New Court Ruling Confirms Link Between Manganese and Brain Damage
March 13 , 2006
A new written order issued February 27, 2006 by Federal Judge Kathleen O’Malley confirms that scientific evidence shows manganese found in welding fumes can cause serious neurological damage to welders.
This is a major victory for the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the national welding fume multidistrict litigation (MDL), a merger of thousands of product liability lawsuits filed against Lincoln Electric Company, General Electric, Westinghouse, Caterpillar, Inc., and other welding rod and equipment manufacturers.
The new ruling, similar to one made by Judge O’Malley last year, says that valid scientific evidence supports the conclusion that manganese exposure is connected to dangerous side effects.
“The evidence so far presented is sufficiently reliable to support the assertion that exposure to low-manganese welding fumes can cause, contribute to, or accelerate a movement disorder, including a parkinsonian syndrome that some doctors will diagnose as PD [Parkinson’s Disease],” the order states.
Judge O’Malley’s ruling is at odds with defense attorneys’ statements, which argue there is no reliable scientific evidence indicating the link between welding fumes and Parkinson’s.
In a recent Forbes magazine article, defense attorney, John Beisner, claimed “defense attorneys for a dozen companies are asserting that manganese-induced Parkinson’s and its supposed symptoms were fabricated ‘out of thin air’ by lawyers and a physician working with them.”
Judge O’Malley states the Forbes’ commentary was “completely inconsistent” with the scientific findings. In addition, she said the health warnings by Hobart Brothers Company and ESAB, two welding-equipment manufacturers, could be determined by a jury to be “grossly inadequate and possibly misleading.”
“We are not talking about junk science,” Judge O’Malley said as she warned the defense lawyers about the statements they’re making to the press.
Co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs Don Barrett was ecstatic about the judge’s ruling. “Yesterday, the Court finally put the scientific causation issue to bed,” he said. “And we feel enormously vindicated. Let me be perfectly clear about this: Welding fumes containing manganese can cause permanent neurological damage to the welders who use them. I know it, thousands of injured welders know it, and companies that manufacture these welding rods know it and have conspired to hide this atrocity for decades.”
