People suffering from disease or injury related to asbestos exposure may have a chance at financial compensation from a recently formed victims benefit program.

The Asbestos Victims Special Fund Trust was created in 1988 to provide financial assistance to victims of asbestos-related disease or their survivors, said Mary Vogel, executive director of the Philadelphia- based trust.

"It's a whole array of people. It's the people in the factories making it, the people in the mines mining it, the people in the shipyards installing it . . . it's people working in the place or being in the area where it was being used," said Thomas Henderson, one of the five attorneys acting as the program's board of trustees.

The program is the latest development in the reorganization of Manville Corporation, the world's largest producer of asbestos, which went bankrupt in 1988 because of health-related claims against it, Vogel said.

To be eligible for the program, a person must be a U.S. resident and have suffered disease or injury because of asbestos exposure, Vogel said. The person could have been exposed at work, home or in public buildings, she added.

Victims cannot receive money if they have already received compensation from another lawsuit, worker compensation programs or from Manville Corporation's personal injury trust, another fund created by the corporation for its employees, Vogel said.

Exceptions might be made if previous compensation was "grossly inadequate' ' when compared to the loss suffered, she added.

The trust accepts applications for benefits, which are reviewed by Henderson and the four other members of its board, each of whom has represented asbestos victims for several years, said Henderson, a Pittsburgh attorney.

Since the program began accepting applications in May 1989, only 10 people have applied, Vogel said, adding the program contacted about 800 labor organizations last week.

"Once the word gets around, we'll have more people," Vogel said.

In the United States, more than 100,000 cases dealing with asbestos- related disease have been tried during the past 20 years, Henderson said, noting that when he began representing asbestos victims in 1972 fewer than 50 asbestos-related claims existed in the nation.

"The cases from exposure are widespread. Because of the latency period, people are becoming sick and dying as a result of exposure in the 1940s and 1950s. It's a sad story, really," Henderson said.

Physical effects of asbestos generally have a latency period of anywhere from 10 to 30 years, Vogel said. Although asbestos has not been installed since the mid-1970s, its strength and resistance to heat and chemicals led to its use in more than 3,000 products, such as textiles for fireproofing s and building materials, she said.

"The wave of exposure to disease we're seeing now is first those who mined it and manufactured it," Vogel said. "The next will be the people who were exposed to it, which will be growing because there is a latency period."

People such as shipyard or construction workers who know they were exposed to asbestos and anyone who manufactured the material should get regular medical checkups, Vogel said, adding that the first signs of many asbestos-related diseases are re-occurring chest pain and shortness of breath.

Manville's reorganization created a 21-member Asbestos Health Committee in August 1982, from which the trust's board of trustees was selected, Henderson said. The program received $5 million from the corporation, and each trustee agreed to pay back 25 percent of his attorney's fees into the trust, Henderson said.

Vogel said the review process should take about three to six months, although that depends on how many people apply for benefits.

The program also provides grants to institutions researching on the effects of asbestos and groups who offer public relations and information sessions on asbestos, such as one group in Boston which is presenting a multi-media informational seminar about asbestos victims, Vogel said.

Information on the new program can be obtained by calling 1-800-447- 7590 or writing to the Asbestos Victims Special Trust Fund, 1500 Walnut St., Mezzaine Floor, Phila., Pa. 19102.