Customer Reviews

Fatal Deception: The Untold Story of Asbestos

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Let me say right up front that I am a steadfast supporter of the free market. However, it serves neither the free market nor humanity when giant corporations are run by people who are no better than mass murderers. Exaggeration? Read this book and see if you still think so. I read "Fatal Deception" because a friend of mine and his wife acquired a vacation cabin in Libby, Montana a few years back. When newspaper reports began appearing about the widespread asbestos poisoning there, I asked if that was the same town. "Yep," he replied with a disgusted sigh. "We call it our own little Three Mile Island, Montana." (Fortunately, the relative who'd given them the cabin later demanded it back.)

The straightforward language, excellent pacing, and suspense-building structure of "Fatal Deception" make it a hard book to put down. Author Michael Bowker skillfully weaves heartwrenching victims' stories with damning excerpts from documents proving that for over sixty years the asbestos industry and the U.S. government concealed scientific evidence that would have prevented thousands of agonizing deaths. At least as far back as the 1930s, industry higher-ups knew that exposure to asbestos was extremely dangerous. Yet not only did they fail to warn their workers, they brazenly lied and assured them all that dust they were breathing and taking home on their clothes was harmless. Faced with growing medical evidence to the contrary, the asbestos companies conspired in a long-lasting cover-up that successfully hid the truth from the public so that asbestos workers and their families wouldn't discover the dangers to which they were exposing themselves. The industry had help in this cover-up, of course, from good old Uncle Sam.

"Fatal Deception" is not merely a sickening portrait of coldblooded corporate greed, but a wake-up call that vividly illustrates why the U.S. government will never behave with integrity until Americans stop electing politicians willing to prostitute themselves to whichever special-interest groups stick the most money down their pants. Angry? You bet I am. By the time you finish this book, you will be, too.

Michael Bowker has done a thorough and compelling job of telling how asbestos has ravaged the American work force in the past half
century. 'Fatal Deception' not only provides an insider's look at the history of this dangerous mineral, but wraps it around an epic disaster which has been occurring for decades in the small town of Libby, Montana. I know this story, because I have produced a documentary on the town called 'Dust to Dust', which Michael Bowker has generously credited in his book. 'Fatal Deception' takes the reader behind the headlines and reveals the disbelief EPA investigators had until confronted with the awful truth of Libby.
The book is like a good suspense novel, but unfortunately, the story is all too real.
I highly recommend it.

Yes, in a way this IS a horror story! I met the author of this book shortly before it was published or I probably would have missed the book completely. I am very glad I did not miss it. "Fatal Deception" is easily read and absorbed and is a frightening look at this country's and the world's attitude about asbestos. Sadly, asbestos has & will kill many more people before anything is done about it. Why? Because it is usually a slow killer taking up to 40 years to show its' effects. Michael Bowker paints an alarming portrait of corporate murder and the cover-up of this crime by not only the asbestos industry but the government-Democrats & Republicans. Especially frightening is the chapter about the 9-11 tragedy & the asbestos from the WTC that will kill as many - or more - people as the initial disaster. Even more telling; the fact that the EPA cleaned their NY offices for asbestos contamination in full "Space Suit" gear but left other offices to fend for themselves. Sadly, it will probably take an Erin Brokovitch-type movie to move the crisis to the forefront of the American mind but this book is an excellent start.

This book, along with "An Air That Kills", should be required reading for everyone. The asbestos epidemic is just starting to escalate, and this book explains why it has been allowed to do so. Think your government cares? Think again! I've been a nurse for 30 years, and I never saw a case of asbestos disease until recently. In 2002 I was diagnosed with asbestos cancer (mesothelioma) as were six others in my community. The other six are all dead now, and I wait for the reaper to take me. I got my lethal exposure from a single home renovation project 30 years ago. I was unaware that any structure built in the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's is packed with asbestos. So I went from sanding drywall to losing a lung and my life. No exposure is safe - the EPA knew this a quarter of a century a go, yet they remained silent. If there's a scarier manifest about how expendable citizens are to the corporations and politicians, I've yet to encounter it. Read and beware, America!!

My husband was diagnosed with Mesothelioma when he was 54. He was a healthy, active, white collar worker. He died five months after the first small sign of discomfort. You see, he had been exposed to asbestos on summer jobs between high school and college working with ceiling tiles, welding equipment, plumbing insulation, etc. He was also exposed to it on board an army transport ship from the asbestos-wrapped boilers. He was exposed in homes he purchased through the years and worked a little here or there to fix it up or make small repairs. He was never warned that anything contained asbestos. I've learned since that the slightest exposure can kill those whose dna is susceptible (15% of us). The rest of us are all susceptible to Asbestosis, the scarring of the lungs from constant exposure which depletes your oxygen until you don't have the strength to move about. This book reads like my favorite John Grisham novels, but it's frightening to learn what people can do to each other in the name of greed, fear, political pressure, etc. What happened in Libby has affected us all because they shipped out their products to our areas for use in our homes, schools, etc. By the time you finish reading this book, you no doubt will have the street smarts to help protect yourself from this and other types of exposures that can kill you or take away the quality of your life -- If you haven't been exposed already! It can take 10-50 years to get the first symptom. You also might make the rightful connection that your vote for representatives and presidents can choose people that support corporate profits without regard to human life in the name of the economy or in order to fill their own wallets from money they get from those corporate lobbiests. You won't be able to put this book down!

I have loaned this audio book out so many times that I've purchased a second copy! It covers all the bases, very personal stories of real families and real insight to big business meetings and coverups. It's about profit over loss of human life, it's about deception and how far it goes up the 'chain'. It is very well written, a startling account of what you don't know WILL hurt you. It makes you wonder how many other times this happens and what products we are using now that will take a death toll in the future.

I am sorry but I would like to use this forum not only to say this was a great study but also to relate my experience as to why I think that. I had severe asbestos exposure 28 years ago. The fact it was asbestos was hidden from me. I have all the symptons. When I asked my company a gigantic petro chemical company about asbestos they banned me from my plant I worked at for 29 years. I have to be escorted now if I go there. I cannot get a DR at my A_tna HMO to even say the word asbestos let alone consider it in a diagnosis. I cannot go to another Dr without my current Drs reccomendation either or I pay for everything myself. SO my selfish view and a bit of my history as to an outlook or perception I have developed. This is a narrative so unless highy interested or involved with asbestos you won't want to read.



You know one of the reasons and circumstances I moved to Houston was in 1978 my wife was having terrible stomach pains. You know she went to a Dr. in Beaumont and that Dr. told her she had endodometriosis, would never have children and as a result he felt like he needed to do a histerectomy on my wife immediately. Well my wife Marilyn was rightfully emotionally and mentally destroyed. Being desparate of sorts I read up on that scenario a bit and actually read of cases were young Drs would do histerectomies to enhance their growing business and on occassion fetuses could be found in the garbage can or dumptser in the back. Pretty morbid and the reality was I didn't even consider that to be the case here, however it was enough for me to think maybe we needed another opinion.

So we stepped back a minute and caught our collective breathe and thought; "you know this just doesn"t "feel right" to either of us. To quick and to certain I guess. It made no sense at all. So we ended up comming over to Houston to the Womens Clinic on Fanin Street. I'm not sure its even there anymore. Anyway Marilyn got checked and we found out she was pregnant and that is my daughter today who eventually had my grandson. Now down the road we had a son David. So events could have been very different had we not called a timeout and jumped ahead strictly on "faith in a profession".

So later on that was one of the reasons why we decided to just get away from the Beaumont area. You know trust is such an important factor in everything we do. I'm sure its that way with you guys and everyone for that matter. Well once in Houston I had like multiple jobs at any given time to keep us going. One night I left an office at 10pm and a young adult came up from behind, stuck a gun in my head and demanded my wallett. Well I told him he picked a bad night to rob me as I only had 4 dollars. Well he commenced to get irate and pulled the hammer back on his pistol, stuck it on my forhead and said; " if that was true he was gonna blow my f__kin head off". I have no idea why he didn't shoot me that night. Maybe he already had his quota. I'll never know.

However at that time I really thought he was going to kill me and actually I was so sure of that this amazing calm came over me and it was alright. I could deal with that because even though I was in the wrong place at the wrong time at least it was a legitimate holdup and the guy really needed money. Kinda like war I guess. I thought I would have got down on my hands and knees and begged him not to shoot. Ultra strange feeling.

So I went home and called the police and to my utter surprise they just didn't care. They had better things to do and didn't even want a description or a statement from me. I mean I was so confused and just wondered to myself where is our help, our line of defense, our good feeling that people watched out over other well meaning people. SO that was my intro to Houston.

Strange comparisons I know but like I said getting held up and threatened and robbed by a young adult needing money and in a hopeless situation to me was not as bad as the police even refusing to talk to me. You know kinda sorta the same as a lot of things we hear in the news nowadays . SO we had a Dr in Beaumont that would have knowingly killed a fetus to make some extra bucks on an unnecessary historectomy and then I saw the police totally disregard an armed robbery. They could have at least sent a squad car over there I thought.

Now on the other hand I saw a young, probably hopeless young adult rob someone, me. Although sure I think he was wrong, but who in reality was the most wrong? Was it the young man trying to survive or the well educated? On the other hand was it well paid, professionals, from good families, who had nice homes, nice cars, etc etc who look the other way and then very possibly let things happen like that and asbestos disease happen over and over and over again. . Also and apparently strictly out of convienence or greed they make no attempt to make a bad situation right. They obviously even would have sacrificed a somewhat well intentioned person to fit their own needs. I see it everyday nowadays. It leaves a really bad taste in my mouth and presents a bleak future for everyone I think. Back then it was a rarity I believe. So who's really the worst? You guys tell me.

This book caught my attention because my husband just died of mesothelioma. I wondered how he got it because he did not work around asbestos. I learned from the book that, contrary to my assumption, asbestos has not been banned because of the powerful influence of the asbestos industry on Congress. The book reported that many products contain asbestos - things like brake pads, floor tile, shingles, insulation that my husband came in contact with because he was a "do-it-yourselfer". And the book outraged me in describing how many companies that mined or manufactured asbestos products knew of the dangers to their employees and did nothing to protect them. The book was very informative and well documented and yet it was a real horror story of big business completely disregarding human life in the search for the almighty dollar.

Great and insightful book into an industry with a dark past. I work in the abatement industry and found this book fascinating.

The story told in this book is shocking and should be more widely known - unfortunately the writing in this book is disjointed and poorly organized. After a while, I became bored simply because there was no continuous thread in the book leading me forward - just an assemblage of anecdotes with no real cumulative effect. This is a shame because the story should be far more riveting than it is - and it would be, if told by a more skillful writer - for instance, if this book had been written by Jonathan Harr, author of "A Civil Action."