The Online Asbestos, Asbestos Cancer, & Mesothelioma Authority
Asbestos News: August, 2008
Preliminary results from asbestos testing around the former W.R. Grace vermiculite mine revealed the need for further testing to draw appropriate conclusions about the safety of the area. The task could stretch years into the future due to the remote location of the mine and the rough terrain surrounding it. These factors make collecting samples difficult according to Bonnie Lavelle, remedial project manager for the EPA’s Superfund Region 8. Initial testing of the area took four weeks to complete and included the sediment, tree bark, surface water, mine waste, soil, and air. Lavelle said that the data collected has no significance until further analysis of the area and more information can be garnered.
What should have been a relief marking the end of a harrowing experience proved to be just the beginning of a nightmare for residents of northern Toronto. Toronto was rocked by a propane explosion at the Sunrise Propane plant in early August of 2008. Those living and working in proximity to the plant were evacuated, but later allowed to return to their homes. That was when the trouble started. Some homeowners discovered that they had asbestos residue from the blast on their properties in the Keele and Wilson area.
In Englewood, NJ, students have had their summer holiday lengthened by a week after asbestos was found during construction on the Cleveland School. This caused a delay in work from the unanticipated abatement and control of the asbestos. District officials prudently decided to delay the start of school by a week in order for workers to complete the asbestos abatement and classroom construction phases of the project.
The town of Rochdale in the United Kingdom, once the site of the world’s largest asbestos-producing factory, is now hosting the premiere of a book covering the history of asbestos. Excitement surrounded the launch of the book, and there were no empty chairs in the town hall in Rochdale where the authors spoke. John McCulloch and Geoffry Tweedle wrote Defending the Indefensible in order to shed light on the history and dangers of asbestos use. While its use has been banned in construction in many western nations, asbestos is still an inexpensive building material used in many developing countries. This book aims to highlight those poorer citizens at risk for future asbestos-related diseases, in addition to its historical discussion of the industry.
Two toxic containers, one filled with asbestos and the other containing radioactive waste, were recently sent to New Jersey from Bermuda apparently due to a shipping error. The crates have subsequently been returned to Bermuda. Officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have not made a statement and could not be reached for comment.
Midwest Generation is trying a pilot program to remove asbestos from sand along the lake shore in Waukegan, Illinois. Rather than older methods of simply landfilling the sand, this project aims to clean and recycle the sand. If the project is successful, the cleaned sand will be used in construction projects, and the process could be used elsewhere along the lakeshore. The first attempt to sift the asbestos from the sand will begin at the end of this year.
Assets held by copper producer Ascaro LLC, based in Tuscon, Arizona, are being bought by Sterilite Industries Ltd. The India based Sterlite will pay $2.6 billion for Ascaro’s assets. Ascaro filed for bankruptcy in 2005 via its parent company, Grupo Mexico SAB. Creditor claims against Ascaro will be fulfilled according to the parameters of the bankruptcy agreement.
September 11th, 2001 was a nightmare for the United States, and the aftermath of the attacks has continued to be grim. Following the attacks, many emergency responders answered the call for help. Volunteers also came to lend a hand in the rescue and recovery efforts. The health hazards faced by these rescuers were not fully realized until later. Dust and debris from the fall of the twin towers could have harbored potentially dangerous materials such as asbestos. Inhalation of asbestos fibers and dust has been linked to numerous lung ailments such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. Early screening and treatment for these can help to prevent complications in the future. Some emergency responders have already been compensated for their health care costs, but others, especially volunteers and the residents of the area, remain without screening for potentially deadly lung ailments caused from breathing in toxins at the World Trade Center site.
Jack Hain, a shipyard artist in San Francisco, has sued Lennar Communities for moving three large boulders on his property. Hain created a 2,000 square foot work of art in the parking lot outside of his studio in the shipyard. To create the finishing touch to the piece, he was authorized by a Lennar foreman to take three large pieces of serpentinite from a nearby quarry. A few months later the environmental manager for Lennar, Jeff Austin, called Hain and told him that the rocks had to be removed since they violated Hain’s lease with the Navy. Hain threatened with a lawsuit if his serpentinite rocks were moved, and complaints to Austin’s superior resulted in verbal assurances that the boulders would remain. One month later, the rocks were gone from Hain’s parking lot sculpture, and a lawsuit was subsequently filed against Lennar who Hain believes is responsible for the rocks’ removal. Litigation is currently pending in court.
After a house fire, homeowners face a wide variety of headaches and heartbreaks – and when the fire and its aftermath reveal the presence of asbestos in a home, that “headache” can become a life-threatening event. After the recent fires in southern California, many homeowners conducting cleanup operations found their homes contained hazardous materials which need to be disposed of, including the deadly mineral fiber asbestos. If inhaled, asbestos can cause a number of lung conditions and cancers in humans. In order to prevent homeowners from being exposed to dangerous substances during the fire cleanup, government officials have authorized contractors to perform screening and disposal applications. This service is being provided free of charge for the southern California fire victims.
In the Netherlands, homes in the villages of Lutjegast, Doezum and Sebaldeburen were found to have asbestos after the residences were damaged in a recent windstorm. Citizens are concerned that the storm may have released asbestos fibers into the atmosphere, where they could pose an inhalation danger to residents. Local officials have yet to determine the risk to citizens from asbestos, and say that they will conduct more tests.
An abandoned asbestos dump in Ambler Borough, Pennsylvania became a renewed center of controversy when the EPA began working at the site. Up until the 1960s, the site in this tiny Pennsylvania community was used as a dumping ground for industrial asbestos waste. The waste has remained untouched, covered lightly with vegetation. Without the knowledge of the citizens of Ambler Borough, the Environmental Protection Agency began to operate earth movers at this former asbestos dump. They cleared the patch of land to allow an access road to a nearby creek to be built. Residents raised concerns, saying that this movement of the soil could have broken some of the asbestos waste which remains buried at the site. A disturbance of the asbestos pieces could release fibers into the air; asbestos fibers are known to cause a number of deadly lung ailments in humans who are exposed.
Vincent and Antoinette Scriptunas have filed suit against 85 different companies in a West Virginia Court, claiming that Mr. Scriptunas’ malignant mesothelioma is the result of asbestos exposure he received while working in a Union Carbide plant in South Carolina. The Scriptunas now live in West Virginia.
The Lung Association, a prominent Canadian health charity, is recommending that naval veterans who worked aboard ship or at shipyard facilities from the World War II era through the 1970s seek medical examinations and assessments for asbestos exposure. Veterans who worked on ships or in shipyards during that time period may have been exposed to asbestos fibers and may be at risk of developing asbestos-related diseases.
The largest asbestos-related lawsuit in Japanese history was launched this week at the Tokyo District Court. A group of 178 construction workers and their relatives are requesting 6.6 billion yen ($61 million US) in compensation. The suit seeks compensation from 46 manufacturers of construction materials as well as the Japanese government for failing to protect them from the hazards of asbestos contamination despite knowing of the health hazards that asbestos exposure presents.
In Rye, New York, the police headquarters building is undergoing an asbestos cleanup, the second cleanup of the facility since May of this year. The cleanup was ordered after the police union held a “no confidence” vote against the city’s manager and police commissioner because of the building’s condition.
In Israel , the Firefighting Authority is taking steps to protect firefighters from asbestos contamination, which is believed to be the largest long-term health risk facing firefighters. A fire in the city of Keshet gave the firefighters the first chance to test the new procedures and protocols. Israel Fire Commissioner Shim Romach told reporters that firefighters worldwide have a life expectancy about ten years shorter than the average, and that most of this difference is attributable to exposure to smoke, asbestos, and other toxins in the course of fighting building fires. The new regulations encourage firefighters to use more protective equipment and to thoroughly wash off after fires to minimize exposure to asbestos.
In Arizona, the Tempe Union High School District will be testing all of its campuses for asbestos contamination after efforts to retrieve documents that outlined the removal of asbestos from school buildings came up empty. The buildings had an asbestos removal program in the early 1990s, but administrators have not been able to recover the documentation that shows the work was done. The asbestos status of the schools became an issue after asbestos-containing blocks were found in an outbuilding at one school site, and a cleanup effort was mounted to abate the contamination at that site. Parents grew concerned and asked the school district for information on the schools’ asbestos status; it was at that point that administrators discovered the missing documents. The air quality tests will cost less than $10,000 according to district officials; the schools were tested in 1996, after the earlier cleanup process, and showed no asbestos contamination at that time.
A multicenter US trial of a chemotherapy regime using a combination of Alimta® (pemetrexed) and Gemzar® (gemcitabine) has reported that the regime showed active results in patients suffering from peritoneal mesothelioma. was active in patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. The study results were reported in the July 20, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Lawmakers and public health experts are criticizing the Bush Administration for efforts that they characterize as a rush to water down the regulation of asbestos in the waning days of the administration. An Environmental Protection Agency plan to modify the calculation and measurement of cancer risk from asbestos has been critiqued by a panel of government scientific advisers, but the EPA is expected to make the change regardless.
Asbestos was used so widely and for so long that renovation projects to rebuild urban cores incur enormous expenses to remove the deadly fibrous mineral. In Buffalo , a project to demolish Memorial Auditorium and the Donovan State Office Building to make room for urban redevelopment projects on Buffalo ’s downtown waterfront has run up $12 million in asbestos removal costs – even before the buildings are ready to come down.
The rate of malignant mesothelioma in the residents of the Israeli city of Nahayira is ten times higher than the average for the country as a whole, according to a report made by Dr. Shihab Shihab to the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee. Malignant mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers.
The committee has been holding hearings on the asbestos problem in Nahariya. Between 70 and 150 thousands cubic meters of asbestos-containing material is scattered through the region, primarily as fill in private yards, and Nahariya is extremely densely polluted by the asbestos contamination. According to the committee, funding has been provided to Nahayira in the past for asbestos abatement, but the money was never spent.
The chairman of the committee, Ophir Pines-Paz expressed outrage that the problem has not been addressed, claiming that political forces and the desire not to disturb the tourist economy are responsible for the lack of action, saying that “People pay with their lives and the authorities demonstrate intolerable apathy. Bureaucracy cannot be allowed to kill…Residents pay for this hazard with their lives, and instead of running from minister to minister with budget requests, the city council is busy planting flowers.”
The committee moved to establish an investigative panel to address the Nahariya asbestos contamination problem.
Source:
“Asbestos-linked cancer 10 times more prevalent in Nahariya“, Haaretz.com, 14 July 2008
In the United Kingdom , the asbestos contamination previously reported in the Houses of Parliament is even more serious than had been believed, according to a report commissioned by Parliamentary authorities. According to the report, Members of Parliament and building staff are being exposed to highly dangerous levels of the toxic mineral.
News By RSS