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Transit workers: City buses made ussick
by amy zimmer / metro new yorkAUG 19, 2008
Retired transit workers, who spent a combined 252,000 hours inunventilated bus depots around the city, filed a lawsuit yesterday againstmanufacturers of diesel engines and buses, claiming that decades of exposure to fumes resulted in serious heart and lung problems.Of these 13 bus drivers, shifters ormechanics who worked in various NewYork City Transit depots, nine becameill with cancer, four had pulmonaryarrest and heart conditions. Some had acombo of disorders. Two named in thesuit, which was filed in New York,Kings and Bronx counties, are alreadydead. Family members filed on theirbehalf.“These depots, by and large, were converted trolley car barns. They have noexhaust fans, almost no windows,” lawyer John Dearie explained. Often, upto 100 buses would idle all night because the engines, if turned off, wouldn’talways turn on in the morning, he alleged.The workers are seeking unspecified damages from General Motors, DetroitDiesel and other companies. “[They] gave no warning,” Dearie said. “Theyknew the belching of these fumes was a dangerous byproduct.”The lawsuit also claims it was economically and technologically feasible todesign buses that eliminate or reduce the deleterious effects of the diesel.Plaintiff Fred Santoro, 74, who after retiring in 2000 developed what hethought was a “simple sore throat.” When his doctor diagnosed him withlarynx cancer he was in disbelief because he never smoked.“We knew we were breathing it in, but we never thought there was anythingwrong,” Santoro said.--
Just a taste of things to come
With perhaps millions of workers in transportation, construction, railroadand package delivery facing similar diesel exposure facing heart and lungmalignancies, lawyer John Durst anticipates many lawsuits will follow.
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Emidio DeStefano, 71, foreground, saysdiesel fumes from city buses caused him todevelop throat cancer.
(Photo: aharonrothschild/metro)
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