International Paper Company is a world leader in the paper and packaging industries. At present day, International Paper employs 60,000 people in more than 20 countries and continues to produce uncoated papers and industrial and consumer packaging. Almost anybody who worked in paper mills in the last 50 years could have been exposed to toxic materials like asbestos on a daily basis.
Because paper milling operations, such as pulping, involve very high temperatures, asbestos was used to insulate many areas in the workplace. Like many companies, International Paper Company has come under scrutiny in the past several decades for its prior use of asbestos.
In the 1980s, a study by the International Paper Workers Union found evidence of asbestos-related diseases in more than half of 273 former International Paper workers.
Joe Lyon is a highly-rated personal injury lawyer representing plaintiffs nationwide in a wide variety of toxic tort and mesothelioma claims.
International Paper Mill Asbestos Exposure
International Paper Workers may have been exposed to asbestos during different stages in the manufacturing process. Some of those positions affected include the following:
- Machine setters
- Machine tenders and operators
- Truck and tractor operators
- Printing machine operators
- Screen printers
- Floor supervisors
- Inspectors and quality control officers
- System operators
- Assemblers and fabricators
- Boiler workers
- Maintenance workers
Paper Mill Asbestos Exposure
- Paper cutting, sawing and slicing
- Banding, wrapping, boxing, stitching, or sealing paper or paperboard sheets
- Transporting raw materials
- Inspecting machines
- Repairing machines
- Handling talc and sanding paper
- Working on piping and boilers
Paper Mill Mesothelioma Cancer
Several international health agencies have raised concerns over the safety of working in paper mills. The American Journal of Epidemiology published a conclusive study conducted by Johns Hopkins researchers that found mill workers were “at increased risk of dying from lung cancer and mesothelioma, probably due to exposure to asbestos.”
A study published in 2010 by the Public Health Agency of Canada found that asbestos exposure among paper and pulp mill workers has been linked to an increased risk of developing cancer. They note that the increased risk “relates to lung and pleural cancers and asbestos exposure.”
Symptoms of Mesothelioma
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls mesothelioma “a fatal cancer primarily associated with exposure to asbestos.”
Symptoms of mesothelioma are often mistaken for minor illnesses, and when symptoms present themselves, the disease is usually in its later stages. Some signs present as the following:
- Pain in the chest or back
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Fever
- Excessive sweating
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Trouble swallowing
- Hoarseness
- Swelling of the face and arms
International Paper Asbestos Products
In recent years, International Paper acquired Champion International, the company that distributed an asbestos-containing product called micarta. Anyone who manufactured, shipped, or installed asbestos-containing micarta products may have risked serious health consequences.
Was I Exposed to Asbestos?
Any current or former employee of International Paper may have been exposed to toxins. Victims may have a claim against the company. In recent years, asbestos attorneys have filed claims against the following companies, stating they provided dangerous products, and endangered thousands of workers around the country:
- International Paper Company
- Kimberly-Clark
- Champion International
- Georgia-Pacific
Below are some other paper industry employers that may have exposed workers to asbestos:
- Glatfelter Co. (Chillicothe, Ohio)
- Glatfelter Co. (Freemont, Ohio)
- Middletown Paper Mill
- Sorg Paper Company
- Ohio Boxboard
- Urbana Paper Mill
- Fox River Paper
- Howard Paper
- IP – Fort Hudson, LA
- IP – Springhill, LA
International Paper Lawsuits
International Paper Company has been named as a defendant in numerous lawsuits by former employees and by others diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer, asbestosis or another asbestos-related disease after exposure to the company’s products.
Over the past fifty years, thousands of workers in the paper industry could have been put at risk for asbestos exposure. Any amount of exposure to asbestos can cause serious health damage, including deadly cancers such as mesothelioma.
