Asbestos News Roundup: 3.4.10

March 4th, 2010. By LucyC

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

Asbestos Lawsuits

Kanawha County, WV: CSX Transportation is facing an asbestos lawsuit filed by three women, two of whom allege they lost immediate family members as a result of asbestos exposure, and a third woman who claims she developed asbestosis and lung cancer while working for CSX. 

Crystal Morris claims that her father, Stuart McQuan, who died of asbestos lung cancer, developed the deadly disease as a result of exposure to asbestos on the job. Similarly, Pamela Geary’s husband, Virgil Floyd Geary, died of lung cancer resulting from asbestos exposure.

The third woman, Donna Barber, worked for CSX and claims the she was exposed to asbestos on the job, which has resulted in her developing asbestosis and lung cancer (Mesothelioma.com)

Jefferson County, TX: The representative of Jimmy Brumley’s estate has filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 49 companies as defendants. The suit claims that Brumley developed asbestos-related lung disease as a result of his work as a union insulator from 1953 to 1998 when he retired, and that the defendant companies did not warn Mr. Brumley of the dangers of working with asbestos products. 

The defendants named in the suit are: Azko Nobel Polymer Chemicals, Akzona Inc., Alcoa Inc., American Cyanamid Co., Ametek, AMF Incorporated, Anco Insulations, Ashland Oil, Atlantic Richfield, BP America, BP Products North America, Branton Insulations, CBS/Viacom/Westinghouse, Celanese, Champlain Cable Corp., Citgo Petroleum Corp., Columbian Chemicals Co., Conocophillips Co., Crown Central, CSR Ltd., Dow Chemical Co., E.I. Dupont De Nemours and Co., EA Development and Eagle Inc.

Also named are: ELF Aquitaine, Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, Exxonmobil, Foster Wheeler Energy Corp., Gulf States Utilities Co., Hercules Incorporated, Hercules Inc., J. M. Huber Corp., The McCarty Corp., Morton International, Occidental Petroleum Corp., Olin Corp., Oxy USA, Oxy Vinyls, Reilly Benton, Reynolds Packaging, Riley Power, Sunoco, Temple-Inland, TexasGulf Inc., Total Petrochemicals USA, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp., Union Carbide, Valero Energy Corp., Wyeth Holding Corp. and Zurn Industries. (SETexasRecord.com)

Asbestos Law

Charleston, WV: A US Circuit Judge has ordered that defendants named in asbestos lawsuits receive proper credit when plaintiffs receive payment, including trusts of bankrupt defendant companies. Under this case management order, plaintiffs in asbestos litigation must now disclose which bankruptcy trusts they have talked to and against which any trusts he or she might have a claim. (WVRecord.com)

Asbestos Vaccine Promising

New York, NY: Dutch researchers are reporting good news for an investigational vaccine designed to kick-start an immune response in patients with asbestos mesothelioma. “The possibility to harness the potency and specificity of the immune system underlies the growing interest in cancer immunotherapy,” study author Dr. Joachim Aerts, a pulmonary physician at Erasmus Medical Center, said in a news release. “One such approach uses the patient’s own [dendritic cells] to present tumor-associated antigens and thereby generate tumor-specific immunity.” 

“We hope that by further development of our method it will be possible to increase survival in patients with mesothelioma and eventually vaccinate persons who have been in contact with asbestos to prevent them from getting asbestos related diseases,” Dr. Aerts said in the release. 

Currently, the median survival for patients with asbestos mesothelioma is approximately one year, while standard chemotherapy prolongs survival by roughly three months. (Businessweek.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma

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