Facebook Campaign by Buffalo Law Firm

Roswell Park

Gives $1 for Every "Like" to Roswell Park

The Buffalo law firm of Lipsitz & Ponterio, LLC, has launched a Facebook campaign to raise and donate up to $5,000 to Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

Every time people "like" the Lipsitz & Ponterio's Facebook page, the firm will donate one dollar to Roswell Park to use for research on asbestos-related cancers.

Established in 1995, Lipsitz & Ponterio concentrates its practice in the areas of asbestos disease and lead poisoning litigation, medical malpractice, insurance liability, personal injury, and worker's compensation matters.

The firm has had thousands of clients harmed by toxic substances who have had settlements and numerous verdicts.

Among asbestos related diseases are: lung cancer, which has a latency period between exposure and development of 20 to 30 years, and mesothelioma, an aggressive and incurable tumor in the lining of the abdominal cavity that appears from 20 to 50 years after initial exposure to asbestos.

When asbestos is disturbed, its fibers break off and can be inhaled where they settle permanently in the lungs.

Asbestos was used commercially by manufacturers and builders because of its resistance to fire, heat, electrical and chemical damage, strength, sound absorption, and affordability in fire retardant coatings, concrete, bricks, pipes, cement, gaskets, insulation, drywall, flooring, roofing, lawn furniture, joint compound, and more.

Since the 1930s, researchers and industry executives have had evidence of a correlation between early deaths, lung problems, and asbestos exposure. This evidence was largely suppressed allowing millions of people to be exposed to the dangers of working in areas with asbestos dust without their knowledge.

It was not until the 1970s, when court documents revealed the magnitude of the cover up. Asbestos was phased out of building products by the 1980s although it remains in many buildings built before that.

The behavior of an industry that allowed millions to be exposed - many of whom died as a result - to asbestos dust - has created the longest running, most expensive, mass tort in U.S. history. Analysts estimate the total costs of asbestos litigation in the USA are over $250 billion and, as of 2002, involved more than 730,000 claimants and 8,400 defendants.

Since 1981, many of the worst offending companies have filed for bankruptcy.