Nevada (NV) Asbestos And Mesothelioma General, Medical, & Legal Resources

Nevada (NV) Asbestos Resources & Information:

Contrary to popular conception, the state of Nevada is only desert in the southern region around Clark County (Las Vegas metro area). Most of the state is covered by spectacular forested mountain ranges, running north and south and rising to 13,000 feet.

However, most of the geologic activity occurs west of the Sierra and east along the Wasatch Mountain Front of Utah; therefore, there is no naturally-occurring asbestos to be found in Nevada, nor has the state ever had an asbestos industry (asbestiform minerals are the result of intense geologic pressure in the presence of carbonates).

What Nevada does have is an abundance of power generation plants; one website lists over a dozen. This has been necessary to support the state's quickly-growing population (which more than doubled between 1980 and 2000). It has also meant that more workers have been exposed to friable asbestos fibers during that time.

The Danger of Power Plants

According to the Center for Health Statistics, electricians, pipefitters, boilermakers and repair and maintenance personnel are among those industrial workers at greatest risk for contracting asbestos-related diseases. Data indicate that mesothelioma victims made up over three percent of the workers who die of work-related causes in these plants.

For over half a century, asbestos was used as a flame retardant and insulator against both heat and electrical current. Wiring and panel partitions as well as electrical cloth were all made from asbestos materials; asbestos insulation was used to pack electrical conduits, and many of the building materials used in construction of the facility itself--primarily plaster, drywall, and cement--contained asbestos fibers.

The danger to power plant workers was demonstrated in a 2003 study by doctors in Puerto Rico. In this study, chest x-rays were taken of a large number of power plant employees. Thirteen percent of these x-rays showed some type of "abnormality," even when cigarette smoking was factored out.

Other Asbestos Jobsites

Las Vegas is a city continually re-inventing itself; there are few old buildings in this, the most densely populated region of the state. Nonetheless, asbestos building materials were commonly used in construction up through the 1980s, and many such products are actually still used (the recently passed "Ban Asbestos in America Act", should it be signed into law by the White House--not a foregone conclusion--phases out the manufacture, sale and use of asbestos over a two-year period starting in 2008).

Asbestos-related disease, although relatively rare in general, does tend to affect construction workers disproportionately for this reason. Ironically, one source of asbestos poisoning was at the Concord State Hospital, were asbestos insulation was used in building maintenance facilities (HVAC systems and electrical rooms, etc.)

There is also an oil refinery listed, Foreland, which located in Tonopah. Nevada actually produces a small amount of crude oil, which is primarily used to make diesel fuel.

Data from the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry indicate that oil industry employees are among those industrial workers who suffer the highest risk of asbestos exposure. Because of its chemical volatility, petroleum nearly always poses a fire hazard; therefore, a great deal of asbestos has been used in these facilities, in structures, pipe fittings and even protective clothing.

Mortality Rates

From 1979 to 1999, there were a total of 154 asbestos-related deaths in Nevada, mostly from mesothelioma. Most of these were concentrated in the Clark County-Las Vegas Metro area; Washoe County (Reno) was second. Lander and Humboldt Counties were at the bottom, with only a single recorded victim of mesothelioma recorded.

This points up the relative rarity with which mesothelioma occurs; taking the median number of people living in the state during the time, the mortality rate from mesothelioma still works out to approximately 1/10,000th of the population, or .01%.

Such statistical information is small comfort to those who have endured its agonies due to corporate negligence, however.

Nevada (NV) Asbestos & Mesothelioma Treatment Centers

Today, between 25 and 30% of all Americans will get some form of cancer during their lifetimes. There are many reasons for this, including the modern lifestyle and the poisons that have been put into the environment – of which asbestos is a prime example.

The number of clinics and hospitals that specialize in oncology have increased in response to the growing number of patients. Below is a list of the cancer treatment centers located in Nevada (NV) that we feature on Asbestos.net:

Clinical Trials Serving Nevada (NV):

A clinical trial is when new medications and treatments are tested on human subjects. Participation in such studies can entail some risks, but for some who are facing an invariably fatal disease, they also represent an opportunity – not only for personal relief, but to serve the greater good in the advancement of medical knowledge.

Below is a list of clinical trials with locations in Nevada (NV):

Nevada (NV) Legal Resources: Asbestos, Asbestos Cancer & Mesothelioma

A search through the Nevada Federal District Court Cases for asbestos-related personal injury product liability lawsuits brings up no recent lawsuits. Nevada is ranked 31 in the U.S. for mesothelioma cases. With a mesothelioma mortality rate of 15.79 per million, Nevada has a crude mortality rank of 11 in the country.

Nevada has a number of known asbestos-exposed areas. These include the Harry Allen Station in Apex, the Beowave Power Plant, the Empire Farms Power Plant, Mojave in Laughlin, the Reid Gardner Station in Moapa, the Valmy Generating Station in North Valmy, and the Dixie Valley Power Plant and Soda Lake I & II in Fallon. Other known asbestos-exposed areas in the state include the Brady Power Plant and the Desert Peak Power Plant in Fernley, Clark Station and Sunrise Station in Las Vegas, the Caithness Power Plant and Steamboat Power Plants in Reno, Foreland Refining in Tonopah, the Pinon Pine Power Project and the Tracy Generating Station in Tracy-Clark, and Wabuska and Fort Churchill Generating Station in Yerington.

Individuals living or working near these areas should be checked regularly for signs of mesothelioma in order to file any lawsuits within the state's statute of limitations. While many of these sites have been inspected and some have been cleaned up, anyone who worked or lived in these areas before asbestos contamination was reported can still be affected. Also, it is important to keep in mind that these are only known asbestos sites. Other areas in the state may also contain asbestos but may not yet have been reported as such.

One case that was important for asbestos laws and lawsuits in the state involved a Nevada worker employed by Nevada Power of Las Vegas between 1957 and 1964, during which time he worked as a plant operator at numerous power stations owned by the company. In his 2005 suit, Fisher v. D.B. Riley, et al., it was noted that the plaintiff supervised shutdowns of the power plants, a duty which included overseeing the repair and maintenance of boilers manufactured by the final defendant, D.B. Riley. The boilers contained asbestos. The case was settled for over $2 million.

Another pro-plaintiff case involved a man who was exposed to asbestos while working as a Machinist Mate 3rd class at the U.S. Navy Shipyards in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. The man was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma at age 63. He visited Dr. Dan Sterman at the University of Pennsylvania in April, 1996, hoping to be accepted into Sterman's Gene Therapy program. A qualification requirement for the study was to undergo no surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, which meant he had to decline talc pleurodesis, a procedure where the pleural linings are bonded together so as to stop the build-up of fluid in the lower lung linings. The man underwent a total of 14 thoracentesis procedures, in which fluid was drained from the pleural linings via a needle or tube. After eight months of treatment, the man died. His case was settled in 2000. In his case against the companies who exposed him to asbestos, he named a number of defendants, including Garlock, Inc.; Georgia Pacific; IMO Industries; Johns-Manville; Metropolitan Life Insurance Co; Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Rapid American Corp.; W.R. Grace & Co. Conn.; Worthington Pumps; A.W. Chesterton; AC&S, Inc; Amatex; Anchor Packing; Babcock & Wilco; Center for Claims Resolution; Combustion Engineering; Fibreboard; Forty-Eight Insul.; Foster Wheeler Energy; and the GAF Corporation. The settlement, in total, was just under $1.95 million.

Those interested in filing lawsuits should know that the statute of limitations for personal injury law in Nevada is two years with a discovery rule that states that this amount of time begins when the problem (in this case the mesothelioma) either was discovered or should have been discovered. Wrongful death cases fall under the same statute of limitations and discovery rule. Nevada has no specific statutes about asbestos.