Asbestos Cover-ups to Deadly Grenfell Inferno: One Company’s Lethal Legacy

After a deadly blaze raced through London’s Grenfell Tower in 2017, outrage focused on the cladding and insulation on the building’s facade and revelations that the manufacturer, Celotex, had long known about the fire hazards and had been deliberately misleading about those dangers.

In a recent article for 3QuarksDaily, Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel partner Charles Siegel unravels a larger story of the corporate culture within Celotex’s parent company spanning more than a century and highlighting how the Grenfell tragedy was not the first time that the company’s failure to warn cost lives.

For much of the 20th century, Celotex’s U.S. parent company was one of the major suppliers of asbestos. As the dangers of asbestos exposure became apparent, the company covered up its own findings about those health risks, leading to scores of preventable mesothelioma and cancer deaths.

Writes Siegel:

The lies that killed the Grenfell victims, however, were only the latest in a rotten corporate history stretching back to the early 20th century. For many years earlier, the parent Celotex had concealed the lethal dangers of another insulation product – one it marketed widely for decades. While this product was, in fact, highly effective against fire and heat, its dangers lay in its intrinsic physical properties. Over the decades these properties would condemn thousands of users, and indeed many of Celotex’s own workers, to early and painful deaths. The product in question, of course, was asbestos insulation.

What is asbestos?

Asbestos refers to a group of naturally occurring mineral fibers valued for their exceptional strength, durability, and resistance to heat, fire, and chemicals. Starting in the late 1800s, asbestos became widely used in manufacturing because it handled heat so well and was so versatile. It was woven into textiles, used extensively in building materials like insulation, roofing, and flooring, incorporated into automotive brakes and clutches, and added to cement products.

These same durable fibers are hazardous when inhaled. Evidence linking asbestos exposure to severe respiratory diseases, including asbestosis and mesothelioma, began accumulating as early as the 1930s.

In the article, Siegel explores how Celotex became notorious for its treatment of a medical expert hired to investigate asbestos exposure within its facilities. Dr. Thomas Mancuso’s research in the early 1960s uncovered high levels of asbestos-related illnesses and an occupational cancer risk among former employees. He directly informed senior company officials about the cancer danger, recommending that former workers be notified of their risk and monitored medically for early disease detection. After Dr. Mancuso submitted his report containing these findings and recommendations, the company terminated his employment and continued its operations as usual without warning workers of the dangers associated with asbestos.

The Celotex managers who worked, and still work, in the UK, and who lied about the flammability of RS5000, are of course a world and a century away from the American executives who concealed the lethal risks of asbestos exposure. The company has been sold, resold and spun off multiple times. But across that great distance of time and space, and through all the corporate machinations and shape-shifting restructurings, the murderous corporate culture remained the same. The 72 dead of Grenfell were merely its latest victims.

What is mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer that develops in the mesothelium – the thin layer of tissue lining internal organs, most commonly the lungs (pleural mesothelioma) or the abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma).  Inhaling or ingesting asbestos fibers is the only known cause of this disease. Tragically, mesothelioma often takes decades – anywhere from 20 to 50 years or even longer – to develop after the initial exposure occurred, meaning a diagnosis today almost always stems from contact with asbestos many years in the past.

How We Help Victims of Asbestos Exposure

Seek justice with the help of our experienced asbestos attorneys. Our asbestos law firm has represented individuals like you affected by asbestos exposure for over 20 years, aggressively fighting the corporate giants responsible for their dangerous products. If you or a loved one were exposed to asbestos or suffered from a disease caused by asbestos, like mesothelioma, we can help.