Mesothelioma Cancer

The Minnesota Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board voted unanimously to provide $250,000 in funding for a joint University of Minnesota and state Department of Health study. The funding will pay for medical examinations of Iron Range miners participating in the study. Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Pawlenty says that the State is seeking a matching grant to support the study. Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure, has been diagnosed in 58 Iron Range miners since 2003; at least 17 Iron Range miners were diagnosed with the disease before 2003. The Minnesota health department has committed approximately $300,000 to get the study off the ground, but the study could take 3 to 4 years and millions of dollars to finish. Cleveland-Cliffs, the mining company that employed the miners who succumbed to mesothelioma, has been criticized for planning its own mesothelioma study rather than supporting the state study. Minnesota officials have announced that the state will not support the company study. The company claims, however, that it is planning a workers’ health study that would include any lung problems, not exclusively mesothelioma. Communication about the plan will be important in light of the scandal created when it was revealed that the Minnesota health department had concealed for a full year the fact that 35 additional miners had died from mesothelioma. Late this summer, Minnesota Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach resigned because of the scandal. For the full story, go to http://www.duluthnewstribune.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on November 6th, 2007 | No Comments »

The original Cheboygan Area Hospital, built in 1942, is being torn down. Asbestos removal has just been completed, allowing the demolition to go ahead. Asbestos removal must be completed before a building is demolished or renovated to avoid releasing asbestos fibers into the environment when the structure comes apart. When asbestos products are broken or disturbed, microscopic asbestos fibers are released into the air where they can be inhaled and cause disease. Despite the demolition, community and staff honored the hospital’s 65th anniversary at the end of October, and a book has been published offering a pictorial history of the hospital. For the full story, go to http://www.cheboygannews.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on November 4th, 2007 | No Comments »

The Niagara Falls Public Safety Building on Hyde Park Boulevard contains asbestos. The New York Labor Dept.’s Public Employee Employee Safety and Health Division issued citations against the city after it found airborne asbestos fibers in an inspection of the building, which houses Niagara Falls’ police headquarters, courthouse and city jail. Journalist David Staba is concerned that officials haven’t done anything to remove it yet, and while there is a warning on the front door that says “DANGER: CONTAINS ASBESTOS FIBERS, AVOID CREATING DUST, CANCER AND LUNG DISEASE HAZARD,” people working in the building say they are afraid and don’t know what to do to protect themselves and “avoid creating dust.”The building’s ventilation system still circulates air, likely stirring up and resuspending asbestos in the building’s environment. Mr. Staba accuses Niagara Falls mayor Vincenzo Anello of showing “a wanton disregard for the health of the scores of police officers and other city employees who report to work there every day, as well as the hundreds of residents who pass through the doors every week” by failing to address the asbestos danger in the building.  If Anello had not stalled on the building of a new state-ordered courthouse, Staba says, that building would already have been completed and offered a safe workplace for these city employees. For the full story, go to http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/citycide10.23.07.html

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on November 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Journalist Martin Mittelstaedt critiques Canada’s failure to ban asbestos and the continuing promotion of its mined asbestos to the developing world–particularly India, Canada’s largest market, where asbestos cannot be legally mined but is used extensively in the production of cement. Inhaling asbestos fibers, which easily become airborne when a product is worn or disturbed, can cause mesothelioma–a painful cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart–as well as asbestosis, lung cancer and various other cancers. According to World Health Organization estimates, asbestos is responsible for approximately half of all occupationally-related deaths from cancer, or at least 90,000 deaths every year. While 40 countries have banned the use of asbestos in response to this health crisis, Canada has not. Canada, through its two active asbestos mines in Quebec, remains one of the world’s biggest providers of raw asbestos, a $93 million per year business. And the Canadian government spends large sums of money to promote the use of asbestos in its remaining markets, even calling on diplomatic staff to guard against asbestos bans in the approximately 70 countries that still buy asbestos from Canada. The Canadian government says that the asbestos industry has agreed to sell only to countries that use the same safety measures that Canada uses to protect workers, but in India, which takes about one fourth of Canada’s asbestos, workers can be found handling asbestos with no protection at all, wearing only shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops. One published study in India estimated that about 100,000 workers there are exposed to asbestos, and a study of asbestos-exposed factory workers found that 22 percent has asbestosis–which signals significant exposure over an extended period. India started using asbestos extensively in the 1980s, as usage in the United States and other Western countries began to decline. Because of the latency period between exposure and the appearance of disease, India has an asbestos-related cancer epidemic in its future, one that it is certainly not prepared for. Mittelstaedt says Canada must bear some responsibility for the coming epidemic. For the full story, go to http://www.theglobeandmail.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on November 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Robert Langill, a supervisor with an asbestos removal company in Massachusetts, has pleaded guilty to exposing workers to asbestos during an abatement project at a Maryland Naval Air Station in 2003. He could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and could be fined up to $25,000 for not following safe practices in removing asbestos panels from buildings at the Naval Air Station. Told to remove asbestos-containing transite panels from three buildings, Langill had workers break up the panels with hammers and crowbars over a three month period. Breaking up the panels releases asbestos fibers into the air, and inhaling those fibers can trigger the development of various asbestos-related cancers, including mesothelioma–which attacks the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. From the outset, Langill violated the law by not reporting the asbestos removal project to the Maryland Department of the Environment and outlining a plan for safe removal of the asbestos. In some areas, Langill did not have the panels adequately wet down to prevent asbestos fibers from becoming airborne. And broken pieces of panel were placed in unsealed and unlabeled bags, another safety violation. Langill will be sentenced on January 10, 2008. The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have said that they will continue to prosecute those who violate the law and put people at risk for harmful asbestos exposure. For the full story, go to http://www.associatedcontent.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on November 1st, 2007 | No Comments »

On November 5, 2007, Ottavio’s and Ric’s restaurants in Camarillo, California will donate half the day’s receipts to support mesothelioma research, a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart and is closely associated with asbestos exposure. The restaurants will serve special menus for the occasion and have timed the event in honor of National Lung Month. Ottavio Belvedere, who opened Ottavio’s in 1969, was diagnosed with mesothelioma approximately a year and half ago. He opened Ric’s Restaurant with his son in 2003. For the full story, see http://www.thecamarilloacorn.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on October 31st, 2007 | No Comments »

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is winding up asbestos cleanup operations for the season and will soon begin making plans for next year. The residents of Libby, Montana have experienced high incidence of asbestos-related disease, such as mesothelioma, as a result of asbestos contamination from W.R. Grace’s vermiculite mine. This season, contractors have completed asbestos removal in 160 homes and properties in Libby. As the EPA plans for next year, it is asking Libby residents to be involved in setting budget priorities for continuing the asbestos cleanup and for the scientific research being done. Next year, the EPA’s asbestos cleanup efforts also will move beyond Libby to include the nearby town of Troy, Montana. Inspections began in Troy this year. For the full story, go to http://www.montanasnewsstation.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on October 31st, 2007 | No Comments »

City officials in Fresno, California have set a November 21st deadline for the owner of the Hotel Fresno to show sufficient progress on repairs and renovations or the city will order demolition. But the current owner, who took possession of the landmark hotel this summer, is expected to seek an extension because progress has been slow. The owner says renovations have been delayed by environmental testing and asbestos removal, although asbestos removal is now 90 percent complete. The new owner has maintained a strong relationship with the city despite the delays, and he still seems committed to turning the Hotel Fresno into mixed retail and residential living space. For the full story, go to http://www.ksee24.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on October 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

A public health office in Guelph, Ontario was closed after particles that had fallen from the ventilation system were discovered to be asbestos-containing vermiculite. Complaints about dust and dirt in the building date back to the spring. The particles contain 0.9 percent asbestos. Approximately 100 employees were evacuated from the building, and the ventilation system has been shut down to prevent further dispersal of the asbestos. The city has hired a private inspector and is trying to determine the how the asbestos-containing vermiculite got into the building’s ventilation system. The source of the contamination must be found before a plan can be developed to clean the building.  The acting medical officer claims that the vermiculite is settled on surfaces and the asbestos is not airborne. On the other hand, the president of Ontario’s Environmental Abatement Council cautions that vermiculite is easily crumbled, which could release asbestos fibers into the air. For the full story, go to http://www.ohscanada.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on October 29th, 2007 | No Comments »

Montana senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester are asking the U.S. Senate to allocate emergency funding for the Libby, Montana’s Center for Asbestos-Related Disease (CARD) Clinic in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Bill. They have requested $250,000 to support the clinic’s work serving Libby residents who suffer from asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos contamination from the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine in Libby caused hundreds of people in the town of Libby to develop asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma, a cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. The U.S. Senate will vote soon on the Appropriations Bill, letting officials at the CARD Clinic know what resources they will have to continue their work on behalf of Libby’s asbestos victims. For the full story, go to http://www.montanasnewsstation.com

Filed under: General, Legal, Medical, Support on October 28th, 2007 | No Comments »