Chapter 62 Section 12

Jane waved his hand, do it!He asked Dr. Aaron Levy to call Professor Robert Colvin immediately. Professor Colvin knew of the Harvard Health Report and had heard of Warburn's leukemia case.He asked Dr. Levy what kind of tests he wanted to do, and Dr. Levy replied, lymphocyte count and serial T cell tests.Lymphocyte count is to detect the number of white blood cells in body fluids. This relatively simple test can be done in general laboratories.However, serial T cell assays are more complicated. The full scientific name of T cells is thymus-producing cells.All T cells look alike, but their physiology varies.For example, the function of T cell H is to identify viruses, bacteria and cancer cells invading the human body, T cell K is responsible for attacking these harmful groups, and T cell S inhibits the actions of T cell K in time after the harmful groups are eliminated. so as not to damage other normal cells.It is not easy to distinguish all these T cells in the human immune system one by one, and the serial T cell assay refers to a set of experiments, not a single experiment.Professor Colvin used cutting-edge laser technology at the time.

In the following week, blood samples were taken from all 28 family members of the patients who were the plaintiffs, and Professor Colvin tested everyone's blood twice.When the results came out, Dr. Levy explained to Jane En: "Simply put, Colvin believes that these people have a more than normal amount of T cell K in their immune system, also known as killer T cell (K stands for Killer, The meaning of killer—the author’s note). This means that there are carcinogens in their bodies, forcing their bodies to secrete and synthesize a large amount of T cell K to fight against these invaders. And those children who died of leukemia, are the casualties of this confrontation, struck down or dragged down by carcinogens."

Dr. Levy also found three medical literature.The first was a research report on dry cleaners.Dry cleaners are also places where TCE is often used.In a survey of 330 dry-cleaning workers, rates of several different cancers were much higher than in the general population, and rates of leukemia were 150 percent higher.The authors of the other two animal test papers believe that TCE destroys blood regeneration cells in the bone marrow, thereby causing pathological changes. Now, Jane has the "Harvard Health Report", Dr. Levy's theory, Professor Colvin's blood test results, and the three related medical papers.Although all this is far from being the scientific basis for TCE to cause leukemia, it is enough to launch a counterattack against the defendant's "Motion for Quick Judgment".In Jane’s brief of defense submitted to the court, Dr. Aaron Levy personally wrote a paragraph: “We have every reason to believe that TCE in the well water has directly or indirectly caused a series of serious lesions in the local residents. , including immune system dysfunction and leukemia."

On the fourth day after the pleadings were filed, Judge Skinner denied William Cheeseman's Motion for Quick Decision in Warburn. Many years later, Jane Hilleman recalled that if William Cheeseman had not made various motions again and again, he would have heeded the advice of Kevin Conway and abandoned Woburn. Case closed.William's motions always disturbed him at the beginning, and he had to put down other cases in his hands, and went around the world like a headless chicken to visit experts and search for information. This "bottomless black hole" is getting deeper and deeper.Jane said that he didn't realize Jello Fisher's kung fu and practice until later.If William can be like the wily and calculating Jero, calm and calm, indifferent to the case, and not touching it if he can, the Woburn case may end up being the same as several other cases of environmental pollution. Like the resulting injury claims, they fend for themselves after years of being left alone.

In August 1984, Judge Skinner announced that the Woburn case would be heard tentatively in May of the following year. After receiving the news, Kevin Conway reminded Jane Hilleman that although their firm invested a lot of manpower and material resources in this case, including tens of thousands of dollars for blood tests, in principle, The Woburn case remained a case of the Bar Society and Anthony Rothman, since under the agreement signed that year, the Bar Society would receive two-thirds of all remuneration.Jane understood what Kevin meant, and he still hoped that Jane would stop here.Among other things, at the suggestion of Dr. Aaron Levy, Jane should hire a variety of medical experts--neurologists, cardiologists, toxicologists, physicians, etc.--to work on all 28 The plaintiff underwent a thorough medical examination.Kevin Conway was right that the Woburn case was indeed a "bottomless black hole."In the face of such a behemoth devouring time and money, who wouldn't think that "the sea of ​​suffering is boundless, and you will be right when you turn back"?

That fall, Jane was invited to the Bar Association's annual meeting in Muwak, Wisconsin, and brought with him a preliminary budget for the Warburn case: nearly half a million more before it could go to trial.A few nights later, Anthony and Jane were sitting at the bar of a pub, and Anthony said, "The board met today. Since most of the preparations for the Warburn case were done by you and your firm Yes, we've decided to assign the whole case to you. What do you think about some of the early work that the Lawyers' Society has done, taking a 12% fee when it's done?" In other words, if Jane still wants to continue working, he will be fighting alone from now on.

William Cheeseman discovered that his client, W. R. Glass & Co., had not been telling him the truth.The National Environmental Protection Agency reviewed the purchase records of Woburn Food Machinery Factory, and the factory actually received four 55-gallon barrels of TCE, not one barrel as originally stated.Moreover, according to the workers' reports, about 10 years ago, a manager in the factory asked workers to bury six iron drums containing waste liquid, including TCE, in the ditch behind the factory building.The EPA ordered W. R. Glass to dig up the six drums, and a photographer for the Woburn Daily Times managed to get a big picture to appear on the front page of the paper.People can see from the photos that a crane is hoisting a rusty, crooked and crooked iron drum.