Industrial gases firm BOC is to appeal against a verdict in the US which linked fumes from welding rods produced by the company with Parkinson's disease, revealed a report.
BOC is the defendant in 80 similar cases covering more than 6,000 claimants. The report said investors now feared a flood of similar rulings from US courts.
The verdict in Madison County, Illinois, ordered BOC and two US firms, Lincoln Electric and Hobart Brothers, to pay US$1m to Larry Elam, a 65-year-old Parkinson's sufferer. This was half the amount sought.
Elam, a former welder, claimed inhaling manganese fumes while working at Union Electric caused him to develop Parkinson's. BPC was one of Union's suppliers. Parkinson's campaign groups have linked manganese to the illness.
According to the report, BOC said it was confident it could overturn the verdict. The company said that eight cases brought against welding rod manufacturers in the US had already failed.
It said: "No causal relationship has ever been established between exposure to welding fumes and Parkinson's disease."
