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Asbestos News: June, 2008
Claimants seeking damages from the Owens Corning Fibreboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust are facing long wait times for their claims, according to lawyers representing them. Some claims submitted twelve months ago have yet to be paid, according to Jimmy Rodgers, a Chattanooga, Tennessee attorney for around 200 claimants. Rodgers said the trust administering the fund is not acting improperly, but that the delay is due to the huge number of people seeking compensation, saying “you can’t place blame on the trust, because they have had to contend with so many claims.”
In Joliet, Illinois, stores at the Marycrest Shopping Center have re-opened after a state inspector discovered that work crews doing renovations had improperly removed flooring which contained asbestos materials. The middle section of the Jefferson Street shopping area was closed down while tests were performed; shops in the east and west wings of the shopping center remained open.
A school district in the South Bay area of San Diego, California, has spent millions cleaning up asbestos, but one long-time district employee says that the deadly fiber remains a menace on a number of area campuses, prompting an investigation by local journalists and spurring one local government executive to launch his own inquiry.
In Zimbabwe, asbestos mines are facing major economic dislocation as South Africa’s ban on asbestos and asbestos-containing products begins to take hold. South Africa promulgated regulations in 2004 which banned asbestos in that country, but the ban is only now beginning to actually take effect. South Africa was the primary customer for asbestos from Zimbabwe’s mines, which now hope to increase sales to other countries in the developing world which have not yet banned asbestos.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health have launched a five-year, $8 million study, the Libby Amphibole Health Risk Initiative, to research the effects of low levels of asbestos exposure on human health. The initiative will attempt to discern what connection, if any, there is between asbestos exposure at low levels and diseases like cancer, autoimmune syndromes, chronic illnesses, and other health problems.
The widow of an anti-asbestos campaigner, the Wesley Research Group, and a number of physicians concerned by the alarming spike in asbestos-related deaths in Australia have combined forces to create a new organization which will research asbestos-related diseases and work to raise public awareness of the problems faced by those suffering from asbestos-related diseases.
A spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health says that another case of malignant mesothelioma has been identified in one of the 72,000 Iron Range miners whose health is being monitored in a Department of Health study. The department periodically cross-references the records of the 72,000 miners with data from the Minnesota Cancer Surveillance System, which tracks cancer cases in the state of Minnesota.
In Japan , a recent study by the Environmental Ministry indicates that 40 percent of Japanese, suffering from asbestos-related diseases, do not know where or when they were exposed to asbestos, suggesting that even those not directly working with asbestos are at risk to develop health conditions later in life.
The state of Montana and the W.R. Grace Co. have reached a tentative agreement regarding the asbestos cleanup operation in Libby, Montana. As reported here yesterday, W.R. Grace will be paying the federal government $250 million as part of its bankruptcy proceedings; the $5.1 million additional payout to Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality is a separate arrangement. The Department of Environmental Quality is currently soliciting public comment on the settlement agreement.
A federal court in Pittsburgh has approved a plan under which W.R. Grace and Co. will reimburse the government $250 million to pay for the investigation and remediation of asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana, where W.R. Grace once operated a vermiculite mine that proved to be a source of the deadly mineral fiber asbestos.
The recent launch of space shuttle Discovery damaged an Apollo-era flame trench at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and cleanup crews are mediating the asbestos contamination at Pad3 9A. The damaged section of trench is about 20 feet by 75 feet, and is made of bricks with an asbestos filler and held together by concrete.
Italian pharmaceutical research and manufacturing company MolMed S.p.A. has announced that the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products of the European Medicines Agency of the European Union has granted an “orphan drug” designation to Arenegyr, MolMed’s anti-tumor agent, when used in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.
The W.R. Grace and Co. asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that strengthened key elements of the federal government’s criminal case against the former asbestos manufacturer. Federal prosecutors have asked the Supreme Court to deny the request for a hearing, saying that the impending and ongoing deaths of witnesses, principally the victims of asbestos contamination at W.R. Grace and Co.’s vermiculite mine in Libby , Montana , demands the prevention of “additional, unnecessary delay”.
The government’ brief in the case claimed that “some witnesses and many victims … are dying from mesothelioma, asbestosis, and other asbestos-related diseases…We cannot escape the fact that people are sick and dying as a result of this continuing exposure. As time passes, more witnesses will be unavailable to testify, and fewer victims will be able to attend the trial.”
Grace is asking the Supreme Court to review a 9 th Circuit Court ruling which overturned a number of orders issued in August of 2006 by a district court judge. Those orders undermined the government’s claims that Grace committed “knowing endangerment”, barring that element of the case because too much time had passed. The “knowing endangerment” charge is at the heart of allegations that Grace executives knew about the dangers of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite at the Libby site, but hid the dangers from workers and the surrounding community.
Those orders were overturned in September of 2007 by a partial panel of the 9 th Circuit. Grace asked the full appellate court to rehear the case, but this motion was denied, and the company asked the Supreme Court to hear the appeal. In their certiorari petition to the Supreme Court, Grace claimed that when they were operating the mine in Libby, the form of asbestos found there was not regulated by the federal government, and that therefore they cannot be prosecuted for failure to disclose their presence under the Clean Air Act.
If the Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal, the 9 th Circuit rulings restoring the knowing endangerment portion of the prosecution will stand and the federal case against Grace will, presumably, continue.
Source:
“Gov’t Asks High Court to Deny Grace’s Request“, Flathead (MT) Beacon, 28 May 2008
In Northern Ireland , women who developed mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure related to washing their husband’s asbestos-contaminated clothing are entitled to compensation under a bill introduced recently. The bill is still under consideration by the legislative body of Northern Ireland . Around 40 to 50 people die each years of mesothelioma in Northern Ireland , but compensation is limited to those who can demonstrate an occupational link. In addition to women, the bill will grant compensation to children who played around asbestos-contaminated clothes, as well as individuals who lived near asbestos-producing or using factories.
Health Canada commissioned an international study on the cancer risks posed by asbestos exposure – but health ministers have kept the study under wraps since its completion in March of 2008, claiming they need more time for review.
Now, two of the internationally-acclaimed experts on asbestos and public health are pressuring the federal health minister to release the results of their research, saying that it is unfair that the public cannot access the material in the report even as political figures are using the confidential material to undermine its conclusions among Canada’s political class.
Leslie Stayner is the head of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, and has written a letter to Health Canada decrying the delay, as has Trevor Ogden, chairman of the expert panel convened to conduct the study.
Stayner wrote “It is simply unacceptable for this report to continue to be withheld from the public, while individuals who have seen the report and our comments make erroneous allegations about what it contains to suit their political objectives.”
A member of Canada’s House of Commons, MP Andre Bellavance, has argued on the House floor that Canada should not ban chrysotile asbestos, implying that the new study supports the view that chrysotile is less harmful than other forms of asbestos, a conclusion Stayner rejects as inaccurate, saying that their study was asked only to examine chrysotile exposure risks and how to assess the risk of cancer. Stayner wrote that while his group did not specifically address whether there were safe uses for chrysotile asbestos, “from a pragmatic point of view, my answer to this question would be that [safe use] is simply not possible.”
Alone among developed nations, Canada continues to mine and process asbestos, exporting most of its annual production the developing nations like India, Pakistan, and Indonesia for use in their construction industries. Canada has spent $20 million in the past twenty years promoting asbestos exports, despite the near-universal condemnation of asbestos among labor organizations, health regulatory bodies, and cancer research institutions. About 700 people still work in Canada’s chrysotile asbestos industry, which is centered in Quebec. Quebec has one of the highest rates of malignant mesothelioma in the world.
Source:
“Scientists Call On Federal Government To Release Asbestos Study“, CBC, 26 May 2008 ,
Thousands of asbestos victims received new hope when a 4 th District Court of Appeal panel threw out a state law aimed at limiting the number of people who could sue for asbestos-related conditions in Florida.
The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF) will be holding its annual International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma in Washington, DC, from June 26 through June 28, 2008. The Symposium will be held at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill, and will bring mesothelioma patients, clinicians, advocates, and international research experts together.
Researchers around the world continue to work to find drug treatments that will be effective for patients suffering from malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma, a deadly cancer of the cells that line the lungs, heart, and abdomen, is currently incurable in the majority of cases.
A Portland cement factory in a small town in Tasmania, Australia, will be the subject of the largest asbestos survey and research program in Australian history.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a stop-work order against cleanup contractor Air, Soil and Water in Libby, Montana, after oversight crews discovered that the contractor’s workers were not using proper respiratory protection and were using river water in their portable pumps. EPA Libby Team Leader Paul Peronard characterized the health and safety issues as “very serious”, and says that the EPA hopes the contractor can resume work next week.
Hamilton Jordan, who served as the chief of staff for the Carter White House, has died from malignant mesothelioma at the age of 63. Jordan had struggled with several forms of cancer since 1985, including non-Hodgkins lymphoma, prostate cancer, and melanoma. He was treated for mesothelioma for the past two years, but as with most victims of this malignant cancer, no cure was possible and he eventually succumbed.
A group of mesothelioma patients have filed suit in Madison County, Wisconsin, asking Circuit Judge Daniel Stack to give them accelerated trial dates in their suits against a number of corporations. The three men, George Mielke, Stanley O’Day, and Stanley Kaminski, claim that a constitutional provision guarantees them the right to a prompt trial, and that their physicians have told them that they each have a very short expected lifespan.
Cancer researchers in Italy have discovered a set of possible mechanisms by which nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may be used to prevent and treat cancer, in particular, malignant mesothelioma. The researchers studied an NSAID called Piroxicam, which has been shown to have significant anti-tumor effects in combination with cisplatin.
They have been hailed as one of the greatest inventions of the late 20 th century – but like a previous miracle substance, asbestos, carbon nanotubes may turn out to be incredibly deadly when inhaled.
Patients suffering from asbestos-related disease in the Australian state of Victoria have obtained the right to receive compensation for multiple illnesses, following the release of new legislation aimed at “catching up” Victoria to other Australian states, which permit multiple filings.
Research conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency in Libby , Montana on the source of asbestos exposure from contaminated vermiculite suggests that vermiculite-contaminated soil found outside of homes and businesses is the primary source of asbestos exposure for most residents. The research suggests that most asbestos exposure in Libby residents is coming from the soil outside of homes, with indoor exposure coming from dirt tracked in on shoes or carried in by domestic animals.
In California , a Tracy man was convicted of illegally demolishing an asbestos-contaminated building in Hayward . Wassim Mohammad Azizi, age 37, was found guilty on three separate counts of violating the Clean Air Act. Azizi razed a vacant two-story wooden building that he owned on Mission Boulevard in Hayward .
In Canada , A gymnasium in Colchester County , Nova Scotia , has been closed because repair workers believe they found asbestos above the gym ceiling. The repair work was stopped immediately following the discovery, while tests are ordered to determine if the substance is actually asbestos.
A coalition of health experts, physicians, and consumer advocates is petitioning the Federal government to add warning labels on cosmetic talcum powder products. The group warns that frequent use of talcum powder on women’s’ genital regions is linked to the development of ovarian cancer, and wants the government to place warning labels on talc powder products informing women of the health risk. They also seek a public hearing to present evidence that talc can migrate to the ovaries when it is applied to the external genitalia.
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