Mesothelioma News

Does the world face a Mesothelioma spike?

WHO ( World Health Organization) stats ( 125 million people exposed yearly) were released on October 30th, 2008 according to asbestos.com, which says that 90,000 people yearly die of asbestos poisoning.

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Sewell Jones, spent his final days at the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted.

On February 2007, Sewell Jones died of mesothelioma.

His daughter Wendy Jones is looking for other workers from ” the pulp house” where Jones was exposed to asbestos.

If you worked at “the pulp house,” (Nash Mills Paper Factory of Belswain Lane in Kings Langley)please come forward and contact 0844 854 3096 or email susan.dawson@fentons.co.uk

Chile–JAMES HARDIE Industries diverts 35 per cent of its cash flow into the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund. This Chilean court judgement against them may put a strain on Hardie to meet that number.

The judgement against JAMES HARDIE is based on a business related charge of predatory pricing.

New Brunswick-Friday, March 13, 2009–Chrysler Motor Corp. and Honeywell International were blocked in their attempt to obtain lung tissue from mesothelioma victim St. John in their attempt to prove themselves innocent of causing the subject’s mesothelioma.

Superior Court Judge Philip Paley ruled in favor of the family’s moral and religious objections.

Two days before the lawsuit began, 67 year old St John died. St. John worked in a family-owned auto repair shop in the 1950s and 1960s, and as a United Airlines baggage handler.

Sinisgalli is a demolition contractor, of Sinisgalli, Inc is under investigation for alleged illegal dumping of asbestos. Allegations are that workers dumped asbestos and other demolition debris in High Acres Landfill in Perinton, New York without proper permits, which means they kept money meant to pay for dumping fees, and jeopardized the health of the general public as well as landfill workers.

As retired teachers are dying from mesothelioma, mesothelioma rates are “far higher than should be expected” among teachers according to a recent conference on occupational health. Schools built in the 1960s and 1980s are likely to contain asbestos.
Zoe Brewis, research and information officer at education union ATL Cymru is quoted as saying that “many education staff are unaware that asbestos is present in their workplace until repairs or renovations are undertaken.”

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers is pushing the agenda. We should see that teachers are made aware of this hazard, not only in Wales, but everywhere that the hazard exists. Delegates to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference are calling for “the complete removal of asbestos from all educational establishments” by 2010. Someone should consider that if the teachers are exposed, so are the children.

For more information, read:

• http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2008/03/14/asbestos-fears-as-flintshire-teacher-dies-55578-20622263/
• http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/03/27/asbestos-exposed-as-the-hidden-killer-in-welsh-schools-91466-23243923/
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7296471.stm

W.R. Grace agreed to pay $250 million, the highest sum in the history of the Superfund program, to reimburse the federal government for the costs of the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in Libby, Mont., the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. Even before the trial, it was common knowledge that WR Grace’s vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana was highly contaminated with tremolite asbestos. So the lawsuit over toxic asbestos pollution has been about liability and taking responsibility for exposing workers and residents to asbestos products for decades. Charges include conspiring to knowingly release asbestos, hiding asbestos exposure dangers from those exposed to it, subjecting miners to mesothelioma causing agents, and failing to provide protective respiratory gear.

Take a look at the press release. That’s the next post…

TEXAS– March 11, 2009 A Texas state court loophole
Policyholders facing liability on different types of asbestos claims now have to deal with the latest ruling that “asbestosis” exclusion bars coverage only for asbestosis claims and does not bar coverage for claims involving mesothelioma, lung cancer, pleural plaques or any other asbestos-related disease.”

UK – Wednesday, 11 March 2009. Plans to compensate people in Scotland for past exposure to asbestos are expected to be passed by MSPs.

The new law would overturn a House of Lords ruling which said damages could not be claimed for pleural plaques, a benign scarring of the lungs.