The hottest potato in North America is currently the ongoing welding fume litigation process. Thousands of welders have filed their cases in the US courts and are now waiting to find out whether the manufacturers of welding rods will be convicted for causing sickness.
The cases involve allegations concerning adverse medical effects and personal injuries supposedly resulting from exposure to fumes given off during welding process. Defendants say that fumes produced during welding contain manganese, which has exposed welders to Parkinsons disease. They also claim that commercial manufacturers and sellers of welding rods were aware of these health dangers for many years but failed to provide sufficient warnings.
The latest turn happened beginning of December when an Illinois jury found for the defendants in the Boren v. A. O. Smith Corporation welding fume trial by rejecting the claimants contention that welding fumes caused neurological injury for him.
The Boren trial originally began at the end of May last year when the judge granted an unopposed plaintiffs challenge to the panel of jurors during voir dire. The court continued the trial to mid September and granted the parties leave to conduct additional discovery concerning a study at the end of June in which the authors concluded that some relationship existed between manganese fume exposure and certain neurological disorders. The court further continued the trial to end of October to allow for additional discovery on updated scientific evidence concerning the health effects of exposure to manganese.
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