10 Percent of Australian Carpenters Likely Mesothelioma Victims
One-in-10 Australian carpenters born before 1950 will die of mesothelioma, according to results of a British study released in Australia in April. They will be among 30,000 Australians who will die from mesothelioma between 2000 and 2050.
Cancer research specialist Professor Julian Peto made the findings during research into the lifetime occupations of 600 mesothelioma patients and an analysis of international trends in mesothelioma mortality. Dr. Peto said the cause of mesothelioma was not restricted to the deadly blue asbestos, also known as crocidolite, but to brown asbestos (amosite) which was used in building products in Australia and Britain until the 1980s.
Mesothelioma Treatment in Clinical Trial
There are a number of clinical trials currently underway for the treatment of mesothelioma, the lethal form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Individuals who are diagnosed with mesothelioma are often in the latter stages of their lives because the disease can take decades to develop after the patient has undergone asbestos exposure.
Chemotherapy is fairly standard treatment for mesothelioma, because it is such a fast moving cancer and because it tends to move from the lungs to other parts of the body fairly rapidly. One of the clinical trials now underway under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute is the use of Avastin in combination with chemotherapy.
Sarcoidosis Impacting New Yorkers after 9/11
Sarcoidosis is a systemic disease that can affect any organ. “Common symptoms are vague, such as fatigue unchanged by sleep, lack of energy, weight loss, aches and pains, dry eyes, blurry vision, shortness of breath, a dry hacking cough or skin lesions.” The disease can lead to long term, serious side effects including fatality.
These symptoms are consistent with the problems reported by many first responders and workers involved in the rescue and clean-up efforts at the World Trade Center. According to a report published and discussed on an online medical information site, “We report here that the incidence of sarcoidosis among FDNY WTC rescue workers (firefighters and EMS workers) was significantly increased when compared to the years before WTC dust exposure. This was especially true during the first 12 months after WTC dust exposure.”
Minnesota Legislature Funds Mesothelioma Study
The Minnesota state House of Representatives took a large step during the first week in March towards determining why there is a high incidence of mesothelioma among miners working in the Iron Range. Since WWII, a mineral known as taconite has been a major source of iron, much of it coming from the area of Minnesota that has long been noted for its iron deposits.
Taconite in its natural state contains only 30-35% iron so the ore is pulverized during the process of extracting the iron. Taconite contains fibers of a number of substances, and there have now been 58 cases of mesothelioma reported among the men working in those mines.
Connecticut High School Closes during Asbestos Abatement
For the second time this year, Bethel High School in Danbury Connecticut was temporarily closed due to tests that showed asbestos fibers in the air in certain areas of the school. The Danbury News Times reports that an asbestos abatement company under contract to remove all asbestos from the school’s structures reported a minor accident that resulted in elevated levels of asbestos shown in air samples at the school.
Federal Agency Finally Protects Miners from Asbestos
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has established stringent new rules designed to protect miners from exposure to asbestos. Over the last thirty years, research has proven that asbestos can be the cause of mesothelioma, a lethal form of cancer that usually attacks the lungs. The MSHA regulations were published in the Federal Register on February 29th of 2008.
The new rules are the direct result of a report from the office of the Inspector General, another federal agency that conducted a study of deaths from asbestos exposure among miners and their families in the town of Libby, Montana. The Inspector General’s report and suggestion to the MSHA occurred in 2005, and has prompted the MSHA to reduce allowable airborne asbestos exposure for miners by 95%.
The Toxic Disaster at the World Trade Center
From September 11, 2001 to the present, the evidence of toxic materials impacting World Trade Center responders and volunteers has been overwhelming. During the early stages of the disaster response, the New York Fire Department developed a WTC screening program, which documented a substantial proportion of respiratory symptoms among emergency workers.
The Environmental Protection Agency reported enormous density figures for airborne particles in the hours after the initial disaster. Lesser amounts of pollutants continued to rise from the site for weeks to follow. Exposures from smoldering fires continued until December 2001. The EPA determined that WTC dust “contained pulverized (alkaline) cement, glass fibers, asbestos, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polychlorinated furans and dioxins.”
Criminal Asbestos Removal
Many of the people who are now suffering from asbestos-caused mesothelioma came into contact with the potentially lethal substance while removing it from buildings or industrial sites. Over the years, the EPA and other agencies have developed a protocol for asbestos removal that recognizes the danger from exposure to asbestos for workers who are charged with cleaning buildings contaminated with it.
Those safety guidelines, developed to avoid further asbestos-related disease, are also built into state and local laws. Recently a New Jersey school maintenance superintendent was convicted of a felony and a misdemeanor for providing false information to a federal agent and preparing a false report involving asbestos in district buildings.
World Trade Center Diseases
There is overwhelming evidence that people who were among the emergency response crews to the 9/11 disaster, and people who live and work in the neighborhood of the World Trade Center site have suffered enormously high rates of respiratory difficulties. The near-term symptoms of these diseases include coughing, wheezing, reduced lung capacity and other pulmonary abnormalities.
Approximately 40,000 people were either first responders to the disaster or were involved in the subsequent search for survivors and remains, and the site cleanup that followed. Virtually all of them were exposed to caustic dust and toxic pollutants in the process. There is concern in the medical community that the continuing symptoms of lung-related disease or injury could lead to development of malignancies such as mesothelioma, the lethal lung cancer directly connected to asbestos exposure.
American Asbestos and Canadian Mesothelioma
The link between asbestos and the lethal cancer mesothelioma has long been established and in the United States, the firms who manufactured and used asbestos in their products have in many cases settled thousands of asbestos related lawsuits and/or established a fund to provide compensation to victims.
Those bankruptcies have created a barrier for at least one Canadian who feels she has a valid mesothelioma lawsuit that she cannot pursue. The plaintiff, Raven Thundersky, is blocked from suing the U.S. manufacturer according to Canadian law because that firm filed for bankruptcy. According to Canadian law, that protects the American manufacturer of the insulation, W.R. Grace. While W.R. Grace did file bankruptcy because of its asbestos liability, it has emerged and is once again in operation.
