In 1955, the railroads recognized that diesel exhaust posed a risk to its employees, but according to one railroad defense attorney at the time, diesel exhaust cases were “relatively unimportant.”
Testing by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s confirmed the presence of benzene and other known carcinogens in diesel exhaust. Despite that notice, railroad training materials failed to inform their employees that diesel exposures could cause cancer. In fact, many railroad training presentations claimed diesel exhaust was not harmful.
In 2012, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that diesel fumes are “carcinogenic to humans.” Suffice it to say, after that finding, diesel exhaust cases against the railroad are no longer “relatively unimportant.”
The World Health Organization’s finding will make it easier to prove that your cancer is related to your workplace exposure to diesel exhaust. In evaluating your railroad cancer claim, we typically use diesel exhaust as a baseline exposure. With the help of our experts, we will analyze all of your railroad toxic exposures and determine which ones played a part in causing your illness.
