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18 Envtl. L. 151 (1987-1988)
Victim without a Cause: The Missing Link between Compensation and Deterrence in Toxic Tort Litigation

handle is hein.journals/envlnw18 and id is 165 raw text is: VICTIM WITHOUT A CAUSE: THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN COMPENSATION AND DETERRENCE IN TOXIC TORT LITIGATION By JOHN S. FORSTROM* The 1980s have seen an explosion in the number of toxic sub- stance emergencies resulting in severe impacts on human health. Yet, for persons injured by exposure to toxic substances, existing tort law remedies generally provide only a limited avenue of com- pensation. For many reasons, toxic tort victims face imposing bar- riers to success in their attempts to litigate against toxic pol- luters. With conventional tort law's inadequacy in the context of toxic injuries, new approaches to toxic victim compensation have been called for. In evaluating these alternative approaches to the toxic injury problem, the design of a comprehensive victim com- pensation program for Canada (and the United States) can be se- riously considered. I. INTRODUCTION For decades, North Americans have reaped the material ben- efits of industrialization, made possible to a large extent through the exploitation of advanced chemical technology. American in- dustry currently produces, distributes and consumes over 63,000 different chemicals;' the United States production of organic chemicals is estimated to have increased 1,500 percent between 1950 and 1985.2 An unwelcome consequence of this better living through chemistry' phenomenon, however, has been the dra- matic increase in the volume of hazardous substances entering the environment. In 1981, for example, United States industry generated over two hundred million tons of hazardous chemical * Lawyer, Swinton & Co., Vancouver, British Columbia. LL.B. 1986, Univer- sity of Victoria Law School; B.A. 1984, University of British Columbia. The author wishes to thank Professor T. Murray Rankin for his comments and assistance. Substantive errors, if any, remain the sole responsibility of the author. 1. Maugh, Chemicals: How Many Are There?, 199 SCIENCE 162, 162 (1978). 2. Rehbinder, Control of Environmental Chemicals, Trends in Environmen- tal Policy and Law 199 (1980). 3. See Costle & Beck, Attack on Hazardous Wastes: Turning Back the Toxic Tide, 9 CAP. UL. REv. 425, 425 (1980).