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According to a recent news article from Mass Live, a large energy firm in Holyoke has received $700,000 in tax incentives to move forward with a planned major expansion. Much of these funds will be used for asbestos abatement.

vermiculiteTown officials, members of a public development corporation, and company representatives met in Worcester to finalize the deal.  The company will not have to pay any property taxes for the next 10 years and that amounts to a savings or around $700,000.   There are also state tax credits included in this figure above and beyond the property tax normally payable to the county. Continue reading

A recent news feature from the Huffington Post takes a look the additional hurdles faced by military veterans who are diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma.  There is no question there are many ways soldiers die while bravely serving our country.  We have seen soldiers and sailors killed in firefights with an enemy, killed by a roadside improvised explosive device (IED), or killed in one of many kinds of accidents that happen all the time in what they refer to as the fog of war.

854357_battleship_wisconsin-218x300When a soldier or sailor manages to survive all of these dangerous scenarios and gets older, it would seem that the chance of dying a service-related death is over.  However, with the fact that asbestos was heavily used by the United States military, and the fact that it typically takes between 20 years and 50 years for a patient to be diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, this is not always the case. Continue reading

Tremelimumab is one of several drugs that are in development as a treatment for malignant mesothelioma.  As discussed in a recent article from FDA News Alert, for patients, a mesothelioma diagnosis is one of the scariest things they can hear.  It is a rare illness and there is no cure.  Essentially, when a patient learns that he or she has mesothelioma, they are generally told that there is little doctors can do and that the prognosis is normally death within a few months to a few years.

surgeonsIt should be said that this does not mean there are no treatment options for malignant mesothelioma. It is that there aren’t many effective ones. At best, doctors have been able to slightly slow the growth of these deadly and aggressive and tumors, but nobody goes into remission like they do with other types of cancer. Continue reading

According to a recent news feature from LABIOTECH, Sellas Life Sciences Group, based in Switzerland, has just received orphan drug status approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new drug known as WT1 vaccine.

stethascope1WT1 vaccine is an immunotherapeutic cancer vaccine that is being developed to prevent two different types of cancer that generally affect the lungs and surrounding tissues.  Those cancers are malignant pleural mesothelioma (caused by asbestos exposure in nearly all cases) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).  So far, there have been phase II trails with the drug on both conditions, and there have been what are known as positive top line results during this course of these phase II clinical trials. Continue reading

A recent news feature from Mass Live discusses a plan for a new Mercedes Dealership to open in Chicopee, Massachusetts.  While the opening of a car dealership would not normally be all that news worthy, this large dealership is expected to constitute a major investment in the region of around $12 million.

decrepit-window-1438561-mThis new dealership is slated to be built on the site of long vacated Plantation Inn, which was once a popular hotel.  The now vacated hotel once regularly had no trouble booking its 187 guest rooms and sits on a considerable amount of land.  Part of the reason for the expensive plan to build the new dealership is because the hotel was built at time when asbestos was used heavily during the construction process. Continue reading

According to recent news feature from CBS Boston, a busted water pipe at Consentino Middle School in Haverhill, Massachusetts has caused major damage.  Students were not present due to a winter vacation, which is becoming more common as New England schools save on heating costs.

rustypipes-300x225School officials say the pipe burst unexpectedly and no less than tens of thousands of gallons of water came rushing out into the school’s library. The reason the pipe burst was because a heating coil installed to prevent the pipes from freezing malfunctioned.  It froze and stopped working, and the water inside the pipe froze.  When the frozen water expanded it caused the pipe to crack.  At this point, the water in the pipe thawed from the heat in the library, and the water came rushing out. Continue reading

According to a news article from CBS Boston, a plumber in Worcester has been convicted on child endangerment charges.  The facts as alleged by prosecutors were that defendant hired a teenage worker to remove asbestos insulation.  This teenage worker was not trained in asbestos removal or properly certified and was not provided with any protective clothing or a respirator/ventilator as required by Massachusetts law.

rustypipes-300x225The 43-year-old plumber allegedly violated numerous regulations (worker safety and environmental) during the course of this illegal asbestos abatement job.  He was hired to replace two very old boilers that were in the basement of the Worcester home.  These boilers were covered with asbestos insulation, which was very common in boilers manufactured during the time period in which they were produced and installed in the home. Continue reading

Anyone who has ever read the work of Mark Twain or watched any number of classic movies is aware that steamboats with giant paddle wheels once traveled up and down the Mississippi River on a regular basis.  There were grand boats with multiple decks and featured casinos, shows and balconies overlooking the water.

paddle-steamer-1421737-300x202While these large paddle wheelers have not been used for nearly a century for the purpose of transportation, they have served as popular tourist attractions. However, the boats that are left are reproductions of the original giant paddle wheelers.  In fact the Mississippi Queen currently operating on the river is a modern replacement of another replica constructed in 1976.  Continue reading

There has been a lot of talk recently about a bill known as the Further Asbestos Claims Transparency Act or “FACT.” While the GOP sponsors of the FACT bill argue that it will help get rid of false claims by veterans who say they were exposed to asbestos while in service to our nation, Democrats who are opposed to this proposed piece of asbestos legislation say it is essentially an unfair giveaway to the large corporations who are trying to avoid having to pay damages related to asbestos exposure.

old-worn-out-boots-1013579-m-300x261In addition to Senator Dick Durbin and other Democrats in Congress, nearly 20 different veterans’ rights groups are voicing their collective opposition to the FACT bill.  According to a recent news feature from Stars and Stripes, this includes organizations such as AMVETS, the Military Officers Association of America, the Vietnam Veterans of America, and various other veterans groups. Continue reading

According to a recent news feature from the Journal Inquirer, a New England man who worked for Sikorsky is now the leading plaintiff in a major mesothelioma class action lawsuit.   Sikorsky is a major manufacturer of civilian and military helicopters, including the famous green and white one’s used to transport the president and, when he is on board, use the call sign Marine One. While many people think there is only one, there are actually over 35 of them assigned the presidential transport unit of the United States Marine Corps.

helicopter-1534226-300x225This employee was working for the helicopter manufacturer as part of a major project at the company’s facility in Stratford, Connecticut in 2010, when he claims he was exposed to deadly asbestos fibers. As part of his complaint, he alleges that he and 40 other workers were working on converting an old boiler house that was built in the 1930s into an industrial plant capable of generating both heat and electricity.  This type of plant is known in the industry as a cogeneration facility. Continue reading

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