Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog

September 9, 2011

Firefighters, Volunteers After 9/11 Could Have Been Exposed to Asbestos

A recent study out of Europe suggests New York firefighters will getting cancer after spending months responding to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero, Bloomberg reports.

Firefighters, police officers and volunteers from throughout Massachusetts and New England descended on New York City in an effort to help cleanup and body recovery efforts. But what many will remember is that a thick haze and cloud of dust covered much of Manhattan after the attacks. What the study has found is that people in that area may have been at risk for exposure to asbestos.

As Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers well know, exposure to asbestos causes the fatal and incurable cancer mesothelioma. And the majority of these cases stem from older workers who spent time in old factories or working on parts manufactured with asbestos, such as brake pads, in boiler rooms or in construction of older buildings that used asbestos as insulation.

According to the UK-based study, firefighters who responded to the Ground Zero aftermath were 19 percent more likely to get cancer than those who didn’t spend time there. The study looked at 9,800 firefighters over a 7-year period following the attacks. In that time, 27 firefighters died of cancer. The study didn’t include firefighters over 60 or those who had a previous cancer diagnosis.

According to Bloomberg, more than 50,000 people were exposed to chemicals and toxins in the air while trying to rescue survivors, recover bodies and clean up the area following the attacks. Many of these people came from New England and other parts of the country.

The article goes on to look at the high costs of dealing with medical bills that can arise from those diagnosed with cancer. In January, President Barack Obama signed legislation to help rescuers and those suffering from ailments connected to the wreckage in New York City. yet the article states there isn’t currently any compensation for firefighters who got cancer because of exposure to the toxins.

In December, lawmakers blocked legislation that would have allowed those who worked there to collect up to $6.2 billion as far out as 2031. The bill was amended to $4.3 billion and closes in 2016.

Yet this poses a problem for those diagnosed with mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is a slow-developing cancer that can take as long as 30 to 40 years before diagnosis. It can that long before the symptoms — coughing, chest pain and fluid build-up — are noticed and a diagnosis is made. And once diagnosed, the average person only lives 12 months.

It’s critical that those who are exposed to asbestos and are diagnosed with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related illnesses take action and get help for themselves and their families.
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September 6, 2011

Final Asbestos Exposure Blog Entry From Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

For several months, Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have documented the more than two dozen asbestos processing plants that manufactured and distributed products that routinely used asbestos-laced vermiculite.

Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral that was used for insulation and other products for decades in the United States.

But what companies and employers realized after some time is that exposure to asbestos in Boston and throughout the country can lead to serious and fatal illnesses. Sadly, many of these companies and even the U.S. military realized this was the case and continued using asbestos in their products, even after knowing the ill-effects.

And that put workers in danger. And many of these workers today are suffering from illnesses, such as mesothelioma, because of their employers’ mistakes. This requires the aid of an experienced Boston Mesothelioma Lawyer, who can fight for help in paying for medical bills and the suffering that has taken place because of at-risk work conditions.

As Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have documented the processing plants, they have also hit on the source of the vermiculite — Libby, Montana. In this Northwestern town, nearly all the population had a connection to the mine. If was the lifeblood of the town.

According to books and articles written on the town, a fine dusting covered the town as it mined and produced about 70 to 80 percent of the country’s vermiculite in the time it operated from 1919 to 1990. People had it on their skin, in their cars and in their homes. They would breathe it in on a regular basis, not knowing the potential dangers.

The asbestos-tainted vermiculite was shipped to plants from Massachusetts to Tampa to Los Angeles and was used to make many commonly used products, such as brake pads, piping, floor and ceiling tiles and insulation for houses and offices.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cited, millions of tons of the product were sent across the country on rail cars and sent to stores and into Americans’ homes. While the United States has never officially banned asbestos, for decades officials have known how dangerous this product is.

Few companies currently use asbestos in the United States, but poor third-world countries have continued using it. Canada and Russia export hundreds of thousands of tons of the mineral to developing countries to this day.

And in Libby, the country’s main source of vermiculite for years, hundreds of people have died and thousands have fallen ill in recent years due to exposure. In recent years, the federal government has allocated more than $100 million to helping pay for medical bills and cleanup efforts, even though the mine has been closed for 20 years. That was even after the federal government unsuccessfully prosecuted the head officials of the company that ran the mine.

Libby is in tough shape and there are many people throughout New England and other parts of the country who are in similar positions. Because mesothelioma can take years and sometimes decades to be diagnosed, many people today are feeling the effects of asbestos exposure that happened 30 and 40 years ago. The U.S. Navy was a large user of asbestos on ships and shipyards because it is fire-resistant. Many veterans are suffering today for acts in the past.

If you may have been at risk to exposure, it is important you get medically checked out and consult with a Boston Mesothelioma Lawyer today.
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September 5, 2011

North Reading Prepares to Remove Asbestos From Schools

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

As the new school year is upon us, officials are planning out syllabi, scheduling events and trying to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

But what many school systems are considering, including the one in North Reading, is removal of asbestos from its facilities in order to protect children from being exposed and opening them up to the possibility of getting mesothelioma in New England.

In 2011, it’s sad that there are still many schools that have buildings that contain asbestos. It’s been public knowledge for decades that long-term or even some exposure to asbestos can lead to a fatal diagnosis of mesothelioma or other illnesses. As Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers reported in July, one southern Massachusetts school’s buckling gymnasium floor is finally being replaced, at a cost of about $280,000. It’s a lot of money, but well worth the price of ensuring our children are kept safe from harmful asbestos fibers.

In North Reading, which is about 20 miles north of Boston, school officials must fork out about $275,000 to remove asbestos from the middle and high schools, the North Reading Patch reports. The move is part of a larger plan to replace the schools’ septic system for $2.5 million.

This is just part of a recent plan by school officials to remove asbestos from the schools over time. A boiler will be replaced at one of the district’s schools in order to remove asbestos. Federal environment specialists will be called on to test air before, during and after the process is complete.

Officials told the news media that an old boiler, piping and other materials will be removed from the building from an exterior door and that a wall made from cinder blocks encloses the boiler in order to seal it off from students or faculty, who won’t face exposure to harmful asbestos fibers.

What makes asbestos so dangerous is people typically don’t know they’ve been exposed. Older buildings used asbestos for years as insulation because it is so good at fighting off fire and it’s usefulness not only on the inside of a building’s walls, but also in tile, piping and other materials that people use every day.

Microscopic asbestos fibers can be inhaled or otherwise ingested and they travel through the blood system and land on major organs, such as the heart and lungs as well the lining of the stomach. There, they can stay for years and sometimes decades before showing up in common symptoms for mesothelioma, such as coughing, chest pain and built-up fluid. By then, it’s likely the patient will only live 12 months.

That’s why eliminating asbestos from buildings quickly is important. People can unknowingly be exposed and then have their lives ruined as they get older because of companies that failed to take the steps to properly keep them safe.
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August 30, 2011

Leominster Developer Fined $100,000 For Not Removing Asbestos

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that a developer has been ordered by state officials to pay $100,000 to make up for breaking asbestos removal laws when renovating and converting a plastics company site to retail and commercial space.

At the turn of the 20th Century and the following decades, many builders used asbestos because it was fire-resistant and affordable in the building of factories, buildings and houses throughout New England. So, asbestos has been sitting in many older buildings for years and people have been exposed to asbestos in Boston and other towns throughout New England likely without knowing it.

And while asbestos is no longer being regularly used in buildings and products in the United States, it was never officially banned. Yet, at least some state officials have taken steps to make sure asbestos is removed from buildings that are redeveloped into shopping plazas or office complexes. These historic buildings that make New England beautiful shouldn’t be torn down because of asbestos, but they should be made safe for future generations.

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have seen the awful effects of asbestos exposure and how it can shorten a person’s life through no fault of their own.

According to the newspaper account, the project in Leominster, north of Worcester, was shut down in 2009 after Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection investigators found that required precautions weren’t taken to prevent the release of asbestos. According to the newspaper, workers removed asbestos insulation from heating pipes, dislodged and removed pipes covered with asbestos and got rid of other material containing asbestos — all illegally.

The state alleges in a lawsuit it filed against the developer that he continued renovating the old building even though the project was stopped by state officials. He allegedly pressed on with the work even though he needed emergency containment measures to be put into place, ordered by a state-licensed asbestos contractor.

The contractor later decontaminated the site and disposed of the asbestos waste from two buildings on site. The $100,000 fine was a settlement. A lawyer for the developer blamed the issue on a subcontractor. The building was formerly used to manufacture pink flamingo lawn ornaments and was one of Worcester’s first plastics companies. It went bankrupt and closed in 2006.

The average citizen must be aware of their surroundings. A person wouldn’t stand behind a vehicle spewing exhaust for fear that it could be harmful to them in the future. The same should go for whether they choose to live in an old apartment building or shop in a historical building that has since been converted to retail space.

While these buildings can look nice compared to quickly made and sometimes cookie-cutter looking modern buildings, they most likely were built with asbestos-laden products, including insulation, flooring, piping, boiler room equipment and other things. The primary risk comes when employees are asked to rehab such building and bring them up to date for modern uses. Without the proper precautions, asbestos exposure can have deadly results.
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August 25, 2011

Mesothelioma in Boston, DNA May Be Linked, Researchers Say

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Philadelphia researchers have found a link between mesothelioma and genetics, a study published online recently suggest, Philly.com reports.

The study’s researchers hope that as more time and effort is put into studying mesothelioma that drugs can be developed that can lead to a cure for this currently incurable rare form of cancer. All the leading studies have shown that exposure to asbestos in New England and throughout the country is the main link to mesothelioma.

And while the study suggests that genetics may be a factor, it doesn’t suggest that asbestos exposure isn’t at play. If anything, it’s possible that some people may be predisposed to being more prone to getting mesothelioma, but it can’t be said at this point that genetics alone is the cause. Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have seen long-time factory workers contract this cancer, as well as military veterans and those who worked with commonly used products like brake pads, insulation and floor and ceiling tiles.

The symptoms — heavy coughing, fluid and chest pain — seem just like old-age signs in some cases and may delay diagnosis.

Researchers at the Fox Chase Center Center in Philadelphia studied two extended families where they found mesothelioma “common.” After studying the families, 11 with the lung disease had mutations in a gene called BAP1 that is supposed to help suppress tumors.

Researchers hope their studying will lead to the development of new drugs and at least help increase the survival rate of those diagnosed. Patients with mesothelioma live for about 12 months after diagnosis. But those who are able to catch the cancer early before a tumor has spread to other parts of the body can live for up to five years.

Among the family members studied, several also had uveal melanoma, an eye tumor and one of them also had mesothelioma. After studying about two dozen other mesothelioma patients who had no familial link to the cancer, two others had the rare eye cancer as well. Members of the two families also had other forms of cancer, such as in the kidneys and breasts.

I think everyone would like to see more help for those who suffer from mesothelioma in New England and throughout the nation. It’s obvious that asbestos is dangerous and it’s also obvious that companies knew of its effects on workers and still continued to use it to insulate and to make products that every American would use.

Sadly, that’s why many Americans today are suffering the health consequences. It was the greed and profit-seeking nature of companies decades ago that continued to use asbestos despite knowing the risks. And now it’s their dedicated workers who are paying with their lives.

It’s certainly possible that some people are more apt to cancer, as some families have few people die of cancer, whereas in other families, it strikes everyone in one form or another. But the widely believed and trusted research shows that asbestos exposure is the trigger and cause of mesothelioma.
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August 20, 2011

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers’ Asbestos Exposure Blog Series Hits West Coast

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

For several months now, Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have been chronicling the more than two dozen sites where people may have been exposed to harmful asbestos fibers from processing plants.

As the series moves farther from the possible asbestos exposure in New England to sites out west, this blog will look at people who may have gotten mesothelioma in Portland, Oregon, Spokane, Washington and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Mesothelioma is a rare and incurable form of cancer. After exposure to asbestos, which has never been banned in the United States yet has been tied to mesothelioma and other illnesses, the microscopic fibers travel through a person’s body before landing on the lining of major organs, such as the heart, lungs and liver. There, they can stay for decades, developing and forming tumors. Some people can be exposed 30 to 40 years before diagnosis. And once diagnosed, the patient typically lives 12 months or less.

Asbestos exposure may have come at an early age, perhaps when serving in the U.S. military or while using commonly purchased consumer products, such as brake pads, floor and ceiling tiles, insulation or boiler room equipment, for instance. Or the exposure could have come by working years in an old factory or living in an older apartment complex.

Asbestos was used because of its fire-retardant qualities. But as more and more people became sick, companies were resistant to make changes and clean up their buildings. Many corporations knew the harmful effects of asbestos, yet continued to use it. And now, decades later, people are dying from it.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention analyzed 28 sites across the country where vermiculite, a natural mineral, was either mined or shipped to for processing. Seventy percent of the country’s vermiculite came from Libby, Montana and much of that vermiculite was tainted with asbestos.

The CDC analysis of those sites looked at whether those areas may have caused people to get sick and whether there is still dangerous asbestos in the soil some 15 years after mining stopped in 1990.

Mesothelioma Portland: This city had two processing plants, one run by Vermiculite-Northwest, Inc.and the other run by Supreme Perlite Company.

The Supreme Perlite Company plant operated from 1968 through 1974 and processed more than 600 tons of vermiculite. The Vermiculite-Northwest plant was in business from the 1950s through 1993. In that time, workers processed more than 193,000 tons of vermiculite. Both workers and those who lived near the plants may have been exposed to this harmful mineral.

Mesothelioma in Spokane: Washington’s only vermiculite processing plant, this facility was owned and operated by Vermiculite-Northwest and W.R. Grace. This plant processed more than 100,000 tons of asbestos.

Mesothelioma in Honolulu: This facility operated from 1954 to 1983 and was run by Vermiculite of Hawaii. Records show the plant received more than 100,000 tons of vermiculite for processing during that time.
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August 18, 2011

Asbestos Exposure Sites Revealed by Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention has highlighted more than two dozen factories throughout the country that processed vermiculite that was tainted with asbestos.

The plants ceased in 1990 or earlier after it was discovered that the vermiculite, a natural mineral, was contaminated with asbestos, which can lead to life-threatening illnesses, including mesothelioma in Boston and throughout New England. Boston Mesothelioma Attorneys know that many people were unknowingly exposed to asbestos either through work at factories or older buildings. And it’s that exposure that can lead to a diagnosis of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses.

Entire towns could have been exposed to asbestos as the tainted vermiculite was shipped from 1920 to 1990 throughout the country. Asbestos was a popular insulator because of its fire-resistant abilities and so it was used in the building of houses as well as in the manufacturing of other products, such as brake pads, cement, generators and all other sorts of commonly purchased goods.

Exposure to asbestos can go largely unnoticed for years and sometimes decades. Research has shown that these microscopic flakes can be inhaled and travel through the blood stream until they rest on major organs, including the lungs, heart or liver. They can stay for up to 30 or 40 years undetected before a person has the symptoms common of mesothelioma, such as coughing, fluid build up and chest pain. Once a person is diagnosed with mesothelioma, they have, on average, a year to live.

There is no cure to this form of cancer and the effects can be devastating to a family. A life can be cut short because a former employer denied to improve upon the safety of their workers by allowing a building to be tainted with asbestos, despite knowing the problems of the material.

In our latest blog in a series about sites detailed by the CDC, Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers hit the west coast, with three plants that processed tainted vermiculite in California.

Mesothelioma in Santa Ana: This W.R. Grace & Company plant in Southern California processed vermiculite from a mine in Libby from 1972 to 1993.
During that time, workers at the plant processed more than 400,000 tons of vermiculite and in 1990, when the plant was still operating, about 35,000 people lived within a mile of the plant.

Asbestos in Los Angeles: This plant processed vermiculite from 1950 to 1977, processing more than 120,000 tons of the natural mineral. It’s unclear for what purpose the vermiculite was processed at this plant.

Mesothelioma Diagnosis in Newark: This W.R. Grace plant operated from 1966 to 1993 and workers, those who lived with them or lived near the plant may have been exposed to asbestos.

In the 27 years the plant operated, it processed about 300,000 tons of vermiculite from the mine in Libby. This plant is located about 30 miles south of San Francisco in a mixed commercial, industrial and residential use area.
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August 17, 2011

Forensic Sculptor Dies of Pleural Mesothelioma at 70

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A 70-year-old forensic sculptor, a rare field that aids police in investigating murder victims, died recently in Philadelphia of pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of incurable cancer.

Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have seen the devastation of family members who have lost a loved one to mesothelioma in New England, as it is a rapid-moving form of cancer once detected that has no known cure.

Frank Bender made his living sculpting the faces of crime victims through the studying of skulls. He was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a form of the cancer that attacks the outer lining of the lungs.

The obituary goes on to lay out the man’s extraordinary career, which started with his photography skills and morphed into a life of re-creating the faces of murdered or missing victims in cases where DNA, fingerprints and dental records did little good. His goals was to help law enforcement try to identify someone. His work was used by local law enforcement agencies, the FBI and was featured on America’s Most Wanted.

After leaving the U.S. Navy, he took painting classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Because there were no anatomy classes offered at night, he ventured to the morgue and saw the body of a woman, who was shot in the head and unrecognizable. He told the medical examiner he knew what she looked like and proceeding to create a bust of a woman later identified as Anna Duval, a Phoenix woman who traveled east to recoup money; her killer was fingered as a mob hit man.

But, sadly, the man’s life was cut short because of mesothelioma and likely exposure to asbestos. The obituary notes he served in the U.S. Navy which is significant because this branch of the armed forces was a major consumer of asbestos — it was used as insulation on warships as well as in shipyards throughout the United States.

Much of the country’s vermiculite, a natural mineral, was contaminated with asbestos and came from a mine in Libby, Montana. As the Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog has documented for months, this asbestos was useful as an insulator and was used in manufacturing of floor and ceiling tiles, peat moss and other products for years. Asbestos can be found in many historic homes and buildings throughout New England because it was fire-resistant and affordable.

But companies became aware of its harmful effects and link to illnesses and many refused to change, didn’t tell employees of the risks or didn’t clean up the buildings or factories that contained the materials.

Microscopic asbestos flakes can be ingested over time and travel through the blood system and can rest on the lining of the lungs, heart, liver or other major organs. They can stay for decades, sometimes 30 or 40 years, before causing common symptoms, such as chest pain, coughing and built-up fluid. The median lifespan after diagnosis is 12 months.
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August 15, 2011

Norwood 21-Year-Old Diagnosed With Mesothelioma

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Boston Globe recently reported about a 21-year-old, who was the football and hockey captain at Norwood High School. The young man was recently diagnosed with the rare form of cancer mesothelioma.

This is the second case of a young person who has been diagnosed with cancer that the Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog has reported on. A California teenage football player recently died after being diagnosed with the cancer only a few months earlier. Now the case hits home with a young man being diagnosed with mesothelioma in New England.

According to the article, the young man is being treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in February. That form of cancer, which affects the lining of the abdomen, affects 100 to 500 diagnosed Americans each year.

Family and friends recently held a fundraiser for the man, whose family has been saddled with expensive medical bills and are financially exhausted. Doctors believe he would be best cared for using alternative treatments, which aren’t available in Boston and some which may not be covered by insurance.

This is a sad story, heightened perhaps by the fact that the patient in this case is so young. Many mesothelioma patients are older, having been exposed to asbestos over time and after having the microscopic asbestos flakes sit for 30 to 40 years before being diagnosed with mesothelioma:

Shortness of breath
Fluid in the chest wall
Fatigue
Wheezing or coughing
Coughed up blood
Abdominal pain
Bowel problems

Some would simply attribute the symptoms to old age, or years of smoking; but they can actually be attributed to exposure to asbestos. For many of these older patients, it’s from years in the military, which was a large user of asbestos. For others, they may have spent years working at factories or older buildings or with parts that used asbestos, such as brake pads and other manufactured goods.

But it now appears that young adults may have spent years being exposed to asbestos as they were growing up and it has caused mesothelioma at a younger age. Growing up in New England, many people may be exposed to asbestos after living in, playing in or going to school in older buildings that may contain asbestos. Asbestos was used for insulation in many buildings at the turn of the 20th century and onward until manufactures started to use it less frequently after realizing the ill-effects.

But some manufacturers continued using it, despite knowing that asbestos exposure was dangerous and could potentially cause ailments and death. The United States never officially banned its use, but it has been significantly curtailed. However, many historic buildings throughout New England are known to contain the natural mineral, despite years of warnings about the potential problems.
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August 13, 2011

Massachusetts Files $1 Million Claim to Clean Up Asbestos in Walpole

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Officials in Massachusetts have filed a $1 million claim for funds to clean up more than 100 years of pollution from companies, Dow Jones Newswires reported recently.

Among the companies the state is requesting money from is the predecessor to W.R. Grace & Co., which, as the Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog has previously reported, was responsible for operating the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana as well as several plants that processed the asbestos-tainted vermiculite.

Mesothelioma in Massachusetts is a serious form of cancer that is deadly and incurable. Research has shown that the median life expectancy after diagnosis is about 12 months. Our Boston Mesothelioma Lawyers have seen the destruction this cancer and other asbestos-related illnesses can do to a family.

According to the article, factories around the 22 acres of land in water in the state’s Blackburn & Union Privileges Superfund Site were contaminated with asbestos, arsenic, lead and other hazardous substances.

This latest proposed settlement follows a roughly $13 million agreement last year with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It includes $300,000 to help fund state-run groundwater restoration projects and $575,000 for other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service projects.

The company that preceded W.R. Grace & Company manufactured asbestos brake linings and clutch linings at the property from 1915 to 1936, the state said. A predecessor to another party in the settlement, Tyco Healthcare Group, LP, later ran a textile factory there from 1946 to 1983 and used caustic solutions.

W.R. Grace ran the Libby mine from 1963 to 1990, when it was shut down. The mine operated beginning in 1919 and shipped — at its peak — about 2 million tons of asbestos-laced vermiculite throughout the country. Plants across the United States heated the vermiculite and turned it into insulation, peat moss, ceiling and floor tiles and other commonly used products. The U.S. Navy was a large importer of the material and used it on ships and in shipyards. The Libby mine produced about 70 percent of the country’s vermiculite.

In Libby, where many people worked at the plant because it was a main source of employment, hundreds have died and many have fallen ill because of asbestos-related diseases. Some have noted that the town was coated in a film caused by the mine and its workers.

These microscopic asbestos flakes were ingested by workers, their families and anyone who lived nearby. And the asbestos would travel through the blood system and land on major organs, such as the heart and lungs. There, they would stay for sometimes decades before producing symptoms of mesothelioma — chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath and fluid.

Because the asbestos can cultivate for sometimes 30 or 40 years before showing symptoms, many smokers would simply chalk up the pain to a smoking habit or older people to the aging process. But exposure to asbestos was preventable, as many companies and employers knew the hazardous effects, yet exposed workers without regard for the health and well-being.
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