Title:

When You Were Exposed To Asbestos, Were You This Well Protected?

Creator:

White Lung Association

Date:

[ca. 1986]

Description:

Two developments in the 1960s exposed the misconduct of asbestos manufacturers and made them accountable to some of their many victims. First, a group of pioneering epidemiological studies by Dr. Irving Selikoff during 1962 and 1963, on the health of asbestos insulation workers, provided firm evidence of the health threat posed by asbestos. Then, in 1965, changes in tort law made the sellers of all unreasonably dangerous products strictly liable to users and consumers unless their products carried adequate warning labels. In recent decades, these findings have laid the groundwork for thousands of lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers. This poster from the White Lung Association (WLA), a national network founded in 1979 to provide educational support and advocacy for asbestos victims and their families, uses the image of two people, whose lives have been affected by asbestos, as spokespersons for others seeking financial compensation for their exposure. The man is identified as an asbestos sufferer and former welder in the Brooklyn Navy Shipyard. The image of a man in a safety suit equipped with a ventilator is combined with the text to illustrate the seriousness of the asbestos threat. The poster also identifies a change in New York State Law in 1986 that extended the legal rights of exposure victims. A list of at-risk occupations is also provided.. NOTE: Original slide of poster image is slightly blurry.

Publisher:

White Lung Association

Original Repository:

The History of Medicine Division. Prints and Photographs Collection

Rights:

Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

Disclaimer:

The National Library of Medicine's Profiles in Science program has made every effort to secure proper permissions for posting items on the web site. In this instance, however, it has either not been possible to identify or contact the current copyright owner. If you have information regarding the copyright owner, please contact https://support.nlm.nih.gov.

Genre:

Posters
Slides (photographs)

Subject:

Asbestos and Public Health

Format:

Still Image

Extent:

1 pages

Language:

English

Legacy Source Citation:

Original Repository. History of Medicine Division. Prints and Photographs Collection. 11611. Free Text. This image may also be accessed from the Images from the History of Medicine (IHM).. URL. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/ihm/. IHM Order Number. A025601

Legacy ID:

VCBBCX

NLM ID:

101584655X39

Profiles Collection:

Visual Culture and Health Posters

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584655X39

Story Section:

Environmental Health