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Asbestos News: July, 2008
In LaGrangeville , New York , construction of new additions to Arlington High School hit a snag when construction workers found asbestos above the ceiling tiles in an older section of the building. The school board approved a work change order to have the asbestos removed before construction could continue, at a cost of $563,000. School superintendent Frank V. Pepe Jr. said that the district had the money for the removal because the district maintains a $3.5 million reserve fund for this type of unanticipated, but predictable, problem.
Tyrone Maple, 51, of the Bronx faces up to three years in state prison after pleading guilty on charges that he removed asbestos from a Paterson, New Jersey church in an unsafe fashion. Maple’s removal of the asbestos released dust and debris containing the deadly mineral into other parts of the church, including the facility’s day care center.
Dozens of roads and streets in Calgary, Canada are contaminated with potentially toxic levels of asbestos fibers, according to a report prepared by Calgary city officials. Core samples from 34 roads taken in March of 2008 show that more than half – 21 in all - contain asbestos. Asbestos was used as a component of Canadian road coverings and paving up until 1985.
A creek in Whatcom County, Washington, is scheduled for some limited cleanup work this fall after state and county officials agreed to spend almost $400,000 towards removing asbestos contamination from the area – but that work will not be enough to restore the creek to a safe level.
A research team in Italy has found that a combination of Alimta® (pemetrexed) and Paraplatin® (carboplatin) is an effective palliative chemotherapy regime for elderly mesothelioma patients. The study appears in the June issue of the British Journal of Cancer.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is seeking comment from the public on a revision of their draft strategic plan for asbestos research. The draft is entitled “Asbestos Fibers and Other Elongated Mineral Particles: State of the Science and Roadmap for Research” and has been open for public and peer-reviewed comment since 2007.
A Danish team of mesothelioma researchers are reporting on the results of a study using a combination of Navelbine® (vinorelbine) and Platinol® (cisplatin) in a chemotherapy regimen for newly diagnosed non-resectable malignant mesothelioma. The study appeared online in the British Journal of Cancer in June of 2008.
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals rejected a claim by a Pittsburgh attorney that the US Constitution allows any US citizen to file suit in West Virginia, and upheld the dismissal of more than 1000 lawsuits against CSX and Norfolk Southern that had been filed in West Virginia courts.
Francis D. Tramontozzi, 72, of Tewksbury, and Thomas M. Tramontozzi, 47, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, have been found guilty of causing asbestos to be released in Fitchburg. The pair were also found guilty of removing asbestos without notifying the Department of Environmental Protection. The men were each fined $2000 for violating the Massachusetts Clean Air Act, and $1000 apiece for failing to file a notice of asbestos removal.
In New Zealand , the Department of Labour says that building material producers are endangering construction workers by using asbestos-containing materials. The report says that building workers would not generally know asbestos was contained in materials like roofing materials, flooring, and tape. Local production of asbestos-containing materials ceased in the 1980s, but it is still legal to import asbestos-containing materials, and the customs service does not test for asbestos contamination at ports of entry.
In Brookfield, Connecticut, asbestos is being removed from Huckleberry Hill Elementary School and Brookfield High School, according to Superintendent Anthony Bivona. The asbestos abatement is part of regularly-scheduled renovation on the two schools, and the areas being cleaned are reportedly the last section of the schools to be contaminated with asbestos.
A construction crew demolishing a heater at an oil refinery in Rawlins, Wyoming, discovered asbestos sealant in the machinery they were dismantling, halting work at the site and prompting the evacuation of between 200 and 300 workers, according to Harold Newbrough, emergency management coordinator for Carbon County.
A decommissioned French aircraft carrier, the Clemenceau, will be dismantled at a naval salvage yard in the United Kingdom following years of embarrassing controversies surrounding the asbestos-contaminated vessel. The Clemenceau was sent to India for dismantling but an international outcry by political figures and environmental campaigners forced the Chirac government to bring it back to France in 2006. The Clemenceau has been moored offshore near the port city of Brest since that time, but will now be towed to the Able UK naval yard in England, on the River Tees.
The American Association for Cancer Research awarded Dr. Michele Carbone a $100,000 grant for his international collaboration in cancer prevention research. Carbone is the director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at the University of Hawaii, and visited Turkey about ten years ago to deliver a keynote speech at a medical conference.
In Bordeaux, France, a court has ordered the employer of 17 workers whose asbestos exposure forced them to retire early to pay up to $133,800 apiece for lost earnings. The employer, papermaker Ahlstrom Labelpack, must pay each of the 17 workers 35% of their earnings from now until they would have reached the legal retirement age. The company was also ordered to pay approximately $15,000 apiece to each worker as compensation for their stress and anxiety. None of the worker have as yet developed an asbestos-related disease.
Students at the LaGrange Middle School in LaGrange, New York, were sent home early on June 18 after a wall containing asbestos construction materials was accidentally pierced by eight screws during the installation of a new smoke detector in the school cafeteria. The cafeteria was immediately closed, and students were sent home for the day shortly therafter.
Two Canadian occupational health activists, who helped awaken Canadians to the perils of asbestos and the problems facing asbestos-related disease sufferers, are leaving the asbestos field in order to work on studying the cause of recent increases in breast cancer.
The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF) has presented the Pioneer Award to Dr. Harvey Pass, a professor of surgery and the director of thoracic surgery and oncology at NYU’s Langone Medical Center. Dr. Pass has devoted much of his career to the search for effective therapies for malignant mesothelioma. The award was presented at MARF’s annual symposium, held in Washington, D.C. in late June of 2008.
The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the W.R. Grace and Co. in the government’s criminal case against the corporate giant relating to its release of asbestos from the Libby, Montana vermiculite mine which the company owned.
Even as death rates due to conditions such as heart disease and stroke are declining, deaths from lung-related ailments continue to rise, according to a recent report by the American Lung Association.
Clinicians in New York are signing up mesothelioma patients for a new study to test a method for treating malignant mesothelioma in the lungs.
Firefighters in a Michigan community have rallied around their comrade Brad Wilson, a 25-year veteran of the Portage Fire Department who has been diagnosed with a case of malignant mesothelioma.
The Environmental Protection Agency has released a report that describes a number of possible asbestos clean-up plans for a contaminated site three miles north of Klamath Falls, Oregon.
In Australia , schools in the state of Western Australia have more than 21,000 types of asbestos materials, and 769 schools still contain asbestos fences, walls, flooring, and sunshades, according to a parliamentary inquiry into asbestos into the state’s schools. “There is an extensive presence of ACM (asbestos-containing materials) in State schools,” according to a report submitted by the inquiry committee. “The Asbestos Survey identified over 21,000 ACM components in 769 State schools.”
In Smelterville, Idaho, progress is ongoing on an asbestos removal and demolition project at the Silver King School. The local school board was recently updated on progress on the project, hearing that the school gymnasium was in the process of being demolished and that asbestos removal was 25 to 30 percent complete. Almost all of the interior asbestos-containing material has been removed.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a citation to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center for failing to provide safeguards to employees and for improperly removing and disposing of asbestos-contaminated material during renovation work in December of 2007. OSHA has notified the hospital that it intends to issue $110,000 in fines for the violations.
An asbestos cleanup and remediation firm that has a contract to handle part of the asbestos cleanup in Libby , Montana , may be losing its contract according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Residents of storm- and flood-damaged buildings in Kansas are being warned by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment that the risk of exposure to asbestos has been increased significantly in the wake of recent storms and flooding throughout the state.
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