Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog

September 7, 2016

UMass Boston Construction Project Delayed by Asbestos Discovery

According to a recent news feature from the Dorchester Reporter, a major construction project at University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston) will not likely be ready when school starts next month. The reason for this is because asbestos discoveries have seriously delayed the process.

The project involving moving all utility infrastructure located on the Columbia Point section of the UMass Boston campus to another location as part of an effort to improve the campus. While performing scheduled demolition work last December, inspectors located what they suspected to be asbestos. After their discovery, the called in a certified asbestos abatement firm to collect soil samples and send them to a hazardous materials testing laboratory to confirm the presence of the deadly asbestos fibers. Continue reading

September 5, 2016

United States v. O’Malley: Criminal Prosecutions for Asbestos Violations

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While those in the asbestos industry went to great lengths to prevent the general public from learning about the dangers of asbestos and that the deadly fibers could cause malignant mesothelioma, it is now a well-known fact. It is for this reason that many companies over the years have been sued in connection with the tens of thousands of deaths connected with the toxic material.

Due to the fact that the deadly asbestos fibers often take between 20 and 50 years to metastasize into the cancer to a point where people know they are sick, there are still thousands of new cases being diagnosed each year in the United States alone. Continue reading

September 3, 2016

Steel Mill Fined $170,000 over Workers Being Exposed to Asbestos

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news feature from WTAE, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has levied a fine against a major American steel producer after an investigation confirmed that the company had allegedly exposed its workers to deadly asbestos fibers.

When asbestos dust is inhaled, the fibers can become trapped in a layer of tissue known as the mesothelium. The mesothelium is made up of a special type of cells that form the layer which lines most internal organs in the body. Once the fibers become trapped in the mesothelium, they can metastasize into a deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma. Continue reading

August 31, 2016

A Closer Look at Malignant Mesothelioma

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Malignant mesothelioma is considered a rare disease. Compared to the number of people that get diagnosed with diabetes, for example, it is a very rare disease. However, to the roughly 3,000 people who are diagnosed in the United States with malignant mesothelioma and told they only have a short time to live, the fact that it is rare is of little comfort. In fact, the opposite is generally true. With malignant mesothelioma being so rare, it is considered an orphan disease, which essentially means there is little profit in working towards a cure. If more people got malignant mesothelioma each year, and the drug companies smelled profit, we might be a lot closer to a real cure.

However, before we can discuss a cure, it is important to understand what malignant mesothelioma actually is. A recent news feature from Healio takes a look at this issue. As discussed in this article, malignant mesothelioma first occurs in a layer of cells known as the mesothelium. This layer of cells is present in most internal organs of the human body. We typically see the cancer occurring in the pericardial mesothelium, which is in the chest, the peritoneal mesothelium, which is in the stomach, and pleural mesothelium, which is in the lungs. However, we can also find malignant mesothelioma in the mesotheliomas of the tunica vaginalis, which form the beginning of the testicular lining. However, it should be noted that once mesothelioma forms in one of these areas, it can quickly spread to the rest of the body. Continue reading

August 27, 2016

U.S. Capitol Building Partially Evacuated Due to Asbestos

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

We have recently been hearing about asbestos and mesothelioma a lot lately in terms of how President Barack Obama and some members of Congress are using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finally ban the sale, manufacture, and importation of asbestos. Now, the latest asbestos trouble may be hitting close to home for our federal lawmakers.

While many people believe asbestos was banned in the U.S. in the late 1970s, that is not exactly accurate. There was a ban on the use of all asbestos products to be enforced by the EPA, but it was not done with the full assistance of Congress. There was a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of this asbestos ban, and the Supreme Court ultimately overturned the asbestos ban on grounds that it was unconstitutional. This is not to say that Congress could not create such a ban, but the manner in which it was done back then was not constitutional.

Now, officials are trying to do something to close this regulatory loophole.

August 25, 2016

Talcum Powder Linked to Cancer

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In recent years, we have been seeing more and more cases of malignant mesothelioma where the victim did not necessarily have direct contact with traditional sources of asbestos but did have contact with talcum powder. It is believed the talcum powder contained asbestos, and this is due to a variety of sources.

As discussed in a recent news feature from the Montgomery Advertiser, natural talcum powder has been shown to contain asbestos in some cases. Talc is a mineral that is made up of magnesium, silicon, hydrogen, and oxygen. While many people think asbestos is man-made, it is also a mineral and is also made up largely of silica. It also formed in the Earth in the same conditions and locations as talc and vermiculite. Vermiculite has also been shown to contain detectable and dangerous levels of asbestos. Continue reading

August 21, 2016

Appeals Court Addresses Duty to Warn of Asbestos Exposure

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news article from the National Law Review, the court of appeals in New York has ruled on a defendant’s duty to warn a potential plaintiff of the dangers of asbestos exposure. Specially, the question is whether the manufacturer of a non-asbestos product has a duty to warn others of the dangers of asbestos exposure because their product contains a third-party’s part, and that part contains asbestos.

While this seems rather complex, it makes more sense when we take a look at some of the facts of the case. In that case, plaintiff worked on boilers as a technician for the United States Navy for all of the 1960s and most of the 1970s. In his complaint, plaintiff alleged that he was exposed to deadly asbestos fibers as result of working around insulation on high heat steam valves on the boilers on which he worked. He was suing, among others, the company that manufactured these valves. Continue reading

August 18, 2016

A Look at an Asbestos EPA Superfund

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Certain parts of the country have been ravaged by years of unregulated industry, and the asbestos industry was responsible for much of this environmental destruction. To help clean up these toxic waste zones, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the power to use money provided by Congress to create what are known as EPA superfunds.

One such fund is the Suburbs of Philadelphia as discussed in a recent news feature from E&E Publishing. Most people are aware the United States was for many years the world’s largest producer of asbestos and asbestos products.

For many years, Philadelphia housed one of the world’s largest asbestos factories. The factory, which started as a boiler plant (boilers used asbestos insulation for many years), still has hundred foot mountains of asbestos and manufacturing waste that surround the area and look like salt and gravel piles we typically see on the side of a highway covered with large domes. Continue reading

August 15, 2016

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Stidham: Mesothelioma Litigation

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Stidham involved plaintiffs who were diagnosed with lung cancer that attempted to join a single lawsuit against the tobacco companies and the producers of asbestos and asbestos products. These plaintiffs asserted that their cancers were the result of both exposures to deadly asbestos fibers as well from years of tobacco smoking.

This is not the first time that plaintiffs sued both the cigarette manufacturers and the asbestos companies together, but in this case, there were procedural challenges. In this jurisdiction, asbestos cases are tried on a special asbestos docket. Continue reading

August 13, 2016

One Asbestos Awareness Advocate Tells Her Story

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

As you may have heard, last month President Barack Obama signed a bill into law that allows the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to more easily ban toxic substances, including deadly asbestos fibers. This bill was one of the few bills in recent history that received bipartisan support.

While many people think asbestos was banned in the late 1970s, what they may not realize is that the EPA’s ban was overturned a few years later by the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds that this type of ban could not be accomplished exclusively by an executive agency without the support of Congress. This is not to say that it was unconstitutional to ban asbestos, but rather the way in which it was done was the problem. Continue reading