Articles Posted in Asbestos Exposure

Mesothelioma is a worldwide problem as asbestos was widely used in building material both in the United States and throughout Europe for decades until the risks associated with exposure became known. Recently, the death of a school teacher in the United Kingdom brought the issue of asbestos-exposure in schools back into the headlines. The teacher, a 63-year-old from South Hampton, was believed to be the first case of mesothelioma in the local area. However, there is concern that many schools both in the UK and in the United States are older buildings were children, teachers and administrators could all be exposed to asbestos fibers.

Our mesothelioma plaintiff lawyers know that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has passed strict requirements to prevent exposure to asbestos among school children. Schools are required to comply with the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and all public and private schools, including charters and religious schools, have to inspect their schools regularly for materials with asbestos and take action to reduce asbestos hazards. Unfortunately, the average age of schools in the U.S. is around 42 years old and about half of all schools in the country were built between 1950 and 1969, which were peak years for the use of asbestos. Even with federal regulations, schools may still have unresolved asbestos issues and kids, teachers and administrators could be in danger of exposure.
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In the United States every year, an estimated 2,500 people die because they were exposed to asbestos at some point in their life. Many of these victims die from mesothelioma, lung cancer or other illnesses that are caused by asbestos fibers that become lodged in their lungs.

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers know that the United States government has imposed very strict limitations on the use of asbestos since the dangers of this silicate product were first identified. However, the U.S. remains one of the few industrialized countries throughout the world that has not instituted a comprehensive asbestos ban. In other locations, such as in Spain, a complete ban on asbestos means that there is a projected end-date for mesothelioma deaths.
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Asbestos exposure may seem like a relic of the past since the dangers of asbestos have been known for decades and asbestos is now tightly controlled and no longer used in new buildings or other common products. Unfortunately, mesothelioma lawyers in Boston know that people continue to be exposed to asbestos far too frequently. Not only that, but new cases of mesothelioma and asbestosis are diagnosed every day as people who were exposed decades ago finally become ill as a result of the damage the asbestos fibers have done to their bodies over decades.

As a new National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study reveals that Americans are still losing hundreds of thousands of years of productive life because of asbestos, it is more important than ever before for employers and employees to be aware that there are still significant risks that workers will be exposed to and injured by asbestos.
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Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers know that many victims who developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos fibers were exposed on the job. However, there were also a lot of products that were widely sold for decades that contained asbestos. One such product was a patented “Micronite” filter found in Kent cigarettes.

Lorillard Tobacco introduced Kent cigarettes with the Micronite filter in 1952, with the filter containing a form as asbestos that the Sacramento Bee describes as “particularly virulent.” The product with the asbestos-filter remained on the market until it was changed in 1956. Decades later, Lorilland Tobacco faced numerous lawsuits because of the filter as did the company, Hollingsworth & Vose, that supplied the filter material containing the asbestos.
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Firefighters are exposed not just to smoke, but also to chemicals and old building materials when they save people’s lives while fighting fires. Unfortunately, our Boston mesothelioma lawyers know that many of the buildings where firefighters do their work have asbestos materials within them. This puts firefighters at risk of developing asbestos-related illnesses including mesothelioma.

A new report from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) underscores just how serious the increased risk of mesothelioma is for firefighters. As the CDC reports, firefighters as a population had two times greater the rate of mesothelioma than the population as a whole. The new NIOSH study was the first to identify an increased risk of mesothelioma among firefighters and it is cause for major concern as mesothelioma can be difficult to treat and has a high fatality rate.
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It has been over a decade has passed since the tragedy of September 11, 2001, but for many victims and their families, the most severe consequences are only recently setting in. In addition to the thousands who were lost in this national travesty, over 1,100 people have been diagnosed with cancer, including mesothelioma, caused by exposure to toxins at the time of the collapse and during clean up. In addition to public workers, including police and firemen, many civilians who were breathing in soot, ashes and debris were exposed to the asbestos exploding from the fallen Twin Towers.

In September 2012, federal authorities added 58 types of cancer to the list of illnesses covered by those who were exposed to World Trade Center toxins. This list includes mesothelioma caused by asbestos exposure. Our Massachusetts mesothelioma attorneys are dedicated to protecting the rights of victims and their families and in recovering compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering and other losses resulting from the deadly exposure.

Recent publications indicate that after years of resistance 9/11 cancer victims are finally afforded relief. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,140 victims have been diagnosed with cancers related to toxic exposures after September 11th. In addition to mesothelioma, victims of 9/11 have also been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and myeloma, a blood cancer that multiples the body’s plasma cells to deadly levels. While many of these victims are being offered medical insurance under the World Trade Health Program, the cancer treatments are often too late.
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Workers who expose unsafe conditions, risks, illegal activity and other misconduct are known as “whistleblowers.” Recently, a nurse was reprimanded for reporting on Facebook and to media sources that he was concerned about safety standards as the hospital where he worked. Specifically, the nurse voiced concerns about asbestos, the dangerous substance linked to the cancer, mesothelioma.

Many forms of asbestos have been banned, but it is not uncommon to identify asbestos in some industrial and other workplaces. Victims who are exposed to asbestos could contract the deadly cancer, mesothelioma in years or decades after the exposure. Our Massachusetts mesothelioma attorneys are dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of asbestos and protecting the victims who are impacted by cancer. We will aggressively investigate any suspected exposure and protect victims against all liable entities, including employers.

According to reports, the nurse warned that the wards at his hospital were unsafe. He also mentioned on Facebook to friends that the hospital had asbestos and that the hospital did not have enough money to pay nurses wages. He threatened to go public with the allegation of asbestos. These Facebook posts came 2 years after he wrote another article exposing other deviations in hospital care.
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Unwitting exposure to asbestos over the last 100 years has given way to an ongoing proliferation of untimely deaths resulting from mesothelioma and asbestos, which developed as a direct result of exposure to the killer microscopic fibers.

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers know this is true for Massachusetts, throughout the country and even across the globe.

The illness are no longer mysterious and the long-running manufacture cover-ups are no longer secret. However, that companies, employers and schools, even knowing these risks, would continue to put people in harm’s way or fail to enact measures to protect them is unforgivable.
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The world could use more Charles Varnadores, whose complaints regarding workplace safety at his Tennessee lab ultimately resulted in enhanced whistleblower protection and shed light on dangerous working conditions – including those involving asbestos.

Varnadore passed away recently, at the age of 71, in his home in Knoxville. Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers understand his passing in March occurred with little fanfare, with no more than a short blurb in the local newspaper. It wasn’t until The New York Times received word of it that they ran a full-length, feature obituary, detailing his contributions to safety for all American workers.

Varnadore’s story began back in 1990. At the time, he worked as a technician at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the country’s largest energy and science laboratory, operating under the Department of Energy. The federal nuclear research center had a part in helping to develop the atomic bomb.

Varnadore became aware of numerous safety practice violations that jeopardized the well-being of workers at the facility. He had just returned to work following a colon cancer surgery, and discovered that the person who replaced him had not been cautious in handling certain lab samples. He reported this to his employers, who then moved him to a new assignment.

However, the new position involved operating a mechanical arm that handled radioactive materials. The problem was that he had been blinded in one eye as a child, so his depth perception was off. This posed a critical safety risk in his operation of machinery. He said he tried to do the work, but ultimately made a mess and put other workers in harms’ way.

Suddenly, after many years of positive reviews, his employment evaluations were all negative. He was shuffled from assignment to assignment so frequently, his co-workers began to joke about his being a technician on roller skates.

A year after his return to work, he was given a storage room to serve as an office. Inside that storage room were bags of asbestos, chemical waste and radioactive waste.

Still, he was not silenced. He took his concerns to CBS Evening News, where he went on the record to say he was deeply concerned about the heightened risk of cancer that he and his co-workers faced. At that point, he filed the first of what would be several whistleblower complaints to the Labor Department.

A whistleblower complaint is one in which an individual invokes the promise of immunity in order to come forward to report a dangerous situation.

While the company didn’t deny that Varnadore was put into an office with all of these dangerous materials, it argued that such substances weren’t present in quantities that were large enough to be dangerous to his health.

In early 1992, the agency’s wage and hour division ruled in his favor. However, the case dragged on through a series of appeals, and there were a number of high-level reversals that were ultimately upheld.

In this sense, one could say that Varnadore lost the fight. However, his former attorneys point to a number of changes that came about as a result of his efforts. Those included:

• A renewed willingness among nuclear workers to report safety concerns;
• Energy Department reforms that resulted in overall safer practices within the industry;
• Increased protections established for whistleblowers soon after his high-profile fight.

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Massachusetts law requires that if asbestos is discovered in the course of a renovation or demolition project, you must tap a contractor qualified to properly handle the deadly material.

Our Boston asbestos exposure attorneys know that these are firms you are supposed to be able to trust to safely dispose of the material in a way that is going to minimize the health risk both to the workers themselves, as well as the general public.

However, one company based in Worcester was reportedly failing in that duty. The firm was red-flagged following an inspection in which the employees were seen mishandling the removal of shingles that contained asbestos from a home in Worcestor.
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