Editing Respirator (section)

==== Continuing mesothelioma litigation ==== <!-- Excerpted in N95 respirator article -->
{{see also|Toxic tort}}
[[File:30 cfr part11 label.png|thumb|right|upright=0.5|[[30 CFR 11]] label, with asbestos approval]]
[[NIOSH]] certifies [[B Reader]]s, people qualified to testify or provide evidence in [[mesothelioma]] [[personal injury]] lawsuits,<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1644&context=faculty-articles | title=Fraud and Abuse in Mesothelioma Litigation | volume=31 | issue=33 | date=2004 | last1=Brickman | first1=Lester | journal=Tul. L. Rev. | pages=47–48}}</ref> ''in addition to'' regulating respirators. However, since 2000, the increasing scope of claims related to mesothelioma started to include respirator manufacturers to the tune of 325,000 cases, despite the primary use of respirators being to prevent asbestos and silica-related diseases. Most of these cases were not successful, or reached settlements of around $1000 per litigant, well below the cost of mesothelioma treatment.<ref name="rescue" /> 

One reason is due to the fact that respirator manufacturers are not allowed to modify a respirator once it is certified by NIOSH. In one case, a jury ruled against 3M for a respirator that was initially approved for asbestos, but was quickly disapproved once [[OSHA]] permissible exposure limits for asbestos changed. Combined with testimony that the plaintiff ''rarely'' wore a respirator around asbestos, the lack of evidence, and the limitation of liability from static NIOSH approval, the case was overturned.<ref name="rescue">{{cite journal | first1=Victor E. | last1=Schwartz | first2=Cary | last2=Silverman | first3=Christopher E. | last3=Appel. | title=Respirators to the Rescue: Why Tort Law Should Encourage, Not Deter, the Manufacture of Products that Make Us Safer. | journal=Am. J. Trial Advoc. | volume=33 | issue=13 | date=2009 | url=https://www.shb.com/-/media/files/professionals/s/silvermancary/respiratorstotherescue.pdf |pages=48–51}}</ref>

Nonetheless, the costs of litigation reduced the margins for respirators, which was blamed for supply shortages for N95 respirators for anticipated pandemics, like [[avian influenza]], during the 2000s.<ref name="rescue" />