U.S. Respirator Manufacturers Concerned About Meeting Skyrocketing Demand for Masks Needed for Avian Flu Preparation Due to Bog
March 16 2006 - 5:27PM
PR Newswire (US)
WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Coalition for Breathing
Safety warned today that respirator manufacturers' ability to meet
growing demand for respirator masks driven by the avian flu threat
is jeopardized by an ongoing avalanche of spurious silicosis
lawsuits. The Coalition urged quick passage of federal legislation
to protect respirator manufacturers and sellers against baseless
and frivolous lawsuits and litigation fraud in order to help
address the potential shortage of N95 respirators, a key component
of the "social distancing" strategy U.S. government officials are
counting on enacting in the event of an avian flu pandemic. Despite
the fact that the U.S. government sets strict design standards for
respirators, conducts tests to ensure those standards are met, and
approves respirators and the warning labels placed on them,
respirator manufacturers are engulfed in a wave of bogus silicosis
lawsuits filed by trial lawyers claiming defective design or
failure to warn users. The lawsuits also ignore the fact that
manufacturers cannot affect how or when the respirators are used.
Between 2000 and 2004, more than 300,000 claims were filed against
five respirator manufacturers alone. Although these claims are
routinely dropped, dismissed, or settled for very small amounts,
respirator manufacturers' litigation costs in 2004 consumed 90% of
the gross revenues earned from selling the products. The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health
Organization (WHO) have recommended the use of government-approved
respirators (N95 or better) to protect poultry workers and other
individuals involved in responding to an outbreak of avian
influenza. Public and private sector health experts have concluded
that the first line of defense if avian flu begins infecting humans
will be "social distancing," and that NIOSH-approved respirators
will be essential to fighting the flu pandemic. The Department of
Health and Human Services recently announced a request for
proposals for 50 million N95 masks. "Respirators are taken for
granted as an essential component in protecting the public and
health care workers in the event of an avian flu pandemic," said
Daniel K. Shipp, President of the International Safety Equipment
Association (ISEA), a member of the Coalition for Breathing Safety.
"During the SARS scare, which never reached our shores, demand for
respirators stretched available supply. Preparations for an avian
flu pandemic have already caused demand for respirator masks to
skyrocket. If there's an outbreak, demand will be exponentially
higher. Companies will have to ramp up production to meet this
demand." Shipp continued, "Yet, without some protection from the
flood of bogus lawsuits, many manufacturers will face a hard
choice. Do they make the capital investment necessary to expand
capacity when they are risking more groundless lawsuits every time
they market their product? Faced with this situation, some
manufacturers have already withdrawn from key industrial markets."
Last week, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the
House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing probing into
allegations of misconduct by doctors and plaintiffs' lawyers in
silicosis lawsuits. The allegations stem from Texas Federal Judge
Janice Jack's 2005 findings that diagnoses forming the basis for
thousands of individual claims in eight states were "fraudulent."
Judge Jack found that these diagnoses "were about litigation rather
than health care" and "were driven by neither health nor justice:
they were manufactured for money." The Coalition for Breathing
Safety supports legislation introduced in the House of
Representatives and the Senate to protect respirator manufacturers
and sellers against baseless and frivolous lawsuits and litigation
fraud. Respirators are 100% regulated by the U.S. government in
that all significant aspects of respirator design, manufacturing,
and labeling are regulated by the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a U.S. government agency.
The legislation would protect manufacturers only if their products
are certified as complying with U.S. government design standards
and warning label requirements imposed by NIOSH. "The members of
our coalition are working around the clock to produce respirators,
but the costs of administering thousands of claims -- even if it's
only to determine that they have no merit -- total tens of millions
of dollars each year," continued Shipp. "The industry desperately
needs protection from baseless, mass tort claims to allow companies
to focus on the business of making respirators, and meeting the
avian flu challenge." The Coalition for Breathing Safety was formed
in 2004 to ensure that millions of emergency responders, workers
and citizens across the globe continue to have access to
respiratory safety products. The Coalition is seeking a federal
solution to protect companies that make these products from the
hundreds of thousands of lawsuits now threatening their
availability. DATASOURCE: Coalition for Breathing Safety CONTACT:
Paul Nathanson, or George Felcyn, , both of the The PBN Company,
+1-202-466-6210, for the Coalition for Breathing Safety
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