Formed by Thalidomide: Mass Torts as a False Cure for Toxic Exposure

Hormesis and toxic torts.

Policy implementation of hormesis has to date focused on regulatory applications. Toxic-tort litigation may provide an alternative policy venue for real-world applications of hormesis. Businesses and government entities, who are sued by individuals claiming to have been injured by exposure to very low levels of toxic substances may defend those cases by deploying hormesis to argue that such exp...

Genetics in Toxic Torts, a bibliography

The Future of Mass Torts

Hormesis and toxic torts: traditional torts and claims for subclinical harm.

This article explores the implications of hormesis on toxic tort litigation, in particular litigation regarding claims for medical monitoring or subclinical harm. In considering medical monitoring issues, courts have described medical monitoring both as a remedy and as an independent claim. If medical monitoring is upheld as an indepedent claim - as opposed to a remedy awarded after negligence ...

The Future of Mass Torts

In the world of mass torts, asbestos and pollution are the best known and clearly the largest to date, with $29 billion and $30 billion (respectively) of incurred losses as of year-end 1998 for the U.S. insurance industry. Can another mass tort of comparable size arise in the future? The authors argue that, while it is possible, such a large loss is unlikely. This is due to factors that are lik...