O-Cel-O
You may be entitled to receive compensation. Mesothelioma and lung cancer victims & their families have been awarded over $1 million+ from easy access to funds. Call us today to apply.
Over the past 20 years, we've helped 1,000s of families claim the compensation they deserve with no upfront costs to them.
Jack Bitzer, Chester Hardt and Gerard Murray established O-Cel-O on Leslie Street in Buffalo, New York, in 1946. O-Cel-O produced artificial cellulose sponges to compensate for the scarcity of natural sponges due to World War II. By 1947, the company began producing sponges for the household market. In 1952, General Mills acquired O-Cel-O, and in 1990, the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) acquired O-Cel-O. The Tonawanda, New York O-Cel-O plant is 275,000 square feet large and rests on 19 acres of land.
Unfortunately, many of our clients who worked at O-Cel-O are now being diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer. Before the 1970s, asbestos was used during various procedures at O-Cel-O’s Tonawanda plant. Boilers, valves, and pipes were coated with asbestos insulating materials. Asbestos gaskets sealed flanges, and asbestos block insulation and insulating cement coated boilers. Scraping gaskets and removing and repairing insulating material caused asbestos fibers to be emitted into the air and inhaled by laborers.
Asbestos is dangerous because its fibers are extremely fragile and break easily into tiny particles that your body’s air filtration system can’t trap and expel. When asbestos gets into your lungs and stays there, it can cause mesothelioma or lung cancer. Risk of diagnosis increases with the length of time that a person has been exposed although even short exposures can cause mesothelioma or lung cancer. The most common causes of asbestos exposure are in the workplace or from products in the home. Spouses and family members of workers can also be exposed to asbestos dust and fibers from the clothing the workers wore home from job sites like O-Cel-O.
Mesothelioma is a rare disease that is diagnosed between 2,500 and 3,000 times each year. Anyone who has been exposed to asbestos is at risk for developing mesothelioma or lung cancer. Although most companies knew that asbestos was dangerous, they continued to allow their employees to work with and around asbestos without protective gear until the late 1970s.
At Belluck & Fox, our nationally recognized asbestos attorneys have extensive experience fighting for families and workers exposed to asbestos. We are proud to have secured more than $1 billion so far for asbestos victims and their families.
We are ready to help you. Contact us today to set up a free consultation, where we will review your claim and discuss all your legal options. Our law firm does not charge any legal fees upfront and we do not get paid unless and until we secure compensation for you.
