Asbestos World Watch

In AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, Royal Philips Electronics NV is forced to pay 241 million Euros ($353 million US) to cover the costs of asbestos claimed filed against one of its American subsidiaries. Insurance companies are anticipated to return 105 million Euros to Royal Philips Electronics NV.

Up until 1981, Philips’ TH Agriculture and Nutrition LLC unit distributed asbestos. The result has been a series of claims against the company for diseases related to asbestos exposure. In order to pay for the costs of covering these and future claimants, Philips has proposed the establishment of a $900 million trust fund. Once three-fourths of those with claims as well as the United States courts approve the measure, the trust fund can be formally established.

This is not the first of large costs incurred by the Amsterdam-based company. The last payout was for 265 million Euros in the third quarter of 2006.

In SHROPSHIRE, UK, 2009 will be the earliest the family of a woman who perished in 2007 from asbestos exposure at a military base will see compensation from the Ministry of Defense. The exposure resulted from a fire at a military base that burned asbestos; the woman, Ellen Paddock inhaled this ash, which led to her untimely death at the age of 31.

In 1983, a fire at a military depot in Donnington, Shropshire, went out of control. Dust and debris from the fire rose into the air and settled on the homes in the surrounding neighborhood. At the time, Ellen Paddock was seven year old when she played in these “asbestos snowflakes” as they fell from the sky.

She became gravely ill with mesothelioma in the 2000s, dying in November of 2007. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos exposure, and it is unlikely exposure for so young a woman could have come from a source other than the military depot fire. If her death did result from the asbestos from the fire, her neighbors at the time will need to be vigilant for symptoms of asbestos-caused diseases themselves.

The Ministry of Defense refuses to comment on the still pending matter. Ellen Paddock’s case is not set to be heard in the High Court until the summer of 2009.

In WINNIPEG, CANADA, asbestos has been found in space allotted by the University of Winnipeg for a future campus bookstore and cafe. The university is not releasing any further details about the site or any other problems that might have been discovered.

The building once housed a United Army surplus store, which close its doors in late 2007. At the time, the University of Winnipeg signed a 10-year lease with purchase option in 2007.

A decision on the building’s future will be made by the board of regents before the end of 2008.

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