Asbestos News Roundup: 7.28.11

July 28th, 2011. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of asbestos hot spots from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Asbestos Lawsuits

St. Clair County, IL: Marcie Armstrong has filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 16 defendant companies as being responsible for her developing lung cancer.

Armstrong, who lives in South Carolina, alleges that throughout her career as a laborer at Presto Manufacturing Company in Jackson, Mississippi, she was exposed to products that contained asbestos. And, she also claims she was exposed to asbestos fibers by way of her father, who worked as a laborer and molder at Presto from 1953 through the early 1980s.

Armstrong alleges that the defendants should have known of the harmful effects of asbestos, but failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for the plaintiff’s safety.

As a result of her asbestos-related diseases, Armstrong says she became disabled and disfigured, incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish. In addition, she claims she became prevented from pursuing her normal course of employment and, as a result, lost large sums of money that would have accrued to her. (madisonrecord.com)

Asbestos Settlements

Los Angeles, CA: A painter who was recently diagnosed with terminal asbestos mesothelioma caused by his exposure to asbestos-laiden products, has been awarded $8.5 million in settlement of his asbestos lawsuit.

Bernard Steffen alleged that while working as a commercial painter and handyman he was exposed to products including stucco, molding and construction materials that contain asbestos. In his lawsuit he named as defendants the many manufacturers of the products, claiming that they knew of the dangers associated with their products yet failed to provide appropriate warnings.

The named defendants who went to court were cement maker CalPortland Co., molding material maker Cytec Engineered Materials and product supplier Union Carbide, all of whom denied the allegations. The jury found CalPortland and Union Carbide each 10 percent liable; remaining liability was divided amongst defendants who were no longer in the case at trial. Cytec was found not liable. (Lawyersandsettlements.com)

Asbestos News

Erionite in North Dakota roads may increase risk of mesothelioma

Honolulu, HI  A new study reported in the July 25, 2011 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) takes a look at the health effects of the mineral erionite in gravel roads in Dunn County, North Dakota.  Clouds of dust left in the wake of passing cars and buses can contain such high levels of the mineral erionite that those who breathe in the air every day are at an increased risk of developing mesothelioma, a type of cancer of the membranes around the lungs, the new research shows.

Erionite is a natural mineral fiber that shares similar physical similarities with asbestos. When it’s disturbed by human activity, its fibers can become airborne and lodge themselves in the lungs. Over time, the embedded fibers can make cells of the lung grow abnormally, leading to mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer that is most often associated with the related mineral asbestos.

Michele Carbone, M.D., Ph.D., director of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, has previously linked erionite exposure in some Turkish villages to unusually high rates of mesothelioma. Recently, he and colleagues started to focus on potential erionite exposure in the U.S., where at least 12 states have erionite-containing rock deposits. His research team heading up the study—which includes scientists from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Environmental Protection Agency, New York University, University of Chicago, University of Iowa, and University of Hacettepe—focused their efforts on Dunn County, ND, when they learned that rocks containing erionite have been used to produce gravel for the past 30 years–and more than 300 miles of roads are now paved with the gravel. The new study, reported in the July 25, 2011 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is the first to look at the potential hazards associated with erionite exposure in the US.

The scientists compared the erionite in ND to erionite from the Turkish villages with high mesothelioma rates. They measured airborne concentrations of the mineral in various settings, studied its chemical composition, and analyzed its biological activity. When mice were injected with the erionite from Dunn County, their lungs showed signs of inflammation and abnormal cell growth—both precursors to mesothelioma. Under the microscope, the fiber size of the erionite from ND was similar to that of the Turkish erionite. Overall, the researchers found no chemical differences between the ND erionite and samples of the cancer-causing mineral from Turkey. The airborne levels of erionite in ND were comparable to levels found in Turkish villages with 6-8 percent mortality rates from mesothelioma, the researchers reported.

“Based on the similarity between the erionite from the two sources,” says Carbone, “there is concern for increased risk of mesothelioma in North Dakota.” The long latency period of the disease—it can take 30 to 60 years of exposure to cause mesothelioma—and the fact that many erionite deposits have only been mined in the past few decades suggests that the number of cases could soon be on the rise. In addition to North Dakota, California, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada and other states have erionite deposit, but the possibility of human exposure elsewhere in the US has not yet been investigated.

In contrast to asbestos, which causes mesothelioma at lower rates, there are no established health benchmarks in the US on safe levels of erionite exposure, because until recently, physicians thought that erionate was present only in Turkey. The new findings, however, indicate that precautionary measures should be put in place to reduce exposure to the mineral, says Carbone. In Turkey, his earlier findings led to moving villagers away from areas with high levels of erionite, into new housing built out of erionite-free materials. “Our findings provide an opportunity to implement novel preventive and detection programs in the U.S. similar to what we have been doing in Turkey,” he says. Future studies could analyze erionite levels in other areas of the U.S. and develop strategies to prevent and screen for mesothelioma. (EurekAlert.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma, erionite gravel, erionite mesothelioma

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