Mesothelioma & Asbestos Cancer News: December, 2007
Can you say “dichloroacetate”?
If you remember anything from high school or college chemistry, you may recognize some of the elements of that rather lengthy and difficult name that seem to refer to certain household cleaning fluids–namely chlorine (bleach) and acetone (nail polish remover).
It’s no secret that some for-profit corporations put profits above human health and life, add poisons to our products and our environment, and are prepared to lie about their actions. It’s also no secret that over the past twenty-five years or so, the government that is supposed to be protecting us has often abdicated its responsibility for oversight in the name of “free markets” and “deregulation.”
It was a little over a year ago that the public found out that the Atlantis Arena, a popular nightclub in the coastal resort town of Yarmouth, England, posed an asbestos hazard–and that the directors of the club knew about the danger and did nothing to protect patrons or employees.
Last August, you may recall a post about the taconite miners of Minnesota’s Iron Range (see “The Iron Range Miners” posted 13 August), who suffer from mesothelioma at rates that are anywhere from two to four times the statewide average. Last week, the Minnesota State Health Department released a report on the background of 58 taconite miners who currently suffer from this once nearly unknown form of cancer.
There has been plenty of news here and around the country this past year about contractors attempting to cut costs by cutting corners on asbestos removal who are then hit with stiff fines amounting to several times what it would have cost to do the job safely and legally in the first place.
Last summer, one of the federal government’s private contractors prepared a report on a new, experimental method for the removal of asbestos from old buildings slated for demolition.
You may not have heard of the “Devil’s Apple,” but it may hold the key to fighting mesothelioma and related asbestos cancers.
In fact, extracts from the solanum plant, a weed that grows wild in the arid country of western Australia, have been used to treat cancerous lesions for over 180 years. Only over the last two decades has any serious research been conducted on this common, yet remarkable plant, however.
Navy veterans and former civilian employees alike make up a disproportionate number of asbestos disease victims in the U.S. The major reason: asbestos was used profusely in the construction of sea-going vessels until 1980. Metalworkers, construction workers and automotive repairmen are also among those who are prone to mesothelioma and asbestos disease.
At the same time that Patty Murray’s legislation to ban all asbestos in the U.S. is being whittled away (see “Who Threw the Monkey Wrench in Mrs. Murray’s Asbestos Bill?” posted 15 November), Maine senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins say they have managed to get $9.4 million included in the FY 2008 budget for the purpose of removing an asbestos-contaminated pipeline that supplied jet fuel from the Brunswick (Maine) Naval Air Station to Mitchell Field in Harpswell for forty years.
A former employee of the agribusiness giant Monsanto has named 65 different companies, all of which are licensed to conduct business in West Virginia, as defendants in a 13-count lawsuit seeking compensation for damages and expenses related to asbestos poisoning.
Asbestos litigation has long been a fact of life in the U.S., particularly since the late 1970s. Australia, the U.K. and other European countries as well as Japan have also seen a fair amount of asbestos-related lawsuits over the past quarter century.
Such litigation was unknown in South Korea until this year, however.
It’s what MAD Magazine cover boy Alfred E. Neuman might say if he were Quebecois–and a lot of people in the town of Thetford feel the same way, despite clear evidence showing that many of the town’s residences are contaminated with the local product–chrysotile asbestos.
It was a drainage culvert a mere four feet in length, but according to Paul and Shannon Burns of Altus, Arkansas, that four feet of pipe did nearly $20,000 in damage to their property.
In some cases, a class action suit–one in which a single suit is filed on behalf of numerous plaintiffs with similar actions against the same defendant(s)–is a more efficient way to get justice, although it’s more effective at punishing a defendant than getting restitution for plaintiffs. Most class action suits involve hundreds of plaintiffs against a large corporation or industry. While the awards in these cases can be huge, by the time the proceeds are allocated and paid out, each individual winds up getting relatively little.
This particular class action promises to be different.
As the global environmental activist group Greenpeace prepares to square off against Japanese whale hunters in the South Pacific, someone in a nearby area of the Pacific has done a fine job of endangering the health of these gentle and quite possibly sentient denizens of the deep–and locals are justifiably outraged.
When asked to choose between environmental concerns, employee health and safety, and high returns on investment, all too often corporations choose short-term profit and disregard long-term costs.
Early in November, asbestos was found on a piece of property in the small community of Frankfort, about 120 miles north of New York City, not far from Adirondack National Park.
The property in question is located on an old dairy farm. A few weeks ago, two employees from the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation observed trucks bringing in and dumping loads of construction debris. This led to testing of the soil, which revealed elevated levels of asbestos in the soil.
A few weeks ago, we featured a story (see “Politician Issues Public Apology to Asbestos Victim” posted 12 November) about an Australian asbestos victim who received a public apology from that country’s Minister of Health, who had dismissed a petition calling for subsidies for an asbestos treatment as a “political stunt (see “Australia to Offer Palliative Drug for Mesothelioma Patients” posted 20 November).
Vermont borders Quebec, which is one of the largest asbestos-producing regions on the planet.
This was once true of Vermont as well; the mining operations on Belvidere Mountain near Eden and Lowell produced millions of tons of asbestos in their day and left millions of tons of toxic waste behind when the last asbestos mine closed in 1993.
Civil lawsuit number 1000 of 2007 in the “judicial hellhole” of Madison County, Illinois, not surprisingly, is an asbestos case.
Ms. Betty Talley’s brother Herbert Hollis died from asbestos-related cancer in 2005. She has now filed suit against 61 named corporate defendants on behalf of her brother’s estate.
You may remember an article here from last month about Canada’s asbestos industry (see “Ottawa and Moscow Drop the Ball on Asbestos” posted on 1 November). Canada, along with China and Russia, is among the last countries in the world with an active asbestos mining and manufacturing industry. Canada exports 200,000 metric tons of the material every year, primarily to developing nations.
Two members of Canada’s parliament intend to change that.
David Holter worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Inc., for 14 years between 1965 and 1979. Today, he suffers from mesothelioma; his 11-count suit, which names 37 additional defendants in addition to Goodyear, seeks compensatory damages for medical expenses related to the treatment of mesothelioma as well as punitive damages.
Even as the Canadian people and their representatives are demanding that their country join the Australia, the E.U., Japan and South Africa in banning asbestos, the Canadian asbestos monster continues to grow like a malignancy.
Remember that you read it here, first.
Back in July, we brought you an article about the bitter fruits of “Free Trade” deals (see “The High Cost of Low Prices” posted on 12 July). In addition to the devastating economic consequences, “cheap” consumer goods from these foreign factories not only contain asbestos, but are often shoddy, of low quality, and break down after a year or two before winding up in U.S. landfills.
With gasoline now well over $3.10 a gallon in many places in the U.S., it’s likely that few Americans are especially enamored of oil and gasoline companies. But Earnestine Alexander of Port Arthur, Texas, has a much more personal reason to not be a fan of one particular oil company.
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