When someone is exposed to asbestos and inhales fibers, it normally takes between 20 and 50 years for the fibers to lead to malignant mesothelioma. Patients typically do not realize they are sick until they develop symptoms. Symptoms can include abdominal pain, shortness of breath, and chest pain. Once a…
With the unscheduled closing of Boston’s Long Island Homeless Shelter, city officials have been scrambling find a new location to house hundreds of displaced homeless residents and many drug rehabilitation patients. The shelter was closed when the bridge connecting Long Island to Quincy became so deteriorated city engineers urged it…
If you search the internet for “urban explorers” you will see websites dedicated to those who spend their spare time sneaking into abandoned buildings in cities across the United States taking photographs of what sometimes appears to be a window into the past. One of the locations these urban explorers…
Residents of Martha’s Vineyard, a town on the Cape south of Boston, have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the library budgeted to cost a quarter of a million dollars at the time bids were awarded. The problem now facing contractors is it is now estimated to cost nearly half…
There is little question asbestos causes most if not all cases of malignant mesothelioma. Medical researchers, including epidemiologists, have concluded mesothelioma is extremely rare in patients who have not been exposed to asbestos at some point in their lives. However, unlike many other illnesses caused by toxic substances, malignant mesothelioma…
According to a recent news feature from Western News, H.M. Bowker has written a novel loosely based on her life in Libby, Montana. She has lost her father, two brothers, a sister and sister’s husband all to asbestos-related illness. Much of this was incorporated into her novel. Libby, Montana is…
Asbestos is a naturally-occurring substance, which was heavily used during the industrial revolution in the United States and Europe. Its use was so prevalent due to its abundance, low cost and effectiveness at resisting heat, fire, caustic chemicals and electricity. The nearly total ban on asbestos products in the developed…
According to a recent news article from Houston Chronicle, a world-renowned surgeon from Harvard University is leaving Massachusetts to help start a new lung institute in Texas. This surgeon will be heading a team of over 80 doctors put together to treat serious lung conditions including asthma and cancer. He…
Not only is mesothelioma extremely deadly, there is often very little doctors can to do help a patient diagnosed with this form of cancer. In fact, some of the most commonly used forms of surgical intervention can actually create more tumors than were originally present. This phenomenon is known in…
While the general public did not become aware of the dangers of asbestos until the 1970s at the earliest, the asbestos industry was well aware of the risks associated with their products prior to that. Through the discovery process in civil mesothelioma lawsuits, we know not only was the asbestos…