Asbestos News Roundup: 1.5.10

January 5th, 2010. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Los Angeles, CA: Famed footballer Merlin Olsen who played for the Los Angeles Rams and went to become a sports caster and actor, is reportedly suing NBC Studios Universal, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Sherwin Williams, Lennox Industries and other companies alleging that they negligently exposed him to asbestos. Olsen has developed mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that can result from asbestos exposure. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy. According to media reports, Olsen’s claim states that mesothelioma “is a vicious, painful, and invariably fatal malignancy.” (TMZ.com)

Asbestos Fraud

St. Louis, MO: The owner of J & C Environmental Services has pled guilty to a felony charge of making false statements on government documents regarding an asbestos inspection for a building scheduled for demolition. Calvin Burks could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Burks allegedly did more than a hundred asbestos inspections in and around the St Louis area starting in April 2008, in buildings scheduled for demolition. He would provide false data in the reports to contractors, who paid him $150 per report, which they would then file with the Environmental Protection Agency. The reports would allegedly clear the way for local and federal authorities to authorize demolition of the buildings which were later found to contain asbestos. (asbsestosweb.org)

Asbestos Hot Spots

San Francisco, CA: The Hunter Point Naval Shipyard has been the topic of much controversy for years, due to project underway designed to revitalize San Francisco’s south eastern waterfront. The project has been generating what is believed to be toxic dust containing asbestos, and area residents have complained of nosebleeds, headaches and other health problems during the past several years. However, the Environmental Protection Agency has submitted a draft report which reportedly states that the monitoring procedures are minimizing “dust generation and limiting asbestos exposure.” Still, residents remain skeptical, questioning the EPA’s testing methods, stating that individual residents were not screened for health problems by the EPA. The project involves the construction of 10,500 homes over two decades. (SFGate.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma

This was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Asbestos Mesothelioma . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.