Parkin$on'$, Welding Rod$, Law $uit$

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lawsuit blames welding for illness
BY BRIAN BRUEGGEMANN

Posted on Mon, Oct. 13, 2003

EDWARDSVILLE - Neurologist says 'a lot of data' backs claim

A type of lawsuit that's never resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff is 
getting a second chance in Madison County.

A Madison County jury is hearing the case of a 64-year-old Collinsville man who 
claims he developed a Parkinson's-type
disease at an early age because of welding rods.

In June, another jury heard the case of plaintiff Larry Elam, but a mistrial 
was declared because jurors were unable to
reach a verdict after four days of deliberation.

Testimony in the retrial began last week. Witnesses have included Dr. Paul 
Nausieda, a neurologist from Milwaukee who
treats patients suffering from Parkinson's and manganism, a similar disease 
that affects movement.

Nausieda, who has conducted research on the cause of the diseases, said he's 
noticed that many of his young patients
worked as welders or around welders.

"A lot of our young patients showed up on this list, who had very severe 
Parkinson's," Nausieda said. "It raised a
strong clinical suspicion."

Nausieda said he's also been participating in a screening project involving 
welders in the South, and of the roughly
20,000 welders studied, about 2,500 have a Parkinson's-type disease.

Attorneys for Elam claim he developed a Parkinson's-type disease at an early 
age because the welding process produces
fumes of manganese, a neurotoxin. Elam worked around welders and sometimes did 
welding while he was employed at Union
Electric in Missouri for 29 years. He began having tremors and walking with a 
shuffle in the mid-1990s at age 57.

Elam is suing Lincoln Electric, Hobart Brothers and BOC Group, companies that 
provided welding rods for Union Electric.
The trial is expected to take a couple of weeks.

Peter Bell, an attorney representing the defendants, asked Nausieda about his 
pay for testifying and working on the
screening project. Nausieda said he was being paid $10,000 to testify and is 
paid $10,000 for every day he works on the
screening project -- about $270,000 so far. The screening project is being 
conducted by a group of law firms, Nausieda
said.

Bell asked Nausieda if there are any published studies -- ones reviewed by 
peers in the medical community -- confirming
a link between welding and an increased risk of Parkinson's.

Nausieda said there is no such study, but added: "There's a lot of data 
floating around that certainly suggests that's
true."

The defendants claim there is no confirmed link.

A few similar cases have gone to trial in the United States, but none has ended 
in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff.
Elam's attorneys said the jury in the previous Madison County trial had voted 
8-4 in favor of the plaintiff.

Allen D. Vaughan, one of Elam's attorneys, said previous jurors told him they 
were unable to reach a unanimous verdict,
but they had "unanimously agreed on the failure of the welding industry to 
investigate the adverse health effects of
welding fumes."

Nausieda said Parkinson's-type diseases first began appearing in the 1800s. The 
most common theory, Nausieda said, is
that Parkinson's is "some byproduct of the Industrial Revolution."

In the previous trial, Elam's attorneys asked the jury to award him $6.4 
million.

SOURCE: The Belleville News-Democrat


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Hasn't anyone else noticed the figures given under oath?

"One doctor who has worked on the study for a fee of $10,000 per day testified 
that of 20,000 welders screened so far,
about 2,500 have a Parkinson's-type disease"

"Dr. Paul Nausieda, a neurologist from Milwaukee, testified in Elam's trial 
about his participation in a study of
welders in three Gulf Coast states. Nausieda said about 2,500 of the roughly 
20,000 welders screened so far have
Parkinson's or a form of the disease"

"of the roughly 20,000 welders studied, about 2,500 have a Parkinson's-type 
disease"

is my math correct?? that would be ONE in every EIGHT !! or... 12 1/2 %

or... TWENTY - FIVE Parkinson's Patients in every TWO HUNDRED welders !!

extrapolating further...

One million welders in the US would equate to 125,000 welding fumes Parkie 
patients who could all potentially sue for
$1,000,000 US each...

125,000 X 1,000,000 = $125,000,000,000.00 US

Small wonder the welding rod manuf. wishes to appeal...

cheers ... murray

Reference:



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