Mesothelioma Health News

Top union officials in the Australian state of Tasmania believe the state government needs to set up an official registry to track those who have been exposed to asbestos.

According to an article in The Mercury, cases of mesothelioma among residents and workers in the city of Railton, once the site of the Goliath cement works, continue to rise, and experts say they are expected to peak over the next 10 years, Unions Tasmania secretary Simon Cocker said in an announcement yesterday.

Mr. Cocker, speaking at a ceremony to honor those who have died of workplace accidents or industrial diseases, predicted a sharp rise in people falling ill from exposure to asbestos in the town.

“Railton is a time bomb waiting to happen,” he said. “There is a need now for the government to map the sites with asbestos in them.”

“We need workers who have been exposed to asbestos at sites like the former Goliath cement plant at Railton to be notified of that exposure and have their health monitored,” Cocker added. “A program must be established for them.”

“We know there’s probably a 30-year lead time in contracting mesothelioma and we know those people are just now starting to show the first signs of that disease,” he pointed out.

At the ceremony, politicians from Australia’s Greens party vowed to re-introduce the tough workplace safety laws the Labor Party had shied away from in the past and said they hoped to address the asbestos issue head on. Australia currently has the highest rate of malignant mesothelioma of any country in the world.

Yesterday, a French court ordered papermaker Ahlstrom Labelpack to pay 85,000 euros ($133,800 USD) for lost earnings to 17 employees who had to retire early due to asbestos exposure, though none of the workers has developed an asbestos-related disease at this time.

According to a Reuters article, the company was ordered to pay between 9,000 and 85,000 euros to each employee for the loss of 35 percent of the men’s earnings, up to the legal retirement age. In addition, the company was told they must pay 10,000 euros to the workers for stress and anxiety, noting that the men are in constant fear that they will develop an asbestos-related disease, such as mesothelioma.

The article noted that compensation costs for asbestos-related diseases among French workers could total between 11.7-22 billion euros over the next 20 years.

It’s an important decision because it potentially concerns several tens of thousands of people,” said Jean-Paul Teissonniere, a lawyer for Andeva, an association representing asbestos victims.

He believes the ruling might finally encourage other affected workers who have delayed early retirement for financial reasons to now seek to leave the workforce. The former employees already receive benefits equal to 65 percent of their salaries from Acaata, a government-backed fund established to support workers forced to take early retirement because of asbestos exposure, the article points out.

Marine Atlantic workers who’ve toiled on the asbestos-laden ferries that sail between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are still awaiting the asbestos testing that was promised to them last year.

According to a Canadian Broadcasting System article, the company responsible for the ferry service posted warnings about asbestos on one of its vessels, the MV Atlantic Freighter, in October 2007 and promised a month later that they would test almost 1,000 workers for exposure. Currently, only 72 of those employees have been tested.

Canadian Auto Workers union representative Sue Irvine, who represents about 600 of the employees, says that knowing they may have breathed in asbestos has created much stress for the workers.

“There are many [for whom] … this is occupying their every moment,” Irvine told CBC News. “Wondering if they brought home asbestos to their family; wondering if they’re going to become older and suddenly very sick from asbestos exposure; wondering what the company is going to do to look after them.”

Irvine points out that the workers most likely to have been affected are among those still waiting to be tested. She also says the results of the testing done so far “worry” her.

“Out of the 72 people [tested], somewhere in the ball park of … 59 … completed the full function testing — the x-ray and everything,” Irvine told CBC News. “[Of those], there may have been 4 or 5 that showed potential asbestos exposure, with a couple of those people testing positive for asbestos.”

A company spokesperson for Marine Atlantic maintains that plans are still under way to initiate more testing.

Advocates for asbestos sufferers in Scotland are welcoming a new bill introduced to the House of Lords yesterday, overturning a previous House ruling which stated that those suffering from pleural plaques due to asbestos exposure could not receive compensation.

The bill, however, angered insurance companies and business groups who believe the condition is, in itself, harmless, notes an article in The Herald. However, pleural plaques can serve as a warning that more serious asbestos diseases may eventually develop.

Fergus Ewing, Minister for Community Safety, said: “Industries such as shipbuilding and construction contributed to our nation’s wealth in the past. Sadly, however, these industries have also given many Scots a legacy which still impacts on their lives today through exposure to asbestos. It is, therefore, right and proper that we should not turn our back on these people.”

Harry McCluskey, Secretary of Clydeside Action on Asbestos, agreed. “This charity is delighted that the minister has acted with speed and efficiency,” he stated.

However, Nick Starling of the Association of British Insurance adamantly disagreed with the popular opinion. “To compensate for pleural plaques would fly in the face of accepted medical opinion, the law lords’ ruling, and common sense,” he told the House of Lords.

Iain Ferguson of the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland also said they were “fundamentally opposed” to the bill.

A multi-million pound asbestos compensation fund set up by British asbestos manufacturer Turner and Newall (T&N) was recently unfrozen, allowing more than 50 victims of asbestos contamination to receive a total of about £2 million in compensation for their injuries.

According to a recent article posted on Legal and Medical Magazine, when Turner and Newall went into bankruptcy in 2001, all compensation claims against them were frozen until administrators reached an agreement with their insurers and parent company Federal Mogul, a Southfield, Michigan-based company. More than 100 employees died during the wait, the article states.

“T&N was responsible for exposing thousands of its workers to asbestos dust,” notes the article. “The employees’ lawyers say that minutes from the company’s board meetings show they were aware of the risk asbestos posed to employees for decades but did not do enough to protect them. Many went on to develop asbestos-related diseases including mesothelioma.”

“Turner and Newall exposed thousands of people to asbestos across the UK. We have been engaged in one of the longest running and most difficult battles to obtain compensation for those who are suffering or have died from asbestos related disease following exposure at T&N’s factories and elsewhere,” said attorney Ian McFall.

“We are still working on behalf of many others to ensure they receive the compensation they are entitled to. I am glad that the struggle is over, or nearing an end, for many families affected and that for others their claims will be finalized soon,” McFall added.

The city of Olean, New York has been cited by the Asbestos Control Bureau of the state Department of Labor for failure to conduct an asbestos survey before demolishing the locker rooms and restrooms at Bradner Stadium.

According to an Olean Times Herald article, Al Jakubowski, an industrial hygienist and supervisor with the bureau, confirmed Friday that the Asbestos Control Bureau “issued a citation to the city on June 12 after Department of Labor inspectors visited the site.”

Inspectors also went to the Town of Olean Fire Hall, where the concrete from Bradner was dumped, to order to inspect the debris for asbestos, the article notes.

Alderman Frank Steffen said it was possible that the city would be fined. “Fines of up to $5,000 are possible,” Mr. Steffen said state officials told him. “And the trouble is this could only be the beginning.”

Mayor David Carucci tried to assure the public that no laws had been broken. He said the letter from the Department of Labor “only inquired as to whether the city had performed an asbestos survey.” Mayor Carucci added that a formal survey was not needed because city officials knew there was no asbestos in the bathrooms or locker rooms of the stadium, which had been previously remodeled.

“There was a total renovation of the locker rooms in 1977,” he said. “Because the place was totally rehabbed in 1977, there was no need for an asbestos survey,” he said. “We’ve done our homework. After 1974, any rebuilding like that did not need an asbestos survey.”

Nonetheless, Alderwoman Linda Edstrom, R-Ward 4, said she’s concerned about the health of workers who were at the demolition site and fears that the city may face some liability concerns.

“I just want to make sure it was done the right way and that our employees were not exposed to any health hazards,” she said.

The Billings Gazette reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking steps to curtail excessive dust at the former W.R. Grace vermiculite mine located in Libby, Montana. Officials have worried that the deposits of dirt brought to the mine during the clean up of the town are causing dust to circulate through the air. The dust may contain dangerous asbestos fibers.

“As part of a Superfund cleanup, contractors working for the EPA hauled 50,000 cubic yards of asbestos-laden dirt to the mine for disposal last year and are on track to deposit the same amount this year,” the article explains. ”Truckers have been hauling soil from a staging area to the top of the mine and hot, dry weather has worsened the dust problem.”

Two water trucks constantly treat the mine road in order to keep dust at a minimum, says Mike Cirian of the EPA. However, to further insure that dust is curtailed, Cirian says a dust-suppression sealant called Surfactant will be applied this week.

Toxic asbestos dust from Libby’s contaminated vermiculite mine has already caused hundreds of deaths in the small town in northwest Montana. Thousands more have been sickened, including town residents who never worked at the mine. Documents have shown that mine owner W.R. Grace knew about the dangers of asbestos dust since 1956 but did nothing to protect their workers or the surrounding community.

Tulsa’s Department of Human Services (DHS) employees quickly evacuated their Tulsa office building on Monday after construction workers began removing tiles that were made of hazardous asbestos.

According to an article in Tulsa World, all workers and visitors at the Edmondson building were safely evacuated, including DHS workers, said George Johnson, DHS spokesman.

“When the construction workers recognized (the tiles) as asbestos tiles, they stopped the work and called in emergency people,” Johnson said. He added that the tiles were being removed during a routine maintenance procedure and that workers were originally unaware of the presence of asbestos.

“It will take several days for the DEQ to go through and assess the entire 90,000-square-foot building to see what actions need to be taken by the state in order to bring the building back up to code,” Johnson said.

The Edmondson Building is one of the busiest in the city, housing a large number of city offices. Thousands of people come through the building each day.

Asbestos contamination and the potential of exposure prompted the evacuation and closure of the Downtown Fleet Services operation in Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison yesterday.

According to a Wisconsin State Journal article, construction that occurred Monday afternoon at the 26,000 square-foot facility that houses city vehicles may have released dangerous asbestos fibers. Tuesday morning, about two dozen employees were sent home, a city official reported.

The closure halted all repair work inside the city’s maintenance shop but fueling operations outside the facility continued, the article reports. Officials hoped that employees would be able to return to work on Wednesday or Thursday.

“Safety is the number one priority,” said George Twigg, spokesman for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. “We sent all employees home indefinitely until testing can be conducted and we can get the results of those tests.”

The potential asbestos contamination occurred during work to reroute roof drains to a sanitary sewer. During that time, a subcontractor removed insulation around the pipes, said Fleet Services Superintendent William Vandenbrook. The insulation contained asbestos.

“Somebody did something they shouldn’t have, and we’re dealing with the fallout,” he said. “You send that many people home and there’s a fair amount of (vehicle) maintenance that’s deferred.”

The city is exploring liabilities, Vandenbrook told the media.

A hospital in England closed four units/departments and transferred hundreds of appointments to another hospital after it was discovered that asbestos was disturbed by workers doing renovations at the site.

Now, reports an article in the Evening Telegraph, medical experts are ready to launch an inquiry to find out how up to 3,000 hospital patients and 300 staff members at Isebrook Community Hospital in Wellingborough may have come into contact with the dangerous mineral during the construction work.

However, the county director of public health, Dr Stephen Horsley, says the risk of contamination is low and he doesn’t expect there to be any serious concerns once investigations have been completed.

In the meantime, Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust, the agency that oversees the hospital, will conduct the inquiry and also help the hospital determine how to avoid similar events.

“The trust reported the incident immediately to the Health and Safety Executive and are now seeking advice from the experts to quickly resolve the situation. Affected areas will be cleaned and reopened as soon as possible,” said a spokesperson for the trust.

“The trust will commission a review to learn all that it can from the incident and reduce the likelihood of this type of incident occurring in the future,” he added.

The hospital has also set up a hotline for any patients and their families who are concerned about exposure during the incident.