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Asbestos
& Related Newswire
7/5/2006 6:38:00 AM | Don't sweep asbestos concerns under carpet 
=(0) Testing of building components in a senior citizens residence in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, has revealed the presence of asbestos. Officials say the asbestos is not dangerous if undisturbed, but residents fear it is present in dust that falls from stucco ceilings. The building was inspected along with others because asbestos was recen...
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7/1/2006 8:51:00 AM | Family 'at wit's end'™ =(0) A Portsmouth NH family has not been allowed in their home since it was flooded in May, and probably won't be for some time. Toxic mold was suspected after the flood but what was found under the carpets was asbestos tile. The homeowner has a chronic condition that affects his immune system, so is barred from entering the home. A company sp...
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6/29/2006 1:48:00 PM | El Paso Gas to pay $340,000 in fines =(0) El Paso Natural Gas will pay a $340,000 fine to the State of Arizona for several environmental violations relating to its pipeline which runs from Texas, through part of the state. Some of the violations were for failing follow proper procedure for the handling and removal of asbestos when the pipeline coated with asbestos was replaced. O...
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6/28/2006 1:19:00 PM | Two companies fined $430,000 for asbestos violations =(0) Two companies in the San Francisco area were fined a total of $430,000 for two separate instances of improper asbestos removal procedures. In one, the company, USA Properties Fund Inc., was accused of using unqualified workers to remove asbestos from the ceiling of a residential building, putting the workers and residents at risk of exposure....
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6/28/2006 3:11:00 AM | New Research Findings Published In National Academy Of Sciences ... =(0) Researchers are examining the process by which asbestos causes cancer to form in the lungs: it seems that when asbestos is inhaled, it causes the release of a chemical in the body that protects damaged lung cells from dying; however, these cells are suspected of eventually forming into cancer. Understanding the process, which involves the immu...
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6/27/2006 8:23:00 AM | UK's NICE Rejects Lilly's Alimta in Mesothelioma =(0) The British National Health Service's cost-control unit, "NICE", will discontinue funding a mesothelioma drug, pemetrexed (Alimta) in England and Wales. The drug's maker, Eli Lilly, contends that the drug is an effective therapy for a difficult-to-treat cancer caused almost completely by workplace exposure to asbestos. It will appeal the decis...
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6/27/2006 1:13:00 AM | ExxonMobil ordered to pay $5 million to widow =(0) The widow of a contract worker who died of mesothelioma was granted $5 million from ExxonMobil by a Louisiana jury. James Terrance chipped asbestos paint from pipes at an ExxonMobil plant in the 1960s, and later died of the asbestos-related cancer. His widow claims that ExxonMobil took greater precautions with the health of its employees than ...
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6/26/2006 10:07:00 AM | No compensation for wife mesothelioma victims as asbestos ... =(0) Courts in Britain are ruling that a company's asbestos liability does not extend to family members of employees. Cases decided this way have set a precedent, with many others declining to follow through because costs of litigation are too high. Many wives and family members of men who worked with asbestos in the 1950s and 1960s became ill...
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6/25/2006 8:15:00 PM | Asbestos society warns against Wittenoom visits =(0) A town in Australia is being shut down by the government because of asbestos contamination. Residents of the town, in northwest Australia, are said to be endangering the public by trying to lure tourists there. According to the Asbestos Diseases Society in Australia, there is still a dangerous situation there, as people who went to work o...
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6/24/2006 8:40:00 PM | 'Smoking gun' in asbestos case =(0) General Motors, beseiged with class action lawsuits claiming damage from asbestos used in car parts such as brake linings, is trying to get an insurance company to pay up on the claims. It is suing Royal & Sun Alliance, in both the US and UK, for coverage relating to policies between 1954 and 1972. In a pre-trial hearing, GM claimed it ha...
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6/22/2006 2:48:00 AM | WORKERS BATTLE FOR 9/11 SUIT =(0) The City of New York is trying to get a judge to dismiss a class-action lawsuit against it by Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers. The 8000 workers claim the city did not protect them from the health consequences of inhaling toxic air after the 9/11 attacks. Since then nearly 300 workers have contracted cancer and 33 have died. Howeve...
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6/21/2006 9:12:00 PM | Legal system shake-up on hold =(0) Scotland is planning to introduce a law next fall that will change the way asbestos victims there are compensated. Currently, mesothelioma sufferers must choose between immediate compensation, or have a larger payout go to their families after their death. The new bill proposes that the maximum payout be available to the victim while he i...
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6/21/2006 6:51:00 AM | Prime minister confirms plans to overturn Lords ruling on ... =(0) A change in the wording of the British Compensation Bill (in the form of an amendment) should improve the ability of British asbestos victims to receive proper compensation for diseases such as mesothelioma. Instead of the liability being spread among a victim's various employers, the employers are to be "jointly and severally liable" so that ...
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6/21/2006 4:01:00 AM | USG emerges from bankruptcy =(0) USG, the building products company, will emerge from a five-year bankruptcy, repay its creditors and establish an asbestos trust fund for personal injury claims. The company has forwarded $900 million towards the asbestos trust fund and will pay another $3 billion within a year if the government does not establish a national fund such as it is...
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6/19/2006 11:18:00 AM | Asbestos victims' long search for justice =(0) This is an overview of the ideas behind the current mesothelioma compensation legal debate in Britain. The basic question is, if an employee worked for more than one company and ultimately developed disease, which, if any, of the companies are responsible, and in what proportion? A recent legal ruling apportioned compensation according to...
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6/17/2006 1:16:00 AM | Court: Wrongful death trial can resume with 11 jurors =(0) The trial in a wrongful death lawsuit against ExxonMobil may resume with only 11 jurors, according to the Louisiana Supreme Court. The suit concerns the death of a worker whose job it was to chip asbestos off of pipes. James Terrance later died of mesothelioma, a lung cancer known to be caused by asbestos exposure. One of the original jur...
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6/14/2006 11:20:00 AM | Ruling: WR Grace executives did not knowingly endanger Libby ... =(0) Part of the indictment against W.R. Grace & Co. on asbestos-related issues was dismissed on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run out. The charge of consipiracy, that is, knowingly endangering workers and residents, has a five year limit. The company operated a vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana until 1990. It was later disc...
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6/13/2006 5:27:00 AM | Mesothelioma ruling ‘cruel’ =(0) A ruling in the British House of Lords last month is causing an uproar among British mesothelioma victims and Members of Parliament. The ruling limited compensation for asbestos-related disease victims who worked for more than one employer, with the idea that no single employer could be held entirely responsible. MPs will work to restore ...
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6/13/2006 2:06:00 AM | 9/11 health crisis hits 'average Joe' =(0) It is not only firefighters and rescue workers who are suffering health effects from breathing the air at the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York; citizens who were in the area and survived are now falling ill with respiratory problems due to subtances inhaled such as asbestos, lead, dioxin and mercury. The article traces the effect on one up...
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6/12/2006 11:02:00 AM | 5000 a year get cancer from their work =(0) Studies in Australia reveal that around 5000 Australians develop cancer each year because of exposure to various substances at work. For example, one third of lung cancer cases there are attributable to asbestos, second hand smoke, and various fumes and exhausts. Similar figures exist for bladder and colon cancers. Previous estimates...
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