Thursday, March 11, 2010
A Virginia Senate committee has rejected a piece of legislation that would have helped shield a Fortune 500 company from asbestos lawsuits, handing a defeat to a group that has been pushing similar legislation across the country.This week, Virginia senators voted 13-2 to defeat the bill that would limit asbestos-related liability for Philadelphia-based Crown Cork & Seal, which employs 300 workers at two plants in Virginia. Company leaders had lobbied aggressively for the legislation and threatened to close down the plants if it didn’t pass.
Crown Cork & Seal, a beverage packaging company that invented the bottle cap, has faced hundreds of lawsuits for asbestos-related illness related to Mundet, a family-owned business Crown Cork purchased in 1963 for $7 million. Mundet had been involved in asbestos insulation for years, and Crown Cork assumed the liability as a successor company.
About 3,000 Americans a year die of asbestos-related respiratory diseases such as mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs. Millions more are still exposed to asbestos in building materials. Inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers can lead to cancer decades later.
Since the purchase of Mundet, Crown Cork has since been named in more than 300,000 asbestos claims and paid $600 million in expenses, according to the Washington Post. Since 2007, Crown Cork has spent more than $100,000 on lobbyists to get the bill passed and donated more than $100,000 to 46 Virginia lawyers or their political action committees.
The special bill would have limited the cumulative asbestos-related liabilities of successor companies such as Crown Cork to the fair market value of the gross assets of the company being purchased at the time of the merger or consolidation. It applied to company purchases made before 1972.
The legislation, championed by House Speaker William J. Howell, had narrowly passed the House in February. The American Legislative Exchange Council, which promotes limited government and free markets, has been pushing the bill in state legislatures across the nation since 2006.
Owens Illinois, a glass container manufacturer, opposed the bill, arguing that it would pay more in asbestos claims if Crown Cork was no longer held liable. Trial lawyers, manufacturers and some unions also opposed the bill.
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Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:13 AM
Friday, February 19, 2010
Federal environmental regulators are investigating whether employees and inmates at the Topeka Correctional Facility in Topeka, Kansas were exposed to asbestos dust during building renovations.Renovation of older buildings that contain asbestos tiles and insulation is a common route of workplace exposure to asbestos today. Breathing tiny asbsestos fibers can eventually cause lethal respiratory diseases including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen.
Bill Miskell, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said that EPA investigators were focused on renovation of one building, a prison dormitory, in 2005. Investigators have interviewed current and former employees of the women’s prison.
The Topeka Capital-Journal said that former workers involved in asbestos abatement activities said that improper exposure occurred during the rehabilitation of several buildings. Robert Ames, who performed heating and air maintenance at the women’s prison and supervised inmate crews involved in rehabilitating the prison, told the newspaper that asbestos dust covered clothing and clogged air filters when asbestos floor tiles were ground up with heavy machinery. Some workers wore paper masks while others had no protection.
Ames said that prison administrators received complaints about lax enforcement of asbestos safety regulations with irritation and disbelief.
Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson called the allegations alarming and said he endorsed the EPA investigation. “It does alarm me anytime we have an environmental problem in one of our state building, especially asbestos, which is an issue we’ve known about as a society for 30 years,” Parkinson told the newspaper.
Read the Capital-Journal article
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Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 10:01 AM
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
It’s well known that veterans are at higher risk of asbestos-related diseases because of the wide use of the dangerous mineral fiber in thousands of buildings and Navy ships from World War II until the 1970s.Now, the U.S. Department of Defense has announced plans to increase spending on research into new ways to combat the fatal disease linked to asbestos exposure.
The Department of Defense’s effort includes funding of several million dollars for three mesothelioma research projects. The funds will support research into early detection of the disease and the development of new treatments, including clinical trials on a vaccine that could improve the prognosis for patients with mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lungs, caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. The microscopic fibers become lodged in the lungs and can lead to development of respiratory diseases including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis decades later. Many veterans exposed to asbestos in the 1950s through 1970s may only now being showing symptoms of the disease.
Joseph Belluck, a partner in Belluck & Fox, a New York law firm that specializes in representing victims of mesothelioma, said the recent increase in research funding must be only the start of an effort to find a cure for asbestos-related disease that has killed thousands of veterans. “Veterans who were willing to fight for their country now must have their country fight for them,” Belluck said.
The shipbuilding acitivities from before World War II until the 1980s exposed thousands of Navy veterans to asbestos exposure on a daily basis.
During World War II, several million people employed in U.S. shipyards and U.S. Navy veterans were exposed to chrysotile asbestos products as well as amosite and crocidolite since these forms of asbestos were used extensively in military ship construction, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Asbestos was widely used in shipbuilding to insulate boilers, steam pipes and hot water pipes.
Veterans involved in mining, milling, shipyard work, insulation, demolition of old buildings, carpentry and construction, manufacture of brake linings and clutch facings and manufacture of pipes. Veterans may be eligible for health care and disability compensation if the VA determines the asbestos exposure was related to military service.
Learn more about VA health care and disability compensation at http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/benefits.asp
Read more of Belluck’s comments about DOD research on mesothelioma at http://www.prweb.com/releases/mesothelioma-help/research-belluck/prweb3615194.htm
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Labels: Asbestos, National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 1:04 PM
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Kentucky Senate unanimously approved a piece of legislation Wednesday designating Sept. 26 of each year as Mesothelioma Awareness Day throughout the Commonwealth. The bill, which now moves to the House for consideration, directs the Governor to proclaim Sept. 26 of each year as a day to recognize Mesothelioma and to encourage Kentuckians to support research into effective treatments and early detection methods. Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer closely associated with asbestos exposure
If the House passes the bill, Kentucky would join a number of states that have designated Sept. 26 as Mesothelioma Awareness Day. The date was chosen because it is the wedding anniversary of a Pennsylvania widow who spent many hours making others aware of the disease that claimed her husband’s life.
New York lawyer Joseph Belluck, who represents victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, praised the vote by the Kentucky Senate and said he hoped the House would pass the bill without delay.
“For too many years, industrial workers including miners and railroad workers in Kentucky and shipbuilders in Virginia, were exposed to asbestos and weren’t informed of the risks,” said Belluck, a partner in Belluck & Fox, a firm nationally-known for asbestos litigation. “Many workers exposed to asbestos in the 1950s and 1960s are still being diagnosed with this terrible disease.”
Learn more about Mesothelioma
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Labels: Mesothelioma, National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 10:29 PM
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Environmental regulators are working to stabilize stream banks near an asbestos disposal site in Ambler, Pennsylvania, to prevent asbestos-containing materials from posing a health risk to the community.The ongoing activity is occurring along Wissahickon Creek, Rose Valley Creek and Tannery Run near a 32-acre site used for decades to dispose of asbestos-containing material from a nearby asbestos manufacturing plant.
Federal environmental regulators recently put the BoRit site, as it is called, on the list of polluted lands eligible for cleanup under the federal Superfund program. The BoRit site includes an asbestos waste pile owned by Kane-Core, Inc.; a reservoir owned by the Wissahickon Waterfowl Preserve and a former playground owned by Whitpain Township.
EPA investigators say there is no evidence from testing that people are currently being exposed to asbestos. But it’s a densely populated area near Philadelphia, and residents could potentially be exposed to airborne asbestos if it is left uncontrolled. Investigators say that people may have been exposed to inhaling asbestos fibers when the asbestos manufacturing plant was still in operation. Asbestos manufacturing occurred near the site from the 1930s through the late 1980s. When inhaled, asbestos fibers can lodge in the lung and cause serious respiratory disease such as mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis.
Health investigators with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and federal Centers for Disease Control did a study of cancer incidence in communities near the BoRit site. They found an elevated rate of mesothelioma, a rare cancer closely linked to asbestos exposure, in three zip codes closest to the BoRit site when compared to the rest of Pennsylvania. But they said the difference was not statistically significant.
Investigators said the cases of mesothelioma were most likely caused by exposures that occurred in the past when asbestos facilities were operating and exposing workers and their families. According to federal mortality statistics, Pennsylvania ranked 16th in the nation in mesothelioma deaths. Five Pennsylvania counties with the highest number of mesothelioma deaths included Montgomery County, where the BoRit site is located, adjoining Philadelphia and Chester counties, and York and Northhampton counties.
From the early 1900s to the late 1980s, the BoRit area was used to dispose of asbestos waste form the former Keasby and Mattison Company, Certainteed Corporation and Nicolet Industries, state and federal investigators say. The industries produced asbestos products ranging from electrical insulation to brake lining as well as piping, roofing shingles and laboratory tabletops
The waste pile, which contains an estimated 149,500 cubic yards, covers about six acres. The berm of the 15-acre reservoir was constructed of asbestos shingles and millboard. Other asbestos waste such as piping and tiles is visible around the reservoir and three other water bodies.
Workers are removing asbestos containing materials from the stream bank and installing concrete cable mats to prevent erosion from exposing more material.
For more Information about Mesothelioma, click here
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Labels: Asbestos, Mesothelioma, National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 12:24 PM
Friday, January 15, 2010
The United State Naval Station at Newport , Rhode Island and two companies have agreed to pay a penalty for alleged violations of the federal requirements for safe handling and disposal of asbestos during deolition activities, federal environmental regulators announced this week in a press release.According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency complaint, the U.S. Naval Station, Goel Services, Inc., and A.A. Asbestos Co., Inc., each violated the Clean Air Act and the national air pollution standards when they conducted a demolition operation involving asbestos at the naval base in February 2009.
The asbestos regulations are designed to protect workers and the public from exposure to airborne asbestos fibers. Inhaling airborne asbestos fibers can cause lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen. Violations of federal asbestos regulations can pose significant health risks to the surrounding community as well as to workers conducting demolition or renovation operations.
EPA regulators alleged that the three parties failed to seal asbestos-containing waste in leak-tight containers while the material was wet. Under the settlement, the three parties must pay a $14,238 penalty and certify that they are operating in compliance with federal requirements. EPA previously had issued administrative orders to both the Newport Navy Base and A.A. Asbestos Abatement for failing to provide written notice to EPA before the work began.
The federal Clean Air Act and federal environmental regulation related to asbestos removal require owners and operators of demolition and renovation operations to inspect a facility before starting work and to comply with specific work and disposal practices for jobs involving regulated amounts of asbestos-containing materials.
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Labels: Asbestos, National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 12:02 PM
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
A Louisiana man and his companies must pay fines of $40,000 and clean up an illegal dump in eastern New Orleans. According to The Times-Picayune, Charlie Hampton, and his companies, Hamp’s Enterprises LLC and Hamp’s Construction LLC, which had millions of dollars in federal and local construction and demolition contracts, pleaded guilty to criminal environmental charges in New Orleans Criminal District Court and the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge.
In April 2009, investigators with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality arrested Hampton on charges of submitting documents that contained false certification of asbestos inspections that did not occur. Hamp’s Enterprises pleaded guilty to those charges in the Baton Rouge Court, according to a Department of Environmental Quality press release.
The asbestos certifications pertained to asbestos notification forms for demolition and renovation work in the New Orleans area. According to the DEQ investigators, the inspections, which are required by law, did not occur. Asbestos which was widely used in building materials until the 1970s, can cause serious respiratory disease including mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs, if the microscopic fibers are released into the air and inhaled. So before buildings are demolished or renovated, asbestos materials must be carefully contained and removed to avoid spreading asbestos fibers.
Investigators also discovered trucks operated by Hampton and Hamp’s Construction involved in illegal dumping in a wetland area known as Lot 64 along Almonaster Boulevard in eastern New Orleans. As part of the agreement, Hamp’s Construction will clean up Lot 64.
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Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:34 AM
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Congress may be giving Libby, Montana residents something extra for the holidays. Buried deep in the massive Senate Health Care bill is a special provision to expand Medicare benefits for residents of Libby, Montana who worked in the former vermiculite mines. Hundreds of people around Libby are sick or dying from asbestos-related disease including Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen.
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, who has been trying to get more federal help for Libby residents for years, got language added to the bill as part of his agreement to vote for it. “The people of Libby were poisoned and have been dying for more than a decade,” Baucus told The New York Times. “New residents continue to get sick all the time. Public health tragedies like this could happen in any town in America. We need this type of mechanism to help people when they needed it most.”
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill this week.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took the extraordinary step of declaring a public health emergerncy in the town of Libby — the first such declaration it has ever made.
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Labels: Asbestos, National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:30 AM
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed legislation this week that prohibits simultaneous demolition and asbestos removal activities in the same building.The measure is aimed to improve construction safety standards. It’s the last of a dozen pieces of legislation crafted in response to the fatal August 2007 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building that killed two firefighters.
“The possibility of a dangerous—even life threatening—situation is increased when demolition work is combined with asbestos abatement activities,” Mayor Bloomberg said in a press release.
Demolition activities increase fire risks, and asbestos containment structures in buildings may limit firefighters access to parts of a building when the work is done at the same time that a structure is being torn down.
Due the density of development in New York, buildings must be dismantled floor by floor rather than demolished with explosive devices. But all asbestos fibers must be carefully contained and removed before a building is demolished because asbestos dust if inhaled can cause serious respiratory diseases including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs.
Under the new law, any future simultaneous demolition and asbestos removal activities would be prohibited unless specially approved and monitored by the departments of Buildings and Environmental Protection and Fire Department. It takes effect in 180 days.
After the Deutsche Bank fire, Bloomberg ordered a review of oversight of demolition and asbestos abatement activities. The panel that did the review developed a number of recommendations to enhance oversight and improve safety that were adopted as legislation.
Earlier legislation passed by the city council and signed by the mayor established a permit program for asbestos abatement activities, enhanced asbestos cleanup safeguards, prohibited smoking in any part of a building where asbestos abatement is taking place, and required the New York’s Department of Environmental Protection to guide environmental contractors on how to maintain entrances and exits at asbestos cleanup sites.
“Taken together, these twelve measures represent a significant overhaul of the city’s demolition and asbestos abatement procedures,” Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said in a press release.
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Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 10:56 AM
Monday, December 7, 2009
Workers have completed removal of asbestos from parts of the Potsdam Civic Center as well as a courtroom and office, village officials told the Watertown Daily Times.Village Administrator Michael D. Weil said tests were conducted in the courtroom and other areas where asbestos was removed and no signs of the cancer-causing mineral fiber were found. The mitigation project cost about $50,000. Still more mitigation projects remain to be done. Some parts of the civic center, including the basement, still contain asbestos, Weil said.
The village’s most recent efforts to remove asbestos began earlier this year after the death of longtime civic center employee Sharon M. LaDuke, according to the newspaper. Ms. LaDuke died from mesothelioma, a rare cancer linked to breathing asbestos. Ms. LaDuke’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the village, alleging that her death was caused by unsafe work conditions.
The village is also being sued by former senior court clerk Shelley A. Warner who contends that she was fired from her job because she publicly expressed concerns about asbestos and workplace safety at the civic center.
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Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 10:54 AM
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
By Wade RawlinsCambria Contracting Inc., a Lockport, New York demolition contractor, faces $484,000 in proposed penalties for 11 alleged violations of asbestos cleanup standards at a site in Buffalo, New York.
According to a press release issued Monday by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration, Cambria Contracting failed to train and protect workers who were cleaning up asbestos-contaminated debris at the former AM&A department store warehouse.
Asbestos was widely used in building materials and insulation until the 1970s, but is now strictly regulated because of the health hazard asbestos dust poses. Inhaling asbestos fibers is linked to serious respiratory diseases including mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen.
“These significant penalties reflect the fact that this employer, an asbestos contractor with extensive knowledge of the OSHA standards that govern asbestos removal and handling, chose not to follow these standards and put its workers, including young inexperienced college students in harm’s way,” Jordon Barab, acting Assistant Secretary for OSHA, said in a statement. OSHA is the federal agency charged with promoting safe working conditions by setting and enforcing standards and providing training and education.
OSHA investigators found that several Cambria Contracting workers who were cleaning up debris, had not been training in asbestos hazards or how to protect themselves. They were not wearing protective clothing or respirators and had not been informed of the presence of asbestos at the site. OSHA said the demolition contractor failed to establish an asbestos work area at the site and used debris removal methods that can cause asbestos fibers to be released into the air.
The former warehouse is being renovated for offices and housing, the Buffalo News reported.
OSHA cited Cambria for willful violations which are defined as violations committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for worker safety and health.
“This employer knew that training and other safeguards, which are well-known in the industry were required, yet chose not to provide them,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s New York regional administrator. “That is unacceptable and needlessly placed the health of these workers at risk.”
Cambria has 15 days to contest the citations and proposed penalties.
Arthur Dube, OSHA’s Buffalo area director, added, “ Asbestos is well recognized as a health hazard since inhalation of asbestos fibers may lead to lung cancer and other diseases. As exposures frequently occur during renovation and demolition work, we strongly urge contractors to ensure that their workers are adequately trained and protected against asbestos harzards.”
Read OSHA Press Release
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Labels: Featured News, National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 6:58 PM
Monday, November 30, 2009
Two thirds of California’s asbestos lawsuits land in San Francisco Superior Court, and the cases take up about 45 percent of the jurors assigned to civil cases. The lawsuits are filed by people suffering from asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma contracted from breathing asbestos fibers and by their families if the patients have died.To manage the heavy asbestos caseload more efficiently, Presiding Superior Court Judge James J. McBride has created an asbestos case management department in San Francisco.
“The San Francisco Superior Court carries the largest asbestos caseload of any of California’s 58 superior courts, Judge McBride said in a press release. “The aim … is to achieve more effective case management. We want to increase our ability to send a case to trial at the time set for trial and eliminate the pattern of repeated continued trial dates. We want to make sure that cases set for trial are ready for trial, and that cases that should settle before trial do so before we call in a large panel of jurors.”
The order drafted by McBride would require that starting in January 2010, all pre-trial motions in asbestos cases and other matters shall be heard in the asbestos department. The new asbestos department would hear all discovery, law and motion and case management matters. Judge McBride assigned Judge Harold Kahn to oversee the department.
San Francisco Superior Court currently has more than 1,660 pending asbestos cases. That represents about two-third’s of the state’s asbestos caseload.
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Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:53 AM
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Surgeons are able to remove mesothelioma tumors completely in only about a third of patients. When complete removal isn’t possible, rounds of chemotherapy and then radiation may follow the surgery to control the cancer’s spread and improve patients’ odds of survival. This three-pronged attack—surgery, chemotherapy, radiation—is known in medical circles as trimodality therapy. But even with this, the chances of malignant tumors coming back remain high and the odds for long-term survival low.
Researchers at the University Health Network in Toronto in collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company are studying the use of a cocktail of chemotherapy drugs — Pemetrexed in combination with Cisplatin — for patients with advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma. Cisplatin slows or stops the growth of cancer cells in the body, while Pemetrexed blocks the action of a certain substance in the body that may help cancer cells multiply. Patients receive the drugs before surgery in hopes of giving surgeons a better chance of completely removing the cancer. They believe that some patients may benefit and potentially be cured by this approach.
The study began recruiting patients earlier this year and will continue through 2020. For more information, go to the Clinical Trials page at the U.S. Institutes of Health website. The address is below.
Information about clinical trials
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 9:36 AM
Monday, November 23, 2009
Researchers at the University of Montana have detected asbestos dust on the bark of trees in the Kootenai National Forest near the closed vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. They said Forest Service personnel performing tasks such as building fire lines and measuring trees may be exposed to airborne asbestos when doing work in the forest near the former mine.Workplace exposure to asbestos is associated with significant increases in asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs, compared to the general population..
The findings are relevant to people who work in the forest and people who go to the forest for recreation within about five miles of the mine, they said. Much of the land surrounding the mine is owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and private logging companies
Because of the widespread asbestos contaimination and high incidence of asbestos-related disease, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has declared a public health emergency in Libby, Montana and the surrounding area. Lincoln County, Montana has the third highest age-adjusted death rate of mesothelioma in the U.S.
The research was published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health.
Read the study
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 4:39 PM
Friday, November 20, 2009
A recent opinion piece by a retired University of North Carolina geologist published in The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, N.C. espousing the industrial merits of chrysotile asbestos drew a critical rebuttal today from health researchers.In a letter to the editor, John Dement, a professor at Duke University Medical Center who has published research on the health effects of asbestos, and David P. Brown, director of Health Sciences Research at SRA International, a provider of health consulting services, say that retired UNC Prof. John J.W. Rogers’ article grossly underrepresented the human health risks associated with exposure to chrysotile asbestos. The researchers note that the National Toxicology Program, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have established chrysotile asbestos as a known human carcinogen.
In his Nov. 12 opinion piece, Rogers contended that asbestos was the victim of a scare campaign by groups seeking to make the mineral more a problem than it really is. Its positive attributes include that asbestos is inflammable, has good insulating properties and adds strength to products as diverse as plastics and cement. Rogers argued that chrysotile was safer than the other main mineral form of asbestos, amphibole, and could continue to be used safely by industries.
While there is some scientific debate about the relative risks of mesothelioma from the various forms of asbestos, the World Health Organization recently affirmed that all forms of asbestos cause cancers of the lung, larynx, ovary as well as mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen. The WHO estimates that 90,000 people a year die of asbestos-related disease and called for a ban on all forms of asbestos. To date, 43 countries have enacted bans.
Dement and Brown write that appropriate substitute materials are now available for asbestos, including chrysotile, precluding the need to continue using it for industrial purposes.
“We see no need to further the legacy of asbestos-related diseases in the U.S. and worldwide through the continued use of chrysotile and other forms of asbestos,” Dement and Brown say. “Elimination of asbestos exposure is not ‘reverse greenwash’—it is sound public health policy.”
Link to Rogers’ opinion piece:
Letter to the Editor:
Labels: Asbestos, Mesothelioma, National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 1:47 PM
Monday, November 16, 2009
A central figure in a New York asbestos scam has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in making a case against an asbestos removal firm and five other workers.According to The Syracuse Post-Standard, Frank Onoff, who oversaw asbestos removal for Paragon Environmental Construction, pleaded guilty in federal court to being part of a decade-long scheme involving Paragon and Certified Enviromental Services, which provided air testing during asbestos removal projects.
The Certified Environmental Services lab reports were doctored to indicate the asbestos had been properly removed, when in fact it was left intact or scattered about, the newspaper reported. The two companies misled families and business to think that asbestos had been removed from their properties when cancer-causing material was still present. Among the dozens of buildings caught up in the scam were the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house at Syracuse University and the Roxboro Road Elementary School in North Syracuse.
Paragon and another one of its supervisors previously pleaded guility to felonies in federal court for violation of the federal Clean Air Act for illegally removing asbestos and using false lab reports. The company was fined $160,000.
Onoff, who was indicted last May along with Certified Environmetnal Systems and six of its employees, pleaded guility to participating in a conspiracy with Certified Environmental Services to defraud the federal government, violate the Clean Air Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act and commit mail fraud. Onoff is to be sentenced March 12 and faces a maximum of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 10:17 AM
Friday, November 13, 2009
This week, members of the American Public Health Association, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted a resolution urging Congress to ban the “manufacture, sale export or import of asbestos-containing products. The American Public Health Association is the largest organization of health professionals in the world.“With this new policy, APHA is joining the World Federation of Public Health Associations and other international organizations calling for a global ban on asbestos mining and manufacturing and the dangerous practice of exporting asbestos containing materials,” said Celeste Monforton, chair of the APHA’s occupational health and safety section. “As the World Health Organization noted in 2006, the most efficient way to eliminate asbestos related diseases is to stop using all types of asbestos.”
Exposure to asbestos increases the risk of a person developing respiratory diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of lining of the lungs or abdomen. Approximately, 2,000 to 3,000 cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States
Asbestos is regulated in the United States, but its use is still permitted for certain products such as fire proofing, roofing, flooring and other materials. EPA banned all new uses of asbestos in 1989. Still, an estimated 1.3 million employees in construction and general industry face significant asbestos exposure on the job. More than 40 countries have banned asbestos.
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 2:13 PM
Monday, November 9, 2009
Residents of Libby, Montana battling asbestos-related disease will start receiving federally-funded medical care today and federal health screenings will begin next week on Nov. 16.“Help has arrived on the ground for folks in Libby who are victims of asbestos-related disease,” U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana said in a statement. “These services are a result of a long fight to get Libby residents the resources they need to move forward toward a bright future.”
The medical services will be funded by a $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In June, leaders of the department of health and human services joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is declaring a public health emergency in Libby, Montana, where a former vermiculite mine has left widespread asbestos contamination.
The public health emergency declaration requires the federal government to offer screenings and health care for Libby residents and authorizes cleanup work in homes and other structures. Asbestos contamination in the Libby area has been blamed for the deaths of more than 200 people and the illnesses of more than 1,000 more to date.
Microscopic asbestos fibers when inhaled can lodge in the lungs and over time cause serious respiratory diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen. The symptoms of the disease often don’t appear until 20 to 40 years after exposure.
Federal health assessments have shown than lung cancer rates are 30 percent higher among Libby residents than in the general population. Meanwhile, the rate of malignant mesothlioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lung linked to asbestos-exposure, is very high for a community with a population of less than 10,000.
“It’s imperative that people exposed to vermiculite asbestos get screened to identify any asbestos-related disease,” Baucus said. “If diagnosed with asbestos-related disease, Libby residents deserve the best treatment possible.”
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 2:10 PM
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York announced Monday they'll lead a five-year investigation of the long-term effects of human exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore in Libby, Montana. A public health emergency was declared in the northwestern Montana community by federal authorities earlier this year because hundreds of people have died of asbestos-related diseases.Mount Sinai researchers will lead the collaborative effort with researchers from the University of Montana, Idaho State University and Libby’s Center for Asbestos Related Disease. A $4.8 million grant from the federeal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will support the research.
“The asbestos-related disease in Libby is far more aggressive and rapidly progressive than what’s seen in most asbestos-exposed workers, with high rates of cancers and severe effects on respiratory function,” said Dr. Stephen Levin, associate professor of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai and a nationally known expert on asbestos-related diseases. “For that reason alone, the health problems in Libby are important to study and understand.”
The investigation will consist of three studies, examining asbestos risks during childhood when lungs are still developing, lung scarring among Libby residents who were not employed in mining and the relationship between lung scarring and autoimmune disorders. Autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have been found to occur more frequently in Libby, and Libby residents have higher concentrations of anti-bodies in their bodies. So researchers will examine the connection between autoimmune disorders, autoimmune antibody abnormalities and evidence of lung scarring.
Dr. Levin, who also is the principal investigator of the nationwide World Trade Center medical monitoring and treatment program, said the research on childhood exposure to asbestos may help determine the appropriate level of environmental cleanup needed in Libby to protect the most vulnerable population.
In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared that the widespread release of asbestos in Libby and neighboring Troy, Montana constituted a public health emergency. Asbestos contamination in the Libby area has been blamed fore the deaths of more than 200 people and the illnesses of more than 1,000 more to date.
For decades, miners in Libby were exposed to asbestos in their work and brought the toxic dust home on their clothes, unintentionally exposing their families.
Microscopic asbestos fibers when inhaled can lodge in the lungs and over time cause serious respiratory diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen. The symptoms of the disease often don’t appear until 20 to 40 years after exposure.
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:23 AM
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The New York law firm of Belluck & Fox has obtained a $1.5 million verdict and punitive damages of $750,000 against Fisher Controls International following the death of a worker at Hooker Chemical in Buffalo, New York, who was exposed to asbestos on the job. The verdicts in Estate of Ronald Drabczyk, Index No. I 2005/1583, were rendered on October 19 and 20 in Erie County Court in Buffalo, New York. Judge John Lane presided.
Fisher Controls, based in Marshalltown, Iowa, is a subsidiary of Emerson Electric Co., based in St. Louis, MO. Emerson is a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMR.
Belluck & Fox represented the family of Ronald Drabczyk, a factory worker at a chemical plant in Niagara Falls, NY. Drabczyk died from mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Drabczyk repaired valves manufactured by Fisher Controls which contained asbestos gaskets and packing. The valves were sold by Fisher to the Hooker plant where Drabczyk overhauled them from 1970-1988. The evidence at trial demonstrated that Fisher was aware of the dangers of asbestos as early as 1946 but failed to place any warning on its products.
In addition to awarding Drabczyk`s estate $1.5 million in damages, the jury found that Fisher Controls acted negligently in failing to warn of the dangers associated with the valves. It found that Fisher Controls was responsible for five percent of the fault associated with his exposure and that the exposure to the valves was a substantial contributing factor in causing Drabczyk's mesothelioma. Further, the jury found that Fisher Controls acted with reckless disregard for the safety of Drabczyk. Under New York law, this finding of reckless disregard renders Fisher Controls responsible for the entire verdict, minus a set-off for prior settlements.
This is the first instance that Fisher Controls has been found liable for using asbestos in its products.
The jury also awarded $750,000 in punitive damages, finding that Fisher Controls acted with wanton and reckless manners toward Drabczyk and others. This is the first punitive damage award in an asbestos case in New York State in more than 20 years.
The case was tried by Belluck & Fox partner Jordan Fox and Michael P. Joyce of the Law Office of Michael P. Joyce in Boston, MA. The law firm of Lipsitz, Green, Scime Cambria, based in Buffalo, New York, served as co-counsel in the case. The trial lasted six weeks.
"The jury's verdict confirms that this corporation acted in a negligent and reckless manner in selling its valves without ever warning of the dangers associated with the asbestos-containing products used in these valves," Fox said. "The punitive damage verdict underscores that corporations have a duty to workers to protect them from hazards known or knowable regarding their products. The jury held Fisher Controls accountable for the fatal consequences of its actions. Although we cannot bring Mr. Drabczyk back, we hope that this verdict will send a message that these actions will not be tolerated."
Belluck & Fox, LLP is a nationally recognized law firm that represents individuals with asbestos and mesothelioma claims, as well as other serious injuries. The firm has obtained verdicts and settlements of nearly $225 million on behalf of its clients. Partner Jordan Fox has been named to the Best Lawyers in America and to Super Lawyers and on two separate occasions his verdicts were featured as the National Law Journal's Largest Verdict of the Year. Partner Joseph W. Belluck is a Super Lawyer who has prosecuted numerous cases involving injuries from asbestos, defective medical products, tobacco and lead paint, including a recent asbestos case that settled for over $12 million.
Belluck & Fox sponsors www.mesotheliomahelp.net, one of the Web's leading sources of information about mesothelioma. The website features in-depth information on the diagnosis and treatment of pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma. MesotheliomaHelp.net also features patient profiles, biographic and contact information for mesothelioma specialists throughout the country and a daily blog with the latest research on mesothelioma treatments.
Labels: Featured News, National News
posted by Your Attorney at 7:57 AM
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A Vermont flooring company faces of a penalty for failing to follow federal guidelines pertaining to removal and disposal of asbestos building materials.According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Morrison-Clark, Inc., of South Barre,Vermont violated federal asbestos removal regulations when workers removed a vinyl asbestos tile floor from Main Street Middle School in Montpelier in July 2008. The company did not provide advance notice to EPA, failed to wet the asbestos while stripping it and did not properly dispose of the materials, EPA alleged in announcing the penalty this month.
The company faces a penalty of up to $32,500 per day for the alleged violation so the asbestos removal regulations.
The federal Clean Air Act and the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutant, require contractors doing renovation work to follow certain inspection requirements prior to starting work and to follow specific work and waste disposal practices. The guidelines are designed to protect workers and the public from inhaling airborne asbestos fibers.
Breathing asbestos can cause lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdominal cavity.
Earlier this year, researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported that the overall annual deaths from mesothelioma in the U.S. are still increasing, though the rate as a portion of the population has been stable in recent years. More than 18,000 deaths from mesothelioma were reported in the U.S from 1999 to 2005, researchers reported.
Although asbestos is no longer mined in the United States, it is still imported and a substantial amount of asbestos in buildings eventually must be removed. An estimated 1.3 million American construction workers and general industry workers are exposed to asbestos, researchers say, underscoring the need for efforts to minimize exposure.
In the case of the Vermont school, EPA said it was not aware of any specific harm or exposure to airborne asbestos caused by the renovation.
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:11 AM
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
A group of mesothelioma victims and their families are asking Indiana lawmakers to rewrite state law to allow people who get diseases that appear decades after exposure more time to sue for compensation.Under current Indiana law, victims have 10 years to file a lawsuit after being exposed to a hazardous substance. But mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs associated with asbestos exposure, typically doesn’t appear until 20 to 40 years after exposure. It claims 2,000 too 3,000 people a year in the United States.
Loved ones of those who died of mesothelioma told an Indiana legislative panel that the current state law placed no value on the lives of those who died of mesothelioma or the economic hardships their families suffered as a result of their loss. They want the law changed to allow victims two years after diagnosis of the disease to file legal action.
The Indiana Legislature is likely to consider the issue in the session that convenes in January.
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 10:46 AM
Monday, October 5, 2009
Former mine workers in the Iron Range of Minnesota have begun undergoing health screenings to help researchers unravel a medical mystery. They’re trying to understand why taconite miners have a high incidence of lung disease including mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure.In recent weeks, the first wave of an expected 1,200 miners and 800 spouses received chest x-rays, had blood drawn and underwent tests to assess their lung function at the Virginia Regional Medical Center in Minnesota, according to The Duluth News Tribune. The University of Minnesota is conducting a comprehensive three- to five-year, $4.8 million study of the respiratory health of taconite workers as a follow-up to a 2003 study that linked taconite miners who had developed mesothelioma to commercial asbestos exposure in the mines.
The aim on the current study is to analyze cancer and mortality rates among taconite workers, to examine airborne particles collected from the Iron and to evaluate miners’ exposure to taconite dust on the job.
Duluth News Tribune article
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 3:42 PM
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Do routine homeowner activities such as raking the yard, cutting grass or shoveling dirt could cause asbestos fibers to become airborne? That is the question investigators with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are trying to answer near a former insulation factory in Spokane, Washington.“We’re simulating what people could do on their property,” Greg Weigel, on-scene coordinator for EPA’s environmental clean-up program told The Spokesman-Review newspaper.
Weigel said even low levels of asbestos in soil pose a health risk. Breathing microscopic asbestos fibers can cause serious respiratory diseases including lung cancer, mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs, and asbestosis, a scarring of the lungs.
In June, EPA investigators found low levels of asbestos fibers in residential yards near the former Vermiculite Northwest factory in Spokane. For more than two decades, the factory produced Zonolite, a lightweight attic insulation that contained asbestos. Rail cars brought vermiculite ore from a mine in Libby, Montana to the plant where it was heated to form insulation. W.R. Grace Company closed Vermiculite Northwest in 1973.
Earlier this year, federal environmental officials declared a public health emergency in Libby, Montana where more than 200 people have died of asbestos-related disease.
Test results in Spokane should be available in about six weeks, EPA said.
Read The Spokesman-Review article
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 12:10 PM
Friday, September 25, 2009
A resolution by the leader of the New Jersey Senate would designate Sept. 26 of each year as Mesothelioma Awareness Day in the Garden State. The resolution was introduced by Senate Leader Tom Kean to raise awareness of this deadly form of cancer. Mesothelioma is a rare, incurable cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. It kills about 3,000 Americans each year and is closely linked to breathing asbestos, a material widely used as insulation and in construction through the mid 1970s.
“We don’t have a cure or standard treatment yet for mesothelioma, so we need to learn more about this disease and spur the development of effective treatments,” Kean, a Republican, said in a statement issued Thursday by his office. “Our designation of each September 26th as “Mesothelioma Awareness Day” will help ensure that the public researchers and policy makers don’t forget about those suffering from this disease.”
Approved by the Senate in June, Kean’s resolution awaits consideration by the N.J. General Assembly. A number of communities have started to recognize the date.
While most people with mesothelioma were exposed repeatedly to asbestos, exposure to asbestos for as little as a month can result in a person developing the disease decades later, the resolution says. Kean noted that many firefighters, police officers and rescue workers were exposed to asbestos-contaminated dust at the World Trade Center site after the 9-11 attacks.
“Thousands of rescue and construction workers labored for months at Ground Zero in hazardous conditions,” Kean said. “We don’t know if those who worked at the World Trade Center site will develop mesothelioma, but we do know that we want to have effective treatments ready to help anyone who falls ill.”
Read Senate Joint Resolution 122
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 12:32 PM
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The largest and most significant gathering of plaintiff and defense attorneys in the asbestos community gets underway Wednesday in San Francisco. The National Asbestos Litigation Conference runs through Friday, Sept. 23-25, at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco.Topics on the conference agenda include causation analysis in mesothellioma cases, hot jurisdictions for asbestos lawsuits, advances in medicine and science framing asbestos litigation and asbestos in the political arena. There will also be a panel discussion among judges from across the country who hear asbestos cases.
The national conference offers educational programs taught by experts, judges and in-house counsel and is nationally accredited for continuing legal education credits in more than 40 states.
The conference co-chairs are Joseph W. Belluck, a partner in Belluck & Fox LLP, a New York law firm, Joseph J. O’Hara, Jr., Esq., vice president & associate general counsel, Owens-Illinois, Inc, Perrysburg, Ohio, and Michael J. Pietrykowski, Esq., Gordon & Rees, LLP, San Francisco.
In a joint mission statement, the chairs said, “We know many of the faces in this long-standing litigation very well. For better or worse, we are a family of sorts! Regardless of the side of the table, we all face similar issues and need to work together to resolve some of the recurring problems in ‘our’ asbestos world. Therefore, as the chairs of HB’s National Asbestos Conference, we propose that part of our program be dedicated to a discussion of possible solutions to key issues. Throughout the day we will dedicate time to this goal, in an effort to move toward improving the litigation landscape."
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 12:17 PM
Monday, September 21, 2009
New York contractors have been charged with illegal removal and disposal of asbestos stripped from dormitories at the State University of New York at New Paltz.According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, Salvatore R. DePaola, 55, and Steevens Espitia Oliverso, 211 illegally removed and disposed of asbestos from Bouton, College and Shango halls in SUNY New Paltz without following proper disposal regulations.
Oliveros was an asbestos project supervisor for Milestone Environmental Corp. in Morganville, New Jersey, and DePaola was a senior asbestos supervisor for Milestone.
The $179,000 asbestos removal project was part of a routine dormitory remodeling on the campus. The work began after classes ended in the spring of 2009 and ended in May.
Court papers filed by an Environmental Protection Agency investigator said Jason Pensabene, a senior industrial hygienist with the New York Department of Labor, during site inspections in June observed numerous violations of the Clean Air Act including the failure to put stripped asbestos in leak-proof, labled containers and failure to properly dampen asbestos until it could be contained. He observed dry, friable asbestos all over the floor.
Another company eventually completed the project after work was halted.
Article
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 4:48 PM
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
In Libby Montana, even the country club golf course is contaminated. Clean up crews are excavating larges amounts of dirt contaminated with vermiculite from nine holes of the Cabinet View Country Club golf course, according to The Associated Press.The $1.8 million clean up project is being overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which in June declared a public health emergency in Libby. The town is contaminated with asbestos-laden dust that has been blamed for 200 deaths and 1,000 illnesses. The asbestos was contained in vermiculite ore which was mined in Libby for decades.
Asbestos exposure is linked with a variety of serious respiratory illnesses including lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen.
The excavation and restoration of the golf course is expected to be completed by the spring of 2010.
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 3:38 PM
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Two Arizona charter school operators have been fined for alleged violations of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Act, federal environmental officials announced. In April 2007, inspectors with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discovered that seven charter schools operated by Pointe Educational Services and the Charter Foundation had not been inspected to determine if the buildings contained asbestos-containing materials and no asbestos management plan had been created. A subsequent inspection revealed that one of the schools contained asbestos building materials.
“Asbestos can potentially endanger the health of students, teachers and employees at schools,” Katherine Taylor, associate director for the communities and ecosystems division in EPA’s Pacific Southwest region said in a press release.
Federal law requires that local education agencies must conduct an inspection using accredited inspectors to determine if asbestos-containing building material is present and develop a management plan addressing the asbestos found in the school.
The EPA fined Pointe Educational Services $13,700 and The Charter Foundation $8,330, the agency said
Press Release
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 9:40 AM
Monday, September 7, 2009
On a holiday that honors workers, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, an advocacy group, renewed its call for a national ban on asbestos to protect workers from exposure to asbestos in workplaces. “This Labor Day, we cannot help but be reminded that countless workers continue to be unknowingly exposed to the deadly asbestos mineral in their daily jobs,” said Linda Reinstein, ADAO Executive Director said in a statement reported by Reuters. “It is time to end the tragedy of asbestos for workers and others who are unknowingly exposed.”
Once widely used in many household products such as insulation, pipe and roof tile, asbestos is now recognized as a highly toxic human carcinogen. Asbestos fibers inhaled into the lungs over time may cause lung diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that can occur in the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. The symptoms of the disease often do not appear until 20 to 40 years after exposure
Although asbestos is no longer mined in the United State, it is still imported and a significant amount of asbestos in buildings eventually must be removed. Today, approximately 1.3 million American construction workers and general industry workers are exposed to asbestos, researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimated in a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, underscoring the need for effort to minimize exposure.
Reinstein said the group remained optimistic that Congress would pass a ban on asbestos that incorporated the strongest elements of Senate legislation (S. 742), passed in 2007, that banned the importation and use of asbestos in the United States and House Resolution 6903, introduced in 2008, that sought to limit the asbestos content in consumer products.
Joining the group is pressing for a ban on asbestos was Jordan Zevon, son of the late rock musician Warren Zevon, who died of mesothelioma in 2003. "Six years later and it feels like my father's killer, asbestos, which happens to be a mass murderer, is still walking the streets," said Jordan Zevon, who serves as a spokesman for the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. "We pride ourselves on justice for all, but there's no justice until the asbestos ban becomes a reality."
Read Reuters Story
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 5:58 PM
Friday, September 4, 2009
A Tennessee couple has reached a legal settlement with Alcoa Inc., over the death of their 25-year-old daughter who died of mesothelioma.Amanda Satterfield, who died in 2005, was exposed to asbestos fibers from infancy through the work of her father, Doug Satterfield who was employed by ALCOA Tennessee operations, hauling asbestos for the aluminum company, The Maryville (Tenn.) Daily Times reported.
After Amanda Satterfield was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare cancer associated with asbestos exposure in 2003, she and her family filed a lawsuit against ALCOA, contending the company was negligent in preventing exposure to asbestos. Her parents Doug and Donna Satterfield continued the lawsuit after her death on Jan. 1, 2005.
“A confidential financial settlement was obtained,” Greg Coleman, attorney for the Satterfield family told the newspaper. Alcoa also confirmed the settlement to the paper.
The Satterfields maintained that their daughter’s cancer was caused through the transfer of hazardous substances such as asbestos fibers from Doug Satterfield’s workplace on his clothing to their daughter —an exposure pathway that researchers have observed in a number of cases. Attorneys for Alcoa had argued that the company’s liability was limited to employees and didn’t extend to family members and the lawsuit should be dismissed.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled last year in the Satterfields’ favor that the case could go to trial.
Newspaper Article
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 1:52 PM
Thursday, August 27, 2009
An Ohio widow whose husband died of mesothelioma made a contribution to the new community walking and jogging trail to honor her husband ‘s memory.Karen Huffman made a $3,000 donation to the Kiwanis-Jaycees Community Park in Morgan County, Ohio to help with construction of a new walking trail at the park. The trail opened this month.
Danny Huffman died in July 2006, less than six months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer usually associated with asbestos exposure. The disease was diagnosed after he experienced berathing problems while taking a walk.
Karen Huffman said the park was a big asset to the community and her husband would have been the first to walk the trail. He walked two to three miles a day for exercise and therapy until the respiratory disease made breathing difficult for him, the Morgan County Herald reported. “Walking and talking with his God was something he loved to do,” she told the newspaper.
Walking Trail
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 12:16 PM
Monday, August 17, 2009
A developer broke ground this month on new recreational fields for Berkeley Heights, New Jersey on 13 acres once contaminated with asbestos and oil spills.The township of Berkeley Heights and Union County purchased the property for $13 million in 2004 to preserve it as open space and multi-use recreational fields. But before the public could use it, it required decontamination, The Star-Ledger reported.
American Asbestos had operated plant on the site until 1952, then Shaw Plastics and Barry Fuels, a petroleum products distributor, had operations there. New Jersey environmental officials with the Department of Environmental Protection said American Asbestos apparently used asbestos to fill low-lying areas of site.
Nearly 42,000 tons of contaminated soil was removed from the land and shipped to out-of-state facilities, paving the way for the current project. The cleanup — initially projected to cost $1 million — cost $6.5 million, which was paid by Robbinsbrook, LLC, the site developer that sold the land to the township and the county.
In June, Union County leaders authorized a $3.8 million contract with Applied Landscape Technologies of Montville, New Jersey for development of the property.
"In this age of environmental awareness, it is fitting that a former plastics factory and a former fuel depot are making for a beautiful new park," said Alexander Mirabella, chairman of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Union County Release
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 9:46 AM
Monday, August 10, 2009
A California jury awarded the family of a deceased millwright a $3.4 million verdict after finding a Canadian company liable for exposing the worker to asbestos in the contaminated plant.Richard Worthley Sr., a U.S. Marine and Vietnam veteran, worked as a millwright, painter and production planner at the Johns-Manville Transite plant in Waukegan, Ill., from May 1968 to 1984, when it closed. He then moved to southern California where he held various maintenance jobs until 2004, when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer related to asbestos exposure that eventually took his life.
Attorneys for Advocate Mines of Newfoundland, Canada, the defendant in the case, contended that the company had stopped supplying asbestos to Johns-Manville 13 months before Worthley began working there and denied liability. Advocate Mines supplied bulk asbestos to the Waukegan, Illinois plant from December 1963 to April 1967.
Worthley was exposed to dust from raw asbestos fiber used to make Transite asbestos-cement pipe, including fiber dust that had been resuspended from when Advocate Mines supplied asbestos to the plant. One of Worthley’s job was to clean and repair the manufacturing equipment, including the dust collection equipment, which exposed Worthley to asbestos.
“We demonstrated to the jury that it was the total dose of asbestos that Mr. Worthley was exposed to at the Johns-Manville plant, including resuspended asbestos fiber from Advocate Mines that contributed together to cause his mesothelioma and death,” James Nevin, attorney for Worthley, said in a statement.
By 1963, it was well established in medicine and science that asbestos caused asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, Worthley’s attorneys said. But Advocatge Mines provide asbestos fiber without any warnings to avoid injury. The San Francisco Superior Court jury, rendering the verdict in late July, assigned 5 percent of the liability to Advocate Mines for negligence, defective design and failure to warn.
News Release
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 12:10 PM
Friday, August 7, 2009
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania will receive a $900,000 federal grant to remove asbestos from Bethlehem Steel Corp.’s former headquarters tower as part of the building’s renovation as a huge residential and retail complex. Local leaders sought financial assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because the 21-story building has extensive asbestos contamination and removing it is projected to cost $7.4 million. Once used widely in building materials and in insulation, asbestos is toxic to humans if inhaled, causing lung cancer, mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lungs, and other serious respiratory problems.
Lehigh County leaders told The Express-Times of Easton, Penn., that the building is an icon of the region and expressed hope that the federal aid will help expedite the redevelopment project so it can generate additional property taxes.
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 1:44 PM
A former Harrah's employee claims he and his 3-year-old-son are now ill from being exposed to asbestos at the resort casino. As a result, the man is suing the Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for $10 million, reports Fox 5 News in Las Vegas. The employee claims Harrah's knew about the dangers of the asbestos exposure, but failed to protect its employees. The father worked as an engineer for Harrah's and knew about the asbestos, but he needed the income and the insurance for his family.
His son is coughing, wheezing and has breathing problems thought to be from his father bringing home asbestos fibers on his clothing. Every Harrah's employee and customer was affected by asbestos when the abatement project was not completed, the man claims.
OSHA warned the hotel about the dangers of asbestos and their inspection showed several serious violations involving asbestos, including employees performing asbestos operations unprotected.
Employee Sues Harrah's for Asbestos Exposure
Labels: Asbestos, National News
posted by Nancy Meredith at 7:00 AM
Friday, July 24, 2009
Federal environmental investigators in Washington State have found significant levels of naturally-occurring asbestos in Sumas River downstream of Swift Creek.The asbestos comes from a massive landslide on Sumas Mountain that deposits up to 120,000 cubic yards of asbestos-laden sediment into Swift Creek a year. The latest sampling revealed asbestos and several metals in water, bank sediments and flood deposits at higher concentrations in Sumas River than in previous samples of dredged material from Swift Creek. The concentrations ranged up to 27 percent asbestos along the Sumas riverbank.
“These asbestos levels deserve close attention,” said Dan Opalski, director of EPA’s Superfund Cleanup Office in Seattle. “The new data will enable agencies to make important health recommendations so local families can make informed decisions to protect themselves.”
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that is made up of thin fibers. Inhaling the microscopic asbestos fibers can increase the chance of developing asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.
EPA Fact Sheet
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 10:33 AM
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Humanities Building at Western Washington University in Bellingham was evacuated Monday because of a possible release of asbestos during renovation work.A contractor doing renovation work removed a piece of asbestos-contaminated ceiling on Monday and did not properly bag or seal it before removing it from the building, The Bellingham Herald reported. That may have spread asbestos fibers to the rest of the building. Inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers can cause respiratory problems and forms of cancer.
Students and staff were evacuated and classes canceled in the building as a precaution while cleanup contractors assess the situation.
More Details
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 1:00 PM
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Federal environmental investigators wearing white hazmat suits and respirators have begun collecting soil samples in Spokane, Washington to retest a former vermiculite insulation manufacturing site, a Spokane newspaper reports.For 22 years, Vermiculite Northwest produced Zonolite, an asbestos-tainted attic insulation from vermiculite ore shipped by rail from Libby, Montana, The Spokesman-Review reported.
The U.S. Environmental, which found only trace amounts of asbestos near the former factory site in 2000 and 2001, decided to conduct additional testing after the agency declared a public health emergency in Libby, where contamination from a now-shuttered vermiculite mine has been cited in the deaths of more than 200 people. Breathing asbestos fibers can cause respiratory problems and forms of cancer decades after exposure.
The EPA is testing soils at nine residences near the site of the former plant, which W.R. Grace & Co. closed in 1973.
Washington Soil Tested For Asbestos
Labels: National News
posted by Your Attorney at 4:08 PM
Thursday, June 25, 2009
52 miners working at Minnesota’s Iron Range have been found to have mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer. Mesothelioma has been traditionally associated with asbestos exposure; however, there is no known asbestos in the iron ore deposit. When asbestos fibers become airborne, they are breathed into the lungs where serious illness can develop up to 40 years after exposure. The Minnesota Department of Health will be conducting studies on the miners to determine if they have been exposed to asbestos at any time in their lives, prior to working at Iron Range. Some of the mine workers believe that the taconite dust in the mines is the cause of their illness. No studies to date have proven that mesothelioma can be caused by airborne particles other than asbestos.
Mine officials want to know whether iron ore mining can be linked to mesothelioma. The company is planning an expansion at its Northshore mine, and they want answers so they can move forward with the plan. The mining representatives support the health study, but they don't believe the taconite dust is dangerous.
A meeting will be held June 25th as the next step in the effort to determine the cause of the high rate of mesothelioma in the Iron Range workers. The meeting will lay out the plans for conducting a major survey of taconite workers' lung health. Participants will get an x-ray, blood test, and breathing test. The study gets underway this summer.
Taconite Potential Cause of Mesothelioma
Iron Range Study Underway
Labels: Asbestos, Cancer, Mesothelioma, National News, Research
posted by Nancy Meredith at 3:14 PM
Three Louisiana employers have been cited $112,000 in penalties for 10 alleged serious violations of federal health and safety rules involving asbestos removal.The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Louisiana Health Care Consultants LLC, Dean Building Holdings and Bob Dean Enterprises Inc., jointly for failure to provide proper supervision during the removal of a ceiling containing asbestos and failure to provide respiratory equipment to workers and for not informing them that the work site contained asbestos.
The citations stemmed from work performed at the State National Life Building in downtown Baton Rouge, which is owned by Dean Building Holdings and managed by Bob Dean Enterprises. Louisiana Health Care Consultants specializes in the management and maintenance of nursing homes.
“These companies failed to follow OSHA’s standards for asbestos-related projects in the construction industry,” said Dean McDaniel, the agency’s regional administrator in Dallas. “Employers must be committed to keeping the workplace safe and healthful to prevent injuries, illnesses and fatalities.”
Serious violations are issued when there is a substantial probability that death or serious injury could occur from a hazard that the employer knew about or should have known. The companies have a period of time to respond.
Louisiana Asbestos Citations
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 2:29 PM
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Federal prosecutors in Montana dropped charges against the remaining defendant Monday after a jury last month acquitted the W.R. Grace & Co and individuals of all charges related to widespread asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana, according to the Missoulian newspaper.W.R.Grace, which operated a vermiculite mine in Libby for many years, had been accused of a 30-year conspiracy to defraud the government and knowingly endanger residents of Libby.
A mortality study at the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby has identified 227 community members who died of asbestos disease and more than 1,800 active cases resulting from exposure.
Montana Asbestos Contamination Case
Labels: National News
posted by Mike D at 9:49 AM
A Syracuse, New York environmental lab has been indicted on charges that for more than a decade it gave contractors false air quality test reports to cover up shoddy asbestos-removal projects in schools, businesses and homes. The 16-count federal indictment against Certified Environmental Services Inc., of Syracuse and five employees on violations of the Clean Air Act, mail fraud and making false statements to federal environmental agents represents the third major asbestos fraud case in central New York in five years, according to a report in Newsday.
Syracuse Asbestos Removal Indictment
Labels: National News
posted by Mike D at 9:43 AM
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Federal officials have declared a public health emergency in a Montana town heavily contaminated with asbestos-laced dust that has been blamed for 200 deaths and 1,000 illnesses.Lisa Jackson, an administrator with the Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency will spend $125 million over the next five years for a home-by-home clean-up in the town of Libby, Mont.
Asbestos contamination came from a vermiculite mine near Libby that opened in 1919 but is now closed. Vermiculite was often used in insulation but the mineral was contaminated with tremolite asbestos, a toxic form of asbestos that has been linked to mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a cancer that affects the lining around the lungs, stomach or heart. There is no known cure.
Miners apparently carried asbestos home on their clothes, where family members also inhaled the deadly fibers. Vermiculite was once used as ground cover on the track at a Libby school and was also used by some residents as garden mulch.
Libby, Mont. Public Health Emergency
Labels: Mesothelioma, National News, News
posted by Your Attorney at 4:21 PM
The family of a retired Navy sailor who died in late April of mesothelioma caused by breathing asbestos fibers on the job decades ago won a $1.2 million award Monday against an Illinois-based manufacturer.Gerald Gray, who lived in Hampton Roads, Virginia, was once the second highest ranking enlisted man in the Navy and later taught school before his death at age 75 after a 16-month struggle with mesothelioma, according to the Newport News Daily Press.
A Virginia Circuit Court jury rendered a verdict against five manufacturers for a total of $4 million in Gray’s case. Before the trial, all the defendant companies settled out of court for an undisclosed amount except Illinois manufacturer John Crane Inc., which made gaskets and parts used on ships. The jury apportioned 30 percent of the blame to John Crane Inc.
Virginia Mesothelioma Verdict
Labels: National News
posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:50 AM
Friday, May 29, 2009
The annual International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma is now less than a month away. An annual symposium organized by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, a charitable organization, will bring together international experts in asbestos-related cancers. patients and caregivers June 25-27 in Washington, D.C. to discuss the latest advances in mesothelioma research.For more information on reserving your spot for one of the largest events concerning mesothelioma, its treatment, and the people involved, please visit the MARF website for
more information.
Labels: Cancer, Family, Mesothelioma, National News, Patients, Treatments
posted by Aaron Phelps at 11:50 PM
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Exposure to asbestos -- long associated with cancers of the lungs -- has been shown to cause some cancers of the ovary and the larynx as well, Cancer Research UK reports. An international team of World Health Organization scientists writing in the journal Lancet Oncology said that people who have been exposed to asbestos are 1.4 times more likely to develop cancer of the larynx than those who had never been exposed.
Dr. Alison Ross, Cancer Research UK's senior science information officer said, "We already know asbestos can cause lung cancer and mesothelioma and this adds two more cancer types to the list."
Cancer Research UK Report
Labels: Asbestos, Cancer, Headline News, Mesothelioma, National News, Research
posted by Your Attorney at 5:09 PM
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Wade Rawlins is a former environmental reporter with the Raleigh News & Observer.
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