Asbestos World Watch

In DENMARK, Jens Ersbøll, head of the Danish Medicines Agency, has put a public broadcasting documentary under scrutiny for changing the facts to give the illusion that there was a single drug treatment available for mesothelioma.
According to a report to the medical journal Dagens Medicin by Ersbøll, the DR documentary showed misleading information and misrepresented the facts when it asserted that the only effective drug on the market for mesothelioma was Alimta — this despite the fact that another cancer drug, Vinorelbine, is available for use to treat mesothelioma at the patient’s physician’s discretion. Of the two drugs, Alimta has been approved for mesothelioma following phase III testing, while Vinorelbine has only undergone testing at a phase II level.
University Hospital’s mesothelioma research center and its head, Jens Benn Sørensen, were the target of the investigative documentary. According to the program, the research center received 800,000 kroner from Pierre Fabre, the manufacturer of Vinorelbine. The show’s creator, Mette Frisk, asserted that in most cases patients were aware of drug company funding, but they were not in the case of University Hospital.
Frisk held that, “My point in the program was that Alimta’s effects have been better documented.”
In the UK, despite protests from local residents, an aging French warship, the Clemenceau, will be allowed to be scrapped in Teesside following a High Court ruling. Able UK has been given permission by a High Court to dismantle the aircraft carrier in Hartlepool.
Residents have raised a cry of alarm over the potential that they might be exposed to some of the scrapped 700 tons of asbestos in the construction of the Clemenceau. The ship has been shuffled around the world as it has been denied ports in which it be taken apart.
The controversy surrounding the Clemenceau is not the first encountered by Able UK. In 2003, after years of legal battles, Able UK was allowed to take apart four US ships once it was given permission and waste disposal license. The company is reported pleased about the High Court’s decision concerning the Clemenceau. Residents, however, do not agree.
In AUSTRALIA, 10 former directors and executives, including the former CEO, of James Hardie are the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for presenting misleading information in a report that the company had adequate funding to support its asbestos trust fund.
Former CEO of James Hardie, Peter Macdonald, is at the heart of the investigation since he was the one who reportedly approved the misleading reports to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The trial is still ongoing.
A former financial controller for James Hardie, Stephen Harman, testified that an internal company report showed asbestos claims would be 39 percent higher than the figure calculated by an outside actuary, Trowbridge Consulting.
Trowbridge’s estimates used old data no more recent than March of 2000. When Harman reported the discrepancy to his superior, former chief financial officer James Morley, he was told to not concern himself with the matter.
Now, Morley is one of 10 defendants being sued for presenting misleading information that the asbestos trust fund was adequately funded even though evidence showed otherwise. Harman acknowledged that he did not present his findings of more potential claims to the board meeting when they were deciding to approve the trust.
The trial of the former directors and executives of James Hardie is still in session.
Also in AUSTRALIA, the state of Victoria recently passed a Asbestos Diseases Compensation Bill that allows victims of asbestos exposure to have their compensation cases put on a fast track.
Until the bill was passed, a patient diagnosed with asbestosis had to make the decision to claim damages for asbestosis or to wait to see if they developed mesothelioma and be eligible for those claims.
The new bill passed by the Victorian Parliament enables victims to claim both upon diagnosis of asbestosis and then again later if mesothelioma develops. This bill was inspired by the lawsuit filed by Bernie Banton in his case against James Hardie. Banton passed away on November 7, 2007, after leading the charge against James Hardie and winning a $4 million compensation package for asbestos victims who were former employees of the company.

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