Posts Tagged ‘ asbestos_mesothelioma ’

Asbestos News Roundup: 9.9.11

September 9th, 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

Jefferson County, TX: An asbestos lawsuit has been filed by the family of the late Augustine Aranda Sr, naming the man’s former employer, Atlantic Richfield, and two other companies, Beazer East Inc, and BP Products North America, as defendants.

The lawsuit, filed by Aranda’s widow Patsy Aranda and her children, allege Aranda was exposed to asbestos dust and fibers through his work at Atlantic Richfield, where he was an employee. The lawsuit does not give dates of employment.

“As a result of such exposure, Aranda developed … asbestosis and lung cancer, for which he died a painful and terrible death on November 13, 2010,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also alleges the defendants knew of the health issues related to asbestos exposure for decades, but still allowed their employees to work with asbestos products. (SETexasrecord.com)

Yuba County, CA: An ex-employee of Yuba County has filed a lawsuit alleging he discovered asbestos problems in the county courthouse and told state regulators about them only to be laid-off in retaliation for whistle-blowing.

According to the lawsuit, filed by former county maintenance worker Billy Wilden Sr, the presence of asbestos in the courthouse’s boiler room was mentioned by a contractor working with the county in June 2009. The contractor told the county’s Administrative Services Office about asbestos insulation around pipes in the boiler room. However, it wasn’t until after another employee was asked to remove the asbestos without proper training, and subsequently mentioned that request to Wilden, that Wilden raised the issue with other administrative services staff. The lawsuit alleges that when the official who had ordered the asbestos removal discovered questions were being asked, he began a pattern of harassment against Wilden.

In September 2009, Wilden informed the California division of Occupational Safety and Health about the asbestos problems, leading to a series of Cal-OSHA fines in January 2010 against the county totaling $11,500.

The lawsuit states Wilden was laid off as of July 1, 2010, as a result of budget cuts. Just a month before, Yuba County issued 22 layoff notices. The county, the Administrative Services Office and several officials in the office are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

“As a proximate result of Defendants’ conduct, Plaintiff has sustained and continues to sustain substantial losses in his earnings and other employment benefits and continues to suffer humiliation, emotional distress, and mental and physical pain and anguish, all to his damage in a sum according to proof,” the lawsuit states. (appeal-democrat.com)

Home Renovations Linked to Asbestos-Related Diseases

Cinnaminson, NJ: A new international study is shedding light on the health risks associated with asbestos and home renovation projects. The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, has shown an alarming rate of asbestos-related diseases that can be correlated to exposure to asbestos from home renovation projects.

The research found that 35.7% of females and 8.4% of males with mesothelioma in Western Australia between 2005 and 2008 were attributable to asbestos exposure from home renovation projects. Although this study took place in Australia, which banned asbestos in 2003, the significance of the study to people in the United States is clear. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have been able to ban some asbestos containing products in recent years, but countless older homes still have many materials that contain asbestos.

According to the EPA, “Today, asbestos is most commonly found in older homes, in pipe and furnace insulation materials, asbestos shingles, millboard, textured paints and other coating materials, and floor tiles. Elevated concentrations of airborne asbestos can occur after asbestos-containing materials are disturbed by cutting, sanding or other remodeling activities. Improper attempts to remove these materials can release asbestos fibers into the air in homes, increasing asbestos levels and endangering people living in those homes.”

“This new research into asbestos related illness and its direct link to home renovations should open people’s eyes to the dangers associated with asbestos containing materials in our homes,” reported Joe Frasca, Senior Vice President, Marketing at EMSL Analytical, a leading asbestos testing laboratory. “Fortunately, testing suspect materials before beginning home renovation projects has never been quicker and easier,” he said. (webwire.com)

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuits, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma
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Asbestos News Roundup: 9.3.11

September 3rd, 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

Beaumont, TX: Florence Woodard, the widow of Andrew Woodard, has filed an asbestos lawsuit naming her husband’s former employer, ExxonMobil, as the defendant. Mrs. Woodward alleges that Exxon Mobile and Mobile Oil exposed her husband to asbestos, which resulted in his death.

The lawsuit states that Mr. Woodard was exposed to asbestos dust and fibers while in the employment of ExxonMobil. No dates of employment or occupation are given in the lawsuit. Nevertheless, the lawsuit claims that as a result of his exposure to lethal asbestos fibers and dust, Mr. Woodward developed asbestos mesothelioma and subsequently died on August 10, 2009.

Mrs. Woodward alleges in her lawsuit that ExxonMobil knew asbestos exposure can cause cancer but still allowed employees, such as her late husband, to work with asbestos products. She further claims ExxonMobil acted with malice and is seeking to recover exemplary damages from the company. (SETexasrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: A man from Grayson, Kentucky is suing 57 companies in his asbestos lawsuit, alleging they are responsible for a family member’s lung cancer and subsequent death. On May 26, 2010, James Thomas Martin was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died of the disease on August 2, 2010, according to the lawsuit.

James Franklin Martin claims James Thomas Martin was exposed to asbestos and asbestos-containing material during his employment as an electrician from 1951 until 2006.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.

The 57 companies named as defendants are: 4520 Corporation; A.K. Steel Corporation; American Electric Power Company, Inc.; American Electric Power Service Corporation; Appalachian Power Company; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Catalytic Construction Company; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Flowserve FSD Corporation; FMC Corporation; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; Goodrich Corporation; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Graybar Electric Company, Inc.; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; Lockheed Martin Corporation; McJunkin Red Man Corporation; Nagle Pumps; Nitro Electric Company, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Power Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power, Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Rust International, Inc.; Schneider Electric; State Electric Company; Sterling Fluid Systems (US), LLC; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; the F.D. Lawrence Electric Company; the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; United Conveyer Corporation; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Viacom, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; West Virginia State Electric Supply Company; WT/HRC Corporation; Yarway Corporation; and Zurn Industries, Inc. (WVRecord.com)

Charleston, WV: A couple from Liverpool, Ohio, has filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 10 companies as responsible for Charles H. Long’s lung cancer diagnosis.

Mr. Long worked as a boilermaker and ironworker at various power plants, steel mills and other industrial sites throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, for over 20 years—1958 until 1979. During that time, Mr. Long claims, he was exposed to asbestos and asbestos-containing products that were manufactured and/or supplied by the defendants.

The lawsuit claims that the defendants are responsible for Mr. Long’s lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural plaques, and that the defendants failed to exercise reasonable care to warn him of the danger to which he was exposed by use of asbestos-containing products.

Further, the lawsuit states that the defendants also failed to inform Mr. Long of what would be safe and sufficient apparel for a person who was exposed to or used asbestos-containing products.

Mr. Long and his wife, Ruth Long, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest.

The 10 defendants named in the suit are: AK Steel Corporation; AmChem Products, Inc.; Bechtel Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Dravo Corporation; FMC Corporation; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; ITT Corporation; J. H. France Refractories Company; and Yarway Corporation.(WVRecord.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma
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Asbestos News Roundup: 8.26.11

August 26th, 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 Hot Spots 

Washington, DC: Structural damage to schools in Prince George County, caused by Tuesday’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia, has kept 32 schools closed this week, affecting more than 23,000 students. Structural engineers are currently assessing the damage to the school buildings affected by the quake, and risk of asbestos exposure. The quake struck nine miles south of Mineral, VA, on August 23 at 1:51 pm, according to the US Geological Survey.

Officials cannot say when the schools will re-open, saying they are taking the situation day-by-day. “The safety of our students, teachers and staff is our number one priority,” said Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said in a statement. “We are working as quickly as possible to get the necessary building inspections completed so that school can resume for all students.”

The schools affected vary in terms of size and age, with some schools, like Surrattsville High School, having stood for over four decades. Ernest E. Just Middle School, by contrast, has been open for less than 10 years.

According to a report in the Washington Post, Tuesday’s earthquake has only served to cement the concerns of parents with children in older school buildings. The president of the parents association at John Hanson Montessori School in Oxon Hill, Nicole Nelson, noted cracks in the ceiling and falling tiles in their 55-year-old building. The group has been lobbying for the school system to renovate Hanson since 2006, citing concerns about rat infestations and pipes made with asbestos. (WashingtonPost.com)

Asbestos News

St. Johns, NFL: Canadian physicians voted this week, almost unanimously, in support of a motion that opposes the federal government’s vote against the international designation of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.

During their annual conference, delegates to the Canadian Medical Association’s general assembly voted 99 percent in favor of condemning Stephen Harper’s government for its “shameful” decision that effectively blocks the listing of asbestos as a hazardous product.

“This is an important health care issue and a product that causes significant illness — even death,” Dr. Jeff Turnbull, outgoing president of the CMA, told reporters. “Canada should not be in the business of exporting such a dangerous product.”

In June, delegates at a United Nations summit held in Geneva voted on labeling asbestos as a known carcinogen. The head of the Canadian delegation, fearing a consensus vote in favor of the carcinogen labeling, made the statement against the ruling, effectively stopping the labeling in its tracks: a consensus among countries is needed to list the substance as a hazardous material under the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention.

“The time for the CMA is now to go beyond calling on the federal government and begging it to take action, as it clearly has no intention of doing so,” Dr. Barry Turchen of Abbotsford, BC told Canada.com.

The CMA motion “sends a strong message to the federal government that their unethical and shameful behaviour will not be tolerated by the physicians of Canada,” Turchen said, to applause. (Canada.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma
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Asbestos News Roundup: 8.19.11

August 19th, 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

Jefferson County, TX: The family of the late James Lee Purks has filed a second asbestos lawsuit, this time naming 18 companies as defendants. While the first lawsuit focused solely on Texaco for allegedly exposing Purks to asbestos, the second lawsuit focuses on the distributors of the asbestos products James Purks worked with. The lawsuit states “As a result of his exposure, James Purks developed an asbestos-related disease, lung cancer, and died on April 20, 2011”

Patricia, Robert, Gary and Bryan Purks filed two lawsuits on behalf of the deceased Mr. James Lee Purks, who worked as a pipefitter at Texaco for 27 years.

Named defendants in the suit are: Amtek, Bechtel, Crown Cork & Seal, D&F Distributing, Dana Companies, Flour Enterprises, Flour Maintenance, Foster Wheeler Constructors, Foster Wheeler Corp., Foster Wheeler Energy, General Electric, Goulds Pumps, Henry Vogt Machine, Ingersoll Rand, Owens Illinois, Riley Power, Union Carbide and Zurn Industries.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants conspired to mine, manufacture and distribute asbestos products without warning workers, such as James Purks, of the dangers. The Purks family is suing for exemplary and punitive damages. (SETexasRecord)

Jefferson County, TX: The children of the late Thaddeus Alpough have filed suit against their father’s former employer, Chevron USA, alleging the company exposed him to asbestos.

Mary Alpough and her siblings filed the lawsuit August. 16 alleging that the late Alpough worked at Chevron’s Port Arthur refinery as a boilermaker helper and pipefitter—occupations that exposed him to asbestos dust and fibers. The lawsuit states “As a result of such exposure, Thaddeus Alpough developed asbestos-related pleural disease, lung cancer and then gastric cancer, for which he died a painful and terrible death on May 7, 2010.”

The Aplough family asbestos lawsuit accuses Chevron of knowing that asbestos products could cause cancer but still chose to expose workers, such as their father.

The Alpough family is suing for punitive and exemplary damages. (SETexasRecord)

Asbestos Settlements

New York, NY: Separate verdicts totaling $32 million and more than $19 million were awarded on August 17 in cases involving individuals who contracted asbestos mesothelimoa after being exposed to asbestos.

In the case of Ronald Dummitt and Doris Kay Dummitt v. A.W. Chesterton, et al., a jury found Crane Co. and Elliott Turbomachinery Co., responsible for the asbestos exposure that led to a U.S. Navy boiler tender’s diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma, an incurable form of cancer.

In returning its verdict, the jury determined that Crane and Elliott acted with a reckless disregard for the safety of others in failing to warn. The jury apportioned 99 percent responsibility to Crane and 1 percent responsibility to Elliott. The award included $16 million in past pain and suffering and $16 million in future pain and suffering to Mr. Dummitt.

In the case of David Konstantin and Ruby Konstantin v. 630 Third Avenue Associates, et al., the jury found Tishman Liquidating Corporation, formerly known as Tishman Realty & Construction, Co., Inc., responsible for Mr. Konstantin developing mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis, one of the rarest forms of cancer in the world. Like all cases of mesothelioma, this form of the disease is not curable.

The jury found Tishman 76 percent liable and to have acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others. The jury awarded Mr. Konstantin $7 million for past pain and suffering, and $12 million for future pain and suffering. The verdict amount also included $64,832 for past lost wages, and $485,325 for future lost wages.

Both trials lasted nine weeks and were presided over by the Honorable Joan Madden. (digitaljournal.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma
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Asbestos: Safe Enough to Sell, So Long as it Goes to India

August 15th, 2011. By Hunter West

The Canadian government was talking out of both sides of its mouth recently when it decided to reject a recommendation from Health Canada, the Canadian answer to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to add asbestos to the so-called Rotterdam list of dangerous substances.

That’s partly because Canada still mines and exports the stuff. It’s worth about $90 million dollars a year to the economy of Quebec alone. And the Prime Minster said that as long as there are people willing to buy it, Canada would export it.

Well, Stephen Harper has a point. There are countries around the globe—especially India—that consider asbestos to be a cheap and handy commodity for the building trade. If the rest of the world is taking it out of their buildings, they don’t seem to care.

And Canada is not prepared to take a moral stand, as some countries have done, by either placing asbestos on a blacklist, or banning its use altogether. The US hasn’t banned it, either. 

It does serve to illustrate that in the shadow of big business, health often takes a back seat.

Drug companies have for years been doing an end run around safety in the quest for profits and revenue, to the point where they have the FDA—described by some as largely a political entity—largely in their back pocket. The FDA, for its part, has never required a drug or medical device to be completely safe before it is allowed on the market. So long as the benefits outweigh the risks for those to whom the drugs are directed and intended, then all is well.

So long as a drug, or medical device company makes more revenue from a drug than the money they lose defending it, then…well…that’s just good business, isn’t it?

In Canada’s case given the asbestos issue, the reasons why the feds rejected the recommendation from their health regulator are both economic and political.

First, the sudden ending of a $90 million dollar-per-year industry would have a huge impact on the Quebec economy, as well as the country as a whole. Canada, while geographically larger than the US, is sparely populated in comparison.

From the political side, the largely French-speaking Quebec has been waffling over its wish to disenfranchise with Canada and go it alone as an independent, sovereign state since the beginning of time. At the moment, the separation flame has cooled and the government wishes to avoid doing anything that may turn up the heat.

And—the governing Conservative Party is hoping to take Quebec seats away form the New Democratic Party in the next election, which is five years away. The NDP took a whack of seats away from the Bloc Quebecois—a separatist party—this past May, and the governing Conservatives see that as an opportunity.

So let’s do nothing to upset Quebec. So what if Heath Canada urges a ban on asbestos? It comes from Quebec. So asbestos mining stays, and asbestos continues to be exported.

Besides, Health Canada notes that while it can’t say asbestos is safe (nobody can), it does admit to the fact that in its view chrysotile asbestos—which is the stuff that comes from Quebec—is not quite as destructive as other forms of asbestos. Of course, the feds have seized on that point, too.

Here’s the thing. If asbestos is so bad, why has that same Canadian government been removing asbestos from Canada’s Parliament buildings, and from the official residence of the Prime Minister?

The Prime Minister was asked about that very contrast. His response? As long as people are willing to buy it, the government won’t stand in its way.

“This government will not put Canadian industry in a position where it is discriminated against in a market where sale is permitted,” Harper said.

And yet three years ago, the stated in an editorial “Canada is the only Western democracy to have consistently opposed international efforts to regulate the global trade in asbestos. And the government of Canada has done so with shameful political manipulation of science.”

It should be noted that all countries participating in the Rotterdam Convention met June 20^th. Canada has yet to formulate a position on asbestos, and presumably will continue to waffle for at least the next five years.

If someone came up with a way to replace that $90 million dollar windfall every year with something safe and clean, then watch it happen.

If drug companies could make just as much, if not more from drugs that are completely safe, then watch it happen.

But as long as there are lobbyists making sure that drug and medical device manufacturers in their districts are happy and healthy—and as long as there are emerging countries ready and willing to buy a product that carries both health risks for the customer, but also political and economic risks for a government with an eye towards re-election, nothing will happen.

Asbestos will continue to be mined, and exported. Drugs and medical devices will continue to be marketed with risks both known and unknown.

It’s just business. It’s a democracy. It’s civilization. And we’re all so very, very civilized.

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma
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