Over the last few months, there has been a great deal of discussion about the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act (H.R. 982) also known as the FACT Act. The FACT Act just passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 221-199. The bill requires the existing asbestos trusts to file quarterly reports on the claims they have received.
The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, after difficult consideration, has chosen not to take an official stand on the FACT Act. Mary Hesdorffer, the executive director of the Foundation, and Melinda Kotzian, its chief executive officer, consulted the Foundation’s board of directors and its major supporters, and uniformly decided that the FACT Act falls outside of the mission of the Meso Foundation.
“We are a research foundation focused on developing effective treatments and a cure for mesothelioma,” stated Ms. Kotzian, “Taking a stand on legal issues falls outside our scope of work and outside of our expertise.” As it reads in our policy on litigation:
Our primary function is to support the health needs of the patient. Involvement in tort and litigation issues does not fall into this category, nor is it our area of expertise. For this reason, it is our position that we will abstain from commenting on or supporting legislation that does not directly address the health needs of mesothelioma patients and their loved ones.
Read the full text of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation’s policy on litigation.
View the text of the bill, search HR 982 on Thomas: www.thomas.gov
See who voted / didn’t vote for the FACT Act: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll579.xml
