Expert Physicians Urge US to Ban Asbestos

Today's post is shared from nejm.org

"Each year, nearly 40,000 Americans die often painful, protracted deaths from diseases caused by asbestos. These deaths occur in firefighters, police officers, construction workers, miners, military veterans, shipyard workers, and maintenance workers whose exposures to asbestos are primarily occupational. Death also occurs in partners and children of such workers, whose only exposures to asbestos were from dust on clothing brought home from work by a family member. In the United States, treatment of asbestos-related diseases — including malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, and ovarian cancer1 — costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

WHO Reports Widespread Asbestos Exposure Continues In Europe

WHO (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The WHO (UN World Health Organization) reports that 1 in every 3 Europeans are still exposed to asbestos.

About one third of the 900 million people in the WHO European Region live in countries that have not yet banned the use of all forms of asbestos, and this potentially exposes them at work and in the environment. In countries where asbestos is banned, exposure persists from past use. Exposure to asbestos can cause cancer of the lungs, ovaries and larynx; mesothelioma; and asbestosis and the most efficient way to eliminate these diseases is to stop the use of all types of asbestos. At its closure, the high-level meeting on environment and health in Haifa, Israel, urgently calls upon all European countries to eliminate asbestos-related diseases.

"We cannot afford losing almost 15 000 lives a year in Europe, especially workers, from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. Every death from asbestos-related diseases is avoidable," says Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "We urge all countries to leave the Haifa meeting to fulfil their 2010 commitment and develop policies by the end of this year that will eliminate asbestos-related diseases from the face of Europe. There is very little time left for that."

Elimination of asbestos-related diseases was one of the major issues discussed at the Haifa meeting. Over 200 representatives of European countries and international and nongovernmental organizations attended the meeting to evaluate overall progress on environment and health in Europe.
An "eye-opener" report: progress toward the elimination of asbestos-related diseases

The report Progress toward the elimination of asbestos-related diseases, presented at the meeting, indicates that asbestos, a group of natural fibrous minerals, is responsible for about half of all deaths from cancers developed at work. According to new estimates, deaths from mesothelioma in 15 European countries cost society more than 1.5 billion euros annually (see table in Annex).

While 37 of the 53 Member States in the Region have banned the use of all forms of asbestos, the remaining 16 countries still use asbestos, especially for building materials, and some continue to produce and export it. Even after its use has ceased, asbestos lingers in the environment, so it needs to be safely removed and disposed without delay.

"Asbestos is known as a silent killer as health disorders from exposure to it usually appear after several decades. This means that many more people are expected to fall sick and die in the coming years throughout Europe", says Dr Guénaël Rodier, Director, Division of Communicable Diseases, Health Security and Environment. "This new report assesses how far European countries have got in eliminating asbestos-related diseases and provides recommendations for the future."

In one week, the Chemical Review Committee of the Rotterdam Convention will consider listing chrysotile or white asbestos, the most common form of asbestos, among the substances for which importing countries have to give their consent to the exporting party for the trade to occur.

"Elimination of asbestos-related diseases is a priority for Israel. Already in 2011 we have passed a law prohibiting the use of new asbestos, requesting removal of existing friable asbestos and guiding disposal of asbestos cement,", says Mr David Leffler, Director-General, Ministry of Environmental Protection for Israel. "An asbestos waste removal project is conducted in Western Galilee where by December 2014, 80 thousand cubic meters of waste were cleaned in 221 sites. Databases on asbestos-related diseases are considered key to monitor asbestos' health effects and are regularly maintained."
Paving the way ahead for better environment and health in Europe

All European countries present at the meeting renewed their pledges to work towards meeting the time-bound targets they adopted in 2010. This includes concrete steps to:
strengthen or establish partnerships with different stakeholders and processes, and utilize already existing policy instruments and tools;

1. enhance the understanding and use of economic arguments to support action on environment and health; and 
2. harmonize with the forthcoming post-2015 sustainable development agenda.

They also agreed to address the environment and health challenges of the 21st century posed by:
complex risk factors: air, water, waste or chemicals;
complex systems of direct relevance to environment and health: food, energy or cities; and
matters of international environment and health security: disasters and climate change.

The conclusions of the high-level meeting in Haifa are an important milestone in the run up to the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health planned for 2017.
The 16 countries that have not yet banned all forms of asbestos are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Monaco, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The five time-bound targets adopted by countries in the European Region in 2010 are to: provide safe water and sanitation to all children by 2020; create healthy and safe environments for children in their daily life by 2020; make children's indoor environments free from tobacco smoke by 2015; safeguard children's environments from toxic chemicals by 2015; develop policies to eliminate asbestos-related diseases by 2015.

The seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP-7) will be held from 4 to 15 May 2015, back-to-back with the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-12) and the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-7).

Related articles

• Ban Asbestos: Rotterdam Conference Highjacked by "The Dirty 7" (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• European environmental priorities: Eliminate Asbestos Related Disease by 2015 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Scientific improprieties in the asbestos industry funded research of McGill professor (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Banning Asbestos - WHO European Region Sets Plans (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Time to Collect the Salt Shakers

The reduction of factors contributing to cardiovascular disease would make any workplace a lot healthier. Recently, Mayor Bloomberg equated the deadly effects of asbestos exposure with salt intake.

Now comes a recent study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that illustrates that even a minor reduction of salt intake would produce a significant reduction in cardiovascular events.

NEJM states in an editorial, "The large potential benefits of reducing salt intake observed by Bibbins-Domingo and colleagues may even represent an underestimate. Salt reduction is associated with reduced blood pressure in children and an attenuated age-related rise in blood pressure in adults. Neither of these benefits was modeled in the present analysis. There is also evidence that salt reduction may reduce the risk of gastric cancer, end-stage kidney disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, congestive heart failure, and osteoporosis."

As employers have eliminated other co-exisitng contributing factors such as tobacco smoke, they would be indeed wise to also consider the reduction of other factors, such as salt intake. Such action could only make the workplace a healthier environment.

Click here to read more about salt intake and possible workers' compensation consequences.

Meso for Miles - Supporting Mesothelioma Research

A Walk/Run in support of research to treat and cure mesothelioma was successfully held in South Florida today. Hundreds were in attendance to support the research effort and demonstrate to ban the use of asbestos in the United States.

The legacy of disease caused by the innocent exposure to asbestos exposure continues in epidemic proportion. Asbestos, a known carcinogen, exposure results in asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.

......

Click here to read more about asbestos and workers compensation.

No Free Lunch For Salty Foods

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City may have put a a focus a new compensable event.  A long proponent of a healthier living environment, Bloomberg has proposed reducing salt content in food in the Big Apple by 25%.


While emphasizing the seriousness of the health hazards of salt intake, he compared the consumption of salt to asbestos and smoking, "Salt and asbestos, clearly both are bad for you," Bloomberg continued. "Modern medicine thinks you shouldn't be smoking if you want to live longer. Modern medicine thinks you shouldn't be eating salt, or sodium."


There is no free lunch in the adoption of this scenario. If an employee is exposed to salty foods in the course of the employment and suffers a medical event associated with the intake of salt, then compensability may follow.

"The New York City Health Department is coordinating a nationwide effort to prevent heart attacks and strokes by reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods.Americans consume roughly twice the recommended limit of salt each day – causing widespread high blood pressure and placing millions at risk of heart attack and stroke. This is not a matter of choice. Only 11% of the sodium in our diets comes from our own saltshakers; nearly 80% is added to foods before they are sold. The National Salt Reduction Initiative is a coalition of cities, states and health organizations working to help food manufacturers and restaurants voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in their products. The goal is to reduce Americans’ salt intake by 20% over five years. This will save tens of thousands of lives each year and billions of dollars in health care costs."


More than 40 cities, states and national health organizations have joined the National Salt Reduction Initiative. The goal is to reduce the salt intake of Americans by 20% over the next five years.

Click here to read more about asbestos and workers' compensation. 

Shifting Occupational Claim Responsibility to Social Security

Recent Workers' Compensation reforms enacted in the 1990's are more likely to effect older workers  who are then more likely to to apply for Social Security Disability Benefits (SSDI). The reforms are now causing an enormous increase in number of denials of workers' compensation claims. At a recent conference hosted by NASI (National Academy of Social Insurance), Professor John F. Burton Jr. reported on the results of his recent study that has been submitted for publication.

Professor Burton reported that in 1999 between 80% to 93.8% of occupationally disease medical costs were not considered compensable and the costs were being shifted to the SSDI program. He concluded that, "...a substantial infusion of research funds are necessary to clarify the relationships between the Workers' Compensation and SSDI Programs."

To read more about Professor Burton and workers' compensation on the blog, click here.

A New Test for Mesothelioma Reported

A team of scientists at Oxford University have reported a more accurate and less invasive test to diagnose mesothelioma. The findings have been reported in a recent edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The test is claimed to be quicker and more accurate in testing for mesothelioma. Since it involves pleural fluid cytology the serum mesothelium is utilized as a bio marker to establish a diagnosis of mesothelioma.

The scientists indicate that the quick test will allow injured workers to file claims with greater reliability. Dr. Helen Davies, who participated in the research project stated, "Claims for worker's compensation may also be instigated once the diagnosis is confirmed."

Mesothelioma is a fatal disease that is associated with exposure to asbestos fiber. It is tumor that grows on the linings of the lungs or abdomen. Many workers have been exposed over the decades to asbestos and have developed mesothelioma in epidemic proportions.

Exposure to asbestos may occur as a result of both direct exposure to asbestos in the workplace or though a secondary exposure as a bystander or even a household contact of an asbestos workers. The disease has a very long latency period of the date of exposure to the date of manifestation. Asbestos, a known human carcinogen, use has not yet been banned in the United States.

For more information about treatment options, potential claims for benefits and the history of asbestos production, please visit out web site www.gelmans.com.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate David Michaels Assistant Secretary for the OSHA

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate David Michaels, Assistant Secretary for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Department of Labor.

David Michaels, PhD, MPH, is an epidemiologist and is currently Research Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. He has conducted numerous studies of the health effects of occupational exposure to toxic chemicals, including asbestos, metals and solvents, and has written extensively on science and regulatory policy.

From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Michaels served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health, responsible for protecting the health and safety of workers, neighboring communities and the environment surrounding the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities. In that position, he was the chief architect of the historic initiative to compensate nuclear weapons workers who developed occupational illnesses as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium and other hazards.

In 2006, Dr. Michaels received the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award for his work on behalf of nuclear weapons workers and for his advocacy for scientific integrity. He is also the recipient of the 2009 John P. McGovern Science and Society Award given by Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.

David Michaels, former Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety, and Health during the Clinton administration contends that corporations hire their own scientists to skew the safety records of certain products. He recently spoke at an event was hosted by the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. The speech was broadcast by C-Span TV. in 2006. Michael authored Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health.

Texas State Senate Passes Bill Establishing Causation Proof in Mesothelioma Claims

The Texas State Senate has passed legislation that will ease the proof in mesothelioma claims.

The bill establishes a standard requiring that a claimant prove that a defendant's product or conduct was a substantial factor in causing an injury and that the exposed person's cumulative exposure to asbestos fibers was the cause of person's mesothelioma.  

Sec.  90.013.  STANDARD OF CAUSATION FOR CLAIMS INVOLVING MALIGNANT MESOTHELIOMA.  (a)  Requires a claimant, to recover damages for malignant mesothelioma allegedly caused by exposure to asbestos or asbestos containing products, to prove, among other elements of the claim, that a defendant's product or conduct was a substantial factor in causing the claimant's injury.

(b)   Provides that a defendant's product or conduct was a substantial factor in causing the exposed claimant's injury if the claimant presents qualitative proof that the asbestos exposure attributed to the defendant was substantial, and not merely de minimis, when considering the frequency of exposure, the regularity of exposure, and the proximity of the exposed person to the source of the asbestos fibers.

(c)  Requires a defendant who seeks a determination of the percentage of responsibility of another person under Section 33.003(a) (relating to determination of percentage of responsibility of certain persons), to present qualitative proof in the same manner as is required of a claimant under Subsection (b).

 (d)  Provides that neither a claimant nor a defendant seeking a determination under Section 33.003(a) are required to prove numerically the dose, approximate or otherwise, of asbestos fibers to which the claimant was exposed that are attributable to the defendant or another person under Section 33.003(a).

 (e)  Provides that nothing in this section modifies the general legal requirements for the admissibility of expert testimony with respect to the issue of causation.

US Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Manville Asbestos Bankruptcy Plan

The US Supreme Court once again hear oral argument in a claim arising out of "the longest running tort" in the nation's history, asbestos litigation. The case played to a full house as the Court revisited the 1986 Johns Manville Bankruptcy program and questioned whether the the process that paid out more than $2.8 Billion could be challenged yet again. Plaintiff lawyers, not party to a settlement mediated by former NY Governor Mario Cuomo, argued that they should be allowed to sue various insurers including Travelers Insurance Company.

Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Bailey

WR Grace Officials on Trial

The focus of litigation against WR Grace has now shifted to the civil courts in a trial against 5 former company officials for damages resulting from the death and harm caused its former workers. In Libby Montana, WR Grace mined asbestos (vemiculite) ore that ultimately was manufactured into insulation and other products.

Five former officials of WR Grace, an asbestos producer, are standing trial for concealing information from the former employees and for not taking the appropriate action to protect their health. The criminal trial has been delayed since 2006 because of pending appeals.

The company has recently filed an amended reorganization plan on Feb. 3, 2009. The plan contains the following comments about workers' compensation claims:

WR Grace - Proposed First Amended Reoganization Plan 2-3-09
"3.1.4 Class 4. Workers’ Compensation Claims
(a) Classification Class 4 consists of all Workers’ Compensation Claims against the Debtors.
(b) Treatment This Plan leaves unaltered the legal, equitable, and contractual rights to which each such Workers’ Compensation Claim entitles the Holder of such Workers’ Compensation Claim. For the avoidance of doubt, in no event shall any of the Sealed Air Indemnified Parties or the Fresenius Indemnified Parties have any liability with respect to any Workers’ Compensation Claim.
(c) Impairment and VotingClass 4 is unimpaired. The Holders of the Workers’ Compensation Claims in Class 4 aredeemed to to have voted to accept this Plan and, accordingly, their separate vote will not be solicited."

Pittsburg Corning to Plans to Pay Asbestos Victims $825 Million

PPG Industries (Pittsburg Corning Corp.) and its insurers plan to pay out millions of dollars to victims of asbestos disease. In a bankruptcy reorganization plan filed with the Court for its approval, it was announced that PPG intended to pay out $825 Million in cash over the next 15 years.

PPG had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2000 under because of alleged potential asbestos lawsuit liabilities. Asbestos fiber, which the company supplied and manufactured, has been linked to asbestos related diseases in former asbestos workers, users and household contacts of former workers, including: asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.

"While we continue to believe PPG is not responsible for injuries caused by Pittsburgh Corning products, this amended plan would permanently resolve PPG's asbestos liabilities associated with Pittsburgh Corning," James C. Diggs, PPG's senior VP, general counsel and secretary, said in the statement.

The trust would be funded with $1.6 Billion in cash payments through 2027. Approval of the reorganization plan is required.

Washington Supreme Court Restricts Asbestos Claims

The Washington Supreme Court has taken a step back in time and rendered two significant decisions limiting he rights of asbestos victims to gain recovery. The Court ruled that if a company did not make asbestos products or manufacture them there was no duty to war. Speaking for the minority, Justice Debra Stephens wrote, "no duty to warn of a serious hazard it knew or should have known was involved in the use of its product ignores logic, common sense, and justice." 

Decisions

Dec. 11, 2008	80251-3	-	Braaten v. Saberhagen Holdings
Dec. 11, 2008	80251-3	-	Braaten v. Saberhagen Holdings (Dissent)

ec. 11, 2008	80076-6	-	Simonetta v. Viad Corp.
Dec. 11, 2008	80076-6	-	Simonetta v. Viad Corp. (Dissent)

Asbestos Continues to Reduce Potential Years of Life

Asbestos exposure continues to have high rates of death in the US. Potential years of lost life continue to be at epidemic proportions. The US CDC reports that premature mortality as a result of asbestos related disease continues to be at all time highs. Asbestos is still not banned in the US

Asbestos Dealer of Death - Canada

The Canadian delegation to the Rotterdam Convention was able to lobby effectively to prohibit a ban on asbestos for another two years. The Canadian mines will continue to churn out the killer fiber and ship it to unsuspecting countries as a result of an effective major lobbying effort of the Canadians to sway the votes of India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Despite a report from an independent committee of scientist urging the ban of chrysotile asbestos this year, the effort to ban asbestos failed. Chrysotile asbestos is classified as a known human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and more than 40 countries have already banned its sale.

It has been reported that last year alone Canada sold $77 million to developing countries around the world. Unfortunately the cost for medical care caused by asbestos related disease far exceeds that value and the loss of life is priceless. Shielded by national laws the Canadian entities have protected themselves from recovery. Exporting disease for economic greed is beyond human comprehension and is shameful. Who are the Canadians kidding, asbestos kills!

The Politics of Asbestos – US Government Failed the People Declares Senator Baucus

At a recent hearing of the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Senator Max Baucus presented a report revealing that the Federal government failed to take the appropriate action to declare Libby, Montana a public health emergency in 2002. The disregard of the federal government led to a lack of funding and manpower in cleaning up the asbestos contamination according to the Senator.

“EPA was going to let people know, but they were changed from their direction. A Public Health Emergency definitely would have helped--- it would have provided media and public attention. Without a Public Health Emergency, asbestos has not become a public health issue. That’s the politics of asbestos."

Libby Montana was the former vermiculite mine site of W.R.Grace & Company. Vermiculite is a form of asbestos, a known carcinogen. Grace recently agreed to globally settle all of its asbestos claims for $3 Billion.

The exposure to asbestos has been long linked to several disease including, asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure occurs when the toxic particles are ingested or inhaled into the body. When asbestos articles attach themselves to the lining of the lung, pleural mesothelioma, a fatal disease, results. The fibers may also attach themselves to the mesothelioma linings surrounding the heart and abdomen.

Libby Montana was declared a Federal Superfund site in 1999. Following that declaration, the Federal government has poured millions of dollars into cleaning up the asbestos-contaminated site. The failure to declare the site a public health emergency limited the Federal government’s role in providing even more extensive cleanup operations and healthcare to those residents who innocently suffered the avoidable exposure to asbestos.

NJ Ranks 2nd In Asbestos Related Disease

The legacy of asbestos related disease continues in New Jersey. Around the time of World War II New Jersey was an epicenter of the production asbestos fiber. New Jersey was equal distant from the major shipyards on the East Coast and it was in a major railroad network that allowed it to move asbestos product both in raw format and in furnish goods.

Unfortunately, the legacy of asbestos disease continues to cause a former workers and those exposed to products major to his disease and illness. The United States government has reported an increase in asbestos related disease in New Jersey. The state ranks as number two in the nation with reported asbestos related disease.

Asbestos production and consumption between 1970 and 1979, on a national basis, amounted to 1,060,015 metric tons alone. Since his best is related disease has a latency period, of sometimes several decades between the exposure and the disease, the impact is now being reported demonstrating increased incidence of mesothelioma in the United States. There are major uncertainties in predicting mesothelioma incidents and some investigators project the maximum mesothelioma incidents will not occur until about 2020 in the United States.

Is The EPA in a Rush To the Botton for Asbestos Experts?

The US EPA (Environmental; Protection Agency) has published an announcement to seek appointments to its Scientific Advisory Panel with asbestos expertise in short course. In a notice published in the Federal Register on October 26, 2007 the US EPA announced a deadline of November 16, 2007.

"The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is seeking public nominations of additional experts in the formation of the Asbestos Expert Panel in the areas of biostatistics, statistical modeling, epidemiology, meta-analysis, Bayesian analysis and toxicology of inhaled particles." Nominations may be submitted on line. Any interested person or organization may nominate individuals qualified in the areas of expertise described above to serve on the SAB Asbestos Expert Panel. Nominations may be submitted in electronic format through the Form for Nominating Individuals to Panels of the EPA Science Advisory Board which can be accessed through a link on the blue navigational bar on the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab.

An alarm has been sounded that panels of the EPA have been filled by defense firms. See "Don’t Let Mercenaries Advise EPA on Asbestos Science." David Michaels, who heads the the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) and is Professor and Associate Chairman in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services stated, "One important step in ending corruption in science would be to ban employees of product defense firms from federal science advisory committees. The EPA’s Science Advisory Board Asbestos Panel is a good place to start."

The Bush Administration has tried to undermined te integrity of scientific research in an ongoing program. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has claimed that the "EPA is dumbing down its research." “There appears to be a deliberate policy of marginalizing EPA science on issue after issue, so that the agency is becoming increasingly irrelevant to emerging environmental threats,” Ruch testified, pointing to internal surveys showing a growing pessimism by agency scientists about the direction of EPA. “EPA’s public health research agenda has been neutered.”

The selection of quality membership is not one than came be done on short notice. Is the EPA yet again in a rush to the bottom?

Ban Asbestos in America Act Passes U.S. Senate

ADOC Press Release

Washington, D.C. Oct 04, 2007 ADAO Praises U.S. Senate for Passing Senator Patty Murray's Ban Asbestos in America Act

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an organization dedicated to serving as the voice of asbestos victims, today praised the passage of Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)'s Ban Asbestos in America Act of 2007 by the U.S. Senate. The Ban Asbestos in America Act is an effort to ban all production and use of asbestos in America, launch public education campaigns to raise awareness about its dangers and expand research and treatment of diseases caused by asbestos.

"Senator Patty Murray is a hero for all asbestos victims and their families, and a future protector of generations to come, helping to ensure a safer environment for us all," said Linda Reinstein, Executive Director and Cofounder of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO). "We praise the Senate for passing Senator Murray's monumental Ban Asbestos in America Act and now encourage the House to follow this important bi-partisan lead for a full ban on asbestos. We also extend a special thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) for their critical support. We look forward to the day when asbestos disease will no longer needlessly claim lives."

The occurrence of asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis, is growing out of control. Studies estimate that during the next decade, 100,000 victims in the United States will die of an asbestos related disease - equaling 30 deaths per day.

Murray's Asbestos Ban Passes Senate