Asbestos News Roundup: 10.27.11

October 27th, 2011. By LucyC

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

 Asbestos Lawsuits

St. Clair County, IL: Donald D. Hongsermeier, a former railroad employee who has developed a non-cancerous disease, has filed a lawsuit claiming that his exposure to asbestos fibers during the course of his career has caused his illness.

For nearly 40 years Hongsermeier worked as a hostler, fireman and engineer for defendant Illinois Central Railroad Company from 1953 until 1991. During his career, Hongsermeier claims in his lawsuit, he was exposed to asbestos dust or fibers. As a result of this exposure, he suffered great pain, extreme nervousness and mental anguish and developed the non-malignant disease, which he does not specify in his lawsuit.

Further, Hongsermeier alleges he incurred medical costs, lost his earnings and his earning capacity, experienced a diminished ability to render services and sustained a shortened life expectancy, the complaint says.

According to the lawsuit, Illinois Central Railroad Company negligently failed to provide Hongsermeier with a safe place to work, failed to provide him with safe tools and equipment, failed to warn him of the hazardous nature of the products with which he was working, failed to drive in a safe manner, failed to provide instructions for the safe use of asbestos products and failed to test products before exposing employees to them.

Hongsermeier claims he now suffers from mental anxiety and a fear of the worsening of his condition, which he is scared will develop into mesothelioma or some other form of cancer.

Hongsermeier is seeking compensatory damages and a judgment of more than $50,000, plus costs and other relief the court deems just. (madisonrecord.com)

St. Clair County, IL: Ray and Bobbie Ruth Lewis have filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 17 defendant companies, which, their suit alleges, caused Ray Lewis to develop lung cancer after his exposure to asbestos-containing products throughout his career.

In their lawsuit, the Lewises claim that Ray Lewis worked as a laborer in the US Army from 1965 through 1968 and as a motor and assembly line worker, welder, body shop worker and laborer at General Motors from 1968 through 1999, according to the complaint. Mr. Lewis also did auto repair work from the 1960s through the 1970s, the lawsuit states.

The Lewises claim that the defendants should have known of the harmful effects of asbestos, but failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for the plaintiffs’ safety.

As a result of his illness, Ray Lewis is now disabled and disfigured, has incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish, the suit states. In addition, he became prevented from pursuing his normal course of employment and, as a result, lost large sums of money that would have accrued, the plaintiff claims.

Tge Lewises are seeking a judgment of more than $150,000 and punitive and exemplary damages of more than $50,000.(madisonrecord.com)

Asbestos News

Washington, DC: According to the website Surviving Mesothelioma, some of the nation’s top health and environmental officials have been meeting in Washington to discuss a little-known mineral that could put thousands of Americans at risk for mesothelioma.

Although the mineral, called erionite, had not received much press until this year, it is known to be a human carcinogen and is listed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1 Carcinogen.

According to the website Fairwarning.com (cited by The New York Times), the meeting in Washington represents the U.S. government’s attempt to take a more proactive approach to protecting the public against erionite than it did in protecting them from asbestos.

Erionite occurs in the soil where volcanic ash and rock have been weathered by alkaline water. Few people had heard of it before scientists began studying the cause of strikingly high mesothelioma rates in several Turkish villages where erionite has been used for decades as a building material. In these villages, deaths from mesothelioma can run as high as 50 percent of the population.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, erionite deposits have been found in a dozen western states and are most concentrated in California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming. Like asbestos, erionite poses no threat until it is disturbed. Unfortunately, hundreds of miles of roadways have been covered with erionite-laden gravel in North Dakota, raising serious concerns about the danger in the dust being constantly stirred up by vehicles.

The meeting at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) brings together representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Heath (NIOSH), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the U.S. Geological Survey. They are discussing the mesothelioma danger posed by erionite, as well and the risks associated with other hazardous minerals.

Like asbestos, erionite can lodge in the lungs when inhaled, triggering irritation and inflammation that can eventually lead to mesothelioma. The more concentrated and frequent the exposure, the higher the risk is thought to be. Although there have been no documented cases of erionite-related mesothelioma cases in the U.S., officials are bracing for future cases since mesothelioma can take 20 to 40 years to develop. Approximately 2,500 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year primarily as a result of asbestos exposure according to the National Institute of Health. (PRWeb.com)

Asbestos Law

Surry, VA: Repairs made to the Surry Nuclear power plant have result in environmental and personal asbestos exposure, according to a report in The Republic.

Roughly 12 contract employees hired to repair the plant have been exposed to the lethal mineral, and, the Republic reports, “State Department of Labor and Industry reports obtained by the Daily Press found that flakes of the cancer-causing substance went airborne in April after contractors cut a pipe. The reports say that a dozen workers and three work trailers had asbestos on them, but it’s unclear how much because plant owner Dominion Power didn’t have air-sampling equipment on site.”

Investigations undertaken by the state cleared six of the eight companies involved however, Hopewell-based Quality Specialties Inc, has been fined $4,900 for failing to properly label pipes. (therepublic.com)

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, asbestos_mesothelioma, Erionite, erionite gravel, erionite mesothelioma, mesothelioma

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