Schepers, Gerrit

Gerrit W. H. Schepers (1913–2008) was a South African–born pathologist who became one of the earliest scientific voices warning that asbestos caused lung cancer and other fatal diseases. After studying stricken miners in South Africa, he worked in the United States at the Saranac Laboratory and later testified in many asbestos cases, providing historical evidence that industry knew of the hazards far earlier than it admitted.

Origin

Schepers trained in medicine in South Africa and worked at the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit in Johannesburg in the 1940s and 1950s, where he examined miners from the crocidolite and amosite fields. He emigrated to the United States in the late 1950s, eventually directing research at the Saranac Laboratory, the same institution that had earlier produced industry-funded asbestos research under Dr. Leroy Gardner.

Significance in Asbestos Context

Schepers is important to patient cases because he is a primary historical witness to what the asbestos industry and its scientific contractors knew, and when they knew it. He documented that Saranac Laboratory researchers found asbestos-induced tumors in animal studies during the 1940s, and that those findings were softened or suppressed in reports delivered to industry sponsors such as Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan. His testimony and writings have been used by plaintiffs to establish that manufacturers had knowledge of cancer risk decades before they warned workers, which is central to claims of failure to warn, punitive damages, and fraud.

Example Sentence

The plaintiff's historical expert cited Dr. Gerrit Schepers's accounts of the Saranac Laboratory studies to show that asbestos manufacturers were aware of cancer risks in the 1940s, long before any warning labels appeared on their products.

Related Terms

Saranac Laboratory, Leroy Gardner, State of the Art, Failure to Warn, Sumner Simpson Papers, Johns-Manville

Notes

• If your case involves exposures before the 1970s, ask your legal team whether Schepers's published articles and deposition testimony are part of the historical evidence package they are assembling.
• Schepers's 1995 article in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, recounting the suppression of Saranac findings, is frequently introduced as historical evidence. Preserve any product identification you can to link your exposure to manufacturers named in that history.
• His testimony is most directly relevant to claims for punitive damages and fraud, which require showing the company knew of the danger and concealed it; mention any documents, labels, or safety instructions (or lack thereof) you remember from the worksite to your attorney.