Six Respirator Manufacturers Warn President Bush of Imminent Shortage of Masks Necessary for Avian Flu Pandemic Response
June 22 2006 - 3:15PM
PR Newswire (US)
WASHINGTON, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The leaders of six respirator
manufacturers representing approximately half the respirator
production capacity of the United States urged President Bush in a
letter delivered today to the White House to back federal
legislation ensuring the supply and availability of disposable
respirator masks (N-95 respirators) for healthcare workers and
other first responders. The letter from the industry echoes a
letter sent to the Administration in May by a bipartisan group of
86 Members of Congress calling for the National Strategy for
Pandemic Flu Influenza to stockpile N-95 respirator masks instead
of surgical masks. "Unfettered liability costs will dramatically
affect our nation's ability to respond to an avian flu pandemic,"
wrote the respirator company executives. "Costs of defending
litigation, aside from settlements or verdicts, amount to hundreds
of millions of dollars. In fact, currently, 90 to 94 percent of
profits are being consumed to maintain litigation efforts.
"Disposable respirators are inexpensive, so there is no practical
way to add unfair liability costs to the price of our products,"
the letter continues. "Thus, we are compelled to withhold further
investment in production capacity, exit the marketplace or
manufacture abroad for foreign buyers where no litigation crisis
exists. This is not in the public interest. Respirator
manufacturers are not, and have never been, part of the problem
underlying end-user illnesses, but we can be part of the solution
to minimize the spread of avian flu in the U.S. if a pandemic
occurs." The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) tightly regulates the respirator industry by setting strict
design standards, conducting tests to ensure they are met, and
approving each and every respirator model as well as the warning
labels that accompany the product. However, relying on
asbestos-style litigation tactics, trial lawyers have deluged the
industry with lawsuits claiming defective design or failure to warn
users -- despite the fact that manufacturers cannot affect how or
when the respirators are used. "Without legislation, the ability
for American manufacturers to address emergency preparedness or
have surge production capacity is and will be severely
constrained," wrote the company heads. "Already, one major
manufacturer has announced that it will no longer produce N-95
respirators for the industrial market. Another is seriously
considering withdrawing from the market, and it has become
difficult to convince shareholders to invest in new capacity in the
United States." France has begun stockpiling 685 million N-95
respirator masks just for first responders, while the U.S.
Government to date has had one request for proposals for 50 million
masks. The recent experience with SARS showed that countries will
embargo exports of respirator masks in the case of a global
pandemic and the US will need its domestic sources for these masks.
The Coalition urged President Bush to support bi-partisan
legislation introduced by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ben
Nelson (D-NE) in the Senate (S. 1406) and Representatives Bud
Shuster (R-PA) and Tim Holden (D-PA) in the House (H.R. 2357) that
would preempt lawsuits claiming defective design or insufficient
warning if a respirator is NIOSH-approved. The six manufacturers
who sent the letter include members of the Coalition for Breathing
Safety: Aearo, Bacou-Dalloz, Inovel, Moldex, MSA and North Safety.
The Coalition for Breathing Safety was formed in 2004 to ensure
that millions of emergency responders, workers and citizens across
the globe continue to have access to respiratory safety products.
For additional information, please visit
http://www.breathingsafety.org/ . DATASOURCE: Coalition for
Breathing Safety CONTACT: Paul Nathanson, , or George Felcyn, ,
both of The PBN Company, +1-202-466-6210, for the Coalition for
Breathing Safety Web site: http://www.breathingsafety.org/
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