Special Report

What's a life worth?

Photo: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star Asbestos pipes, in addition to being underground in many water systems in Alabama, also were used to make fences in Ragland, where the pipes were produced at Cement Asbestos Products Company.

The names are written in a woman's neat script. They tally the friends and family she's seen die because of asbestos, men who'd earned a living believing they were safe, eventually learning, too late, that they weren't.

The list serves as a sober illustration of the complex nature of asbestos injury and a legal system that wrestles with compensating the sick and dying.

In the next few weeks, the U.S. Senate is expected to consider a bill that would do away with asbestos lawsuits past, present and future. The legislation, which President Bush alluded to in his State of the Union address with the phrase "frivolous asbestos claims," presents a complex network of connections running from Ragland, a small town in St. Clair County, throughout U.S. industry to Washington, D.C.

The people in St. Clair County are the human face of that legislation. Evidence has shown that asbestos companies intentionally injured employees, that the industry built the bulk of its profits off keeping workers in the dark about the dangers of asbestos. Those profits grow by millions each day, even among companies who filed for bankruptcy because of the lawsuits.

It is for those sick and dying, the survivors say, that citizens need to be aware of this law. They say their lives are not frivolous and are worth more than money.

Stories by Matt Korade and Jessica Centers

What's a life worth?

Jessica Centers, a University of Missouri graduate, covered health and the environment for The Anniston Star.

Matt Korade, a New York native and holds a master's degree from the Columbia University school of journalism, was star senior writer.