Mesothelioma & Asbestos Cancer News: December, 2008
While it appears that the cleanup of the Big Tex industrial site will be finished by its initial goal date of Christmas 2008, the crews working have found more asbestos than first thought.
Perth scientists found that mice treated with a commercial skin cancer cream were cured of their advanced mesothelioma tumors. This study on mice could prove to be the first step in finding a cure for this deadly form of cancer in humans.
W.R. Grace and Co. could pay up to $140 million to those who filed a class-action lawsuit in a tentative settlement arranged by a Seattle attorney.
In WHYALLA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA, on November 13, 2008, the new office of the Whyalla Asbestos Victims group was opened in ABC Village.
Eighteen people at the McNeil Island state prison in Washington State were forced by supervisors to remove asbestos-contaminated tile without taking the proper safety precautions or wearing protective equipment.
In FITCHBURG, MA, a report stating that there was not any asbestos in South Street Elementary School appears to have been incorrect.
The former Chanute Air Force Base near Rantoul, Illinois, will have over 6,000 feet of piping laden with asbestos removed.
In just three and a half hours a jury convicted a Bostonian of falsifying asbestos removal training certificates and sending hundreds of illegal immigrants to remove asbestos without the required training.
Over 2,000 patient diagnosed with asbestos related diseases could have their lawsuits thrown out because the doctor who diagnosed them did not meet the qualifications for expert testimony.
A week after the November 18, 2008, explosion on Union Avenue in Southern Colorado, residents of the area were allowed to return home, but fears and concerns remain.
In ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK, the county anticipates spending $21 million to have the asbestos from just its office building removed.
In ENTEBBE, UGANDA, the municipality has agreed to have all asbestos removed from school roofs.
Particles smaller than a grain of sand, too tiny to see with the naked eye, cannot be measured with hundredths or thousandths of a meter — centimeters or millimeters. Instead, these are measured in billionths of a meter — nanometers, from whence their name nanoparticles.
In DOBB’S FERRY, NEW YORK, the Dobbs Ferry High School auditorium was closed after asbestos was found during an annual inspection of the school.
Tom Kaisersatt successfully finished the 26.2 miles of the October 26, 2008, Silicon Valley Marathon. This adds another race completion to his history of over 150 marathons and ultra-marathons, but this finish was different from any other in his past. He did it four months after being diagnosed with mesothelioma.
A Rare Case of Mesothelioma
Most often, mesothelioma is associated with a tumor of the pleura of the lungs, which is the tissue lining the lungs. However, tumors can also attack the mesothelium of other parts of the body. One man discovered that he had mesothelioma of the testis.
Most workers know that inhalation of asbestos fibers can lead to asbestosis, mesothelioma, or cancers of the lungs or larynx, but a Finnish study has uncovered another disease linked to asbestos exposure. A rare, but serious, condition known as retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) has been most significantly tied to asbestos exposure. Hallmarks of this condition are a replacing of the lining of the abdominal cavity (the peritoneal) with fibrosis, which can result in the blockage of the urinary tract and kidney failure.
In MONTPELIER, VT, an abandoned asbestos mine in Eden and Lowell is prompting warnings from the state government. The Vermont government is telling people to avoid the area due to the health threat that it poses.
The Christy Refractories Company LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy citing numerous asbestos lawsuits filed against it. The St. Louis-based manufacturer of heat-resistant products sells refractories, insulation products, and heating panels to customers in a variety of industries.
In CALGARY, CANADA, roads laid prior to 1985 contained asbestos particles. The asphalt from these roads were once recycled to fill potholes, but that practice will now be changed.
In HAMILTON, CANADA, students at George R Allen elementary school were sent home for a day following the discovery of asbestos in the building. Students returned to the school the following Monday.
In her final days of suffering with terminal mesothelioma, Linda Daly was awarded $3.6 million from a Broward County jury.
Mrs. Daly, 57, was diagnosed in 2007 with mesothelioma. The only known cause of this deadly form of cancer is exposure to asbestos, and it can take decades after exposure before symptoms manifest themselves. Her condition is currently being treated with chemotherapy.
In CALGARY, Oncolytics Biotech Inc. has announced a potentially new combination treatment for cancer patients suffering from advanced cancers that have shown little to no response to other forms of therapy. By combining their product REOLYSIN with docetaxel, the company has shown positive results for the initial fourteen patients’ cancers in the first round of clinical trials.
Stephen Bolon is the first person in Australia to be declared free of mesothelioma, which has plagued him for two years.
A resident of Libby, Montana, was asked by the Environmental Protection Agency to remove a form of asbestos once mined in Libby from the Internet auction site Ebay.
Mulch distributed in Horse Cave, Kentucky, might have been contaminated with asbestos from demolition debris.
In AUSTRALIA, the children attending Sunshine East Primary School are just a meter away from a site for their school’s expansion that is riddled with asbestos. Asbestos is a toxic material, and exposure to it has been linked to the development of several serious ailments such as asbestosis — a scarring of the lungs — lung cancer, and mesothelioma.
Many aging hospitals and schools are putting those who work in them in the UK at an increased risk for asbestos exposure. Such exposure has been linked to the rise in asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.
In a report from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), many people living and working near 28 exfoliation sites have been exposed to amphibole asbestos from vermiculite mined in Libby, Montana. Another 78 sites also received Libby vermiculite asbestos. All of these sites are now under close scrutiny for potential dangers.
A court in Seattle is forcing a man dying of mesothelioma to have an autopsy after his death before his family can sue for asbestos exposure.
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For the second time in as many years, pro-industry lobbyists from several nations prevented the addition of chrysotile asbestos to the Prior Informed Consent list, once known as the Hazardous Materials Watch List.
While those in favor of adding chrysotile to the UN watch list are very vocal, asbestos industry experts urged Canadian representatives participating in the Rotterdam Convention talks to look at both sides of the story impartially. Scientific studies and evidence, not editorials, should be examined, they said.
In an editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the Canadian government is accused of continuing to promote asbestos products to third world nations while restricting their use at home. According to the editorial, the government does not seem to care about the lives lost to asbestos in developing countries, which face a high incidence of asbestos-related diseases and poor medical care to treat them.
In the UK, new data from the Health and Safety Executive shows that an alarming 20 tradesmen die weekly from asbestos exposure, and that number is set to increase.
To combat this trend, a new campaign is underway to educate those in the trades about the dangers of asbestos exposure, and to change their working habits to be safer around dangerous substances. Titled Asbestos: The Hidden Killer, it premiered October 24th, 2008 in Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland.
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