Asbestos News Roundup: 12.29.11

December 29th, 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 Settlements

Everett, WA: A group of firefighters from Everett who filed a lawsuit alleging they were exposed to asbestos during their training, have won a major victory. As settlement of the lawsuit, the firefighters will receive specialized health monitoring, something they have sought for years.

Firefighter Eric Coston told , “We risk our lives for the citizens. We don’t ask any special treatment, we just want to be taken care of.”

The firefighters became concerned about asbestos exposure when, in 2007, during routine training, they went into old building that was scheduled for demolition, and which may have contained asbestos. “They went in there with their chainsaws and their axes, they cut up these buildings, pretending that they were on fire,” Coston said. He raised the firefighters’ concerns with the City of Everett but was surprised by the lack of concern from the city. “We expect the city would have our back, and in this case, they didn’t,” he says. “We had to push the issue just to take care of these members that were exposed.”

So the firefighters filed a $9 million claim, but recently the city agreed to set up a health monitoring program, as originally requested by the firefighters, so the lawsuit was dropped.

“The agreement addresses the issues raised by the firefighters,” a city spokesperson said in a prepared statement. “The city is always interested in the well-being of its employees. The city feels the settlement is fair.”

Under the agreement, the firefighters will be able to get the medical tests needed for the rest of their lives. That’s an important detail, they say, because symptoms of asbestos mesothelioma can take decades to manifest. “This has been a 4 1/2-year marathon to get this taken care of,” Coston said. The agreement only covers firefighters in the original complaint. (komonews.com)

Asbestos Hot Spots

Little Rock, AR: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently held a community meeting with residents of North Little Rock to advise them of possible asbestos contamination in the city park and their homes.

The EPA reportedly said that they are testing Conley Park and the Former North Little Rock Auto Salvage yard for asbestos. The salvage yard has not been in operation since 1989, but between 1953 and 1989 it was a vermiculite processing facility. Vermiculite is a common mineral compound used as an insulator. It was mined at the infamous WR Grace vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana, where hundreds of people have subsequently become ill or died from asbestos exposure and related disease.

The vermiculite processed in North Little Rock came from a mine in Libby, Montana.

“We’ve found some contamination on site. Some asbestos contamination on site and we found some off site as well,” says Althea Foster, of the EPA. The agency is reportedly taking more samples currently, and will be followed by removal of contaminated soil. (todaysthv.com)

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, asbestos_mesothelioma, mesothelioma

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