The US Senate has introduced legislation intended to cut back the horrendous onslaught of asbestos suits rocking the insurance industry. Senator Don Nickles, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the Asbestos Reform Bill will rely on medical measurements to limit personal injury claims against companies that once used asbestos in their products.

While the legislation will have to undergo the usual compromises and changes that such laws inevitably must go through, there is confidence that it might attract bipartisan support. After all, the American Bar Association has agreed there should be limits to lawsuits brought by people who don’t have asbestos-related diseases.

US insurers have been forced to reserve billions of dollars to meet claims estimates by litigants who are claiming compensation just for being exposed to asbestos. The industry estimates it has already paid out nearly $90 billion in asbestos claims. As many as 70 major US manufacturers who used asbestos in their products up until the 1970s have already gone into voluntary bankruptcy.

Senator Nickles said there is “no question asbestos litigation is a serious deterrent to economic growth”. He wants to use measurements devised by the American Medical Association to establish whether a litigant is really ill with an asbestos-related disease.