New York Plastics Plant Blamed for Workers’ and Residents’ Mesothelioma
The OxyChem chemical plant in Niagara Falls New York and its neighboring industrial plastics plant in North Tonawanda, New York are both the subject of renewed scrutiny after revelations of malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases among the plants’ employees and neighbors. According to a ProPublica report published in October, the company’s extensive asbestos contamination was widely acknowledged and a constant cause for concern.
New Employees Warned by Coworkers About Risk of Mesothelioma
Though it has long been known that exposure to asbestos causes malignant mesothelioma, the ProPublica article noted that workers at the OxyChem plant were constantly exposed to the toxic material up until the time that the facility closed in 2021. Employees recounted being warned by coworkers to avoid breathing in the asbestos fibers that “hung in the air, collected on the beams and light fixtures and built up until it was inches thick.” Plant managers were unresponsive to pleas for remediation.
Today, many of those workers, as well as people who lived in the neighborhoods surrounding the plant, have been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. Victims have filed personal injury lawsuits seeking compensation, and the majority of them have received payment in settlements that have been arranged out of court and out of the public eye. The company has never admitted guilt or mishandling of the toxic material.
Mesothelioma Victims Recall Blue Asbestos Inside Their Homes
Among the anecdotes recounted by mesothelioma victims are accounts of layers of blue asbestos fibers on freshly fallen snow, of asbestos coating the windowsills of their homes and the seats of their cars, and even of blue asbestos coating the ballfield where Little League games were played.
How that deadly material spread outside of the plant is an open secret to those who’ve investigated the source of their mesothelioma: they learned that the plant’s workers were occasionally told to use powerful air hoses to blow accumulated asbestos dust out of the facility. Years later, residents have been diagnosed with the rare form of cancer, as well as asbestosis and other breathing difficulties.
FREE Financial Compensation Packet
- Info on law firms that will recover your HIGHEST COMPENSATION
- Learn how to get paid in 90 days
- File for your share of $30 billion in trust funds
