The Nation - News from June 13, 1988

The estate of a cancer victim who worked around asbestos is suing a tobacco company, charging that it failed to warn people the two substances are a dangerous combination. The case of John Ray Gunsalus vs. American Tobacco Co. is believed to be the first to come to trial linking tobacco and asbestos, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Gunsalus, who smoked two packs of Pall Malls daily, worked at shipyard jobs that left him covered with asbestos, jurors were told last week. He died last year at age 55 after smoking since age 11. In 1985, the surgeon general reported that people who work near asbestos are five times as likely to get lung cancer as people who do not come in contact with the substance.