Congressman proposes relief for respirator manufacturers
A flood of lawsuits is damaging companies that make respirator masks for emergency workers during a terrorist attack or airborne epidemic, says a Pennsylvania congressman who is behind a bill to grant the manufacturers immunity from injury suits if the federal government has certified a mask to be safe, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
According to the report, 3M has faced more than 408,000 injury claims over disposable dust masks it sold for more than 25 years.