" Skyrocketing Demand for Masks "

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   U.S. Respirator Manufacturers Concerned About 

Meeting Skyrocketing Demand for Masks Needed for Avian Flu 

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

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