

Asbestos heat seals kill

Asbestos exposure kills 10,000 people in the U.S. and 90,000 people worldwide every year. It occurs when airborne asbestos fibers (invisible to the naked eye) are inadvertently inhaled at a work site, especially where work activities are conducted in confined areas, like in a garage, or under an automobile in a mechanic’s pit.

Occupational asbestos exposure causes fatal asbestos-related diseases, including asbestosis, lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma cancer (an aggressive and painful cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs and is fatal in every case).

Mechanics do not develop these diseases until 15 to 40 years after their initial exposure. The mesothelioma latency period is short, and the survival rate is nil. Once diagnosed with mesothelioma, patients generally survive four to 18 months on average.

Weitz & Luxenberg, for the American worker

The New York law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg specializes in asbestos-injury litigation and is known in the legal community for obtaining record-setting verdicts and settlements for retired mechanics who have fallen ill from on-the-job asbestos exposure.

If you worked in a garage or as a mechanic at any time, and you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be eligible for financial reward.

Protect your family’s financial future today by making informed decisions. Obtain a free and private case review with an accomplished asbestos cancer attorney at Weitz & Luxenberg. For an immediate response at no cost, send us the facts through the communication form on this page.