Proposed Factory Demolition Underscores Ongoing Risk of Asbestos Exposure

The owner of a former West Virginia pottery factory is at odds with state environmental regulators over the demolition of crumbling buildings that contain toxic asbestos.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has gone to court to bar contractor Nick Masciarelli from demolishing the former Taylor Smith & Taylor pottery factory, contending that he has refused to remove the asbestos properly, according to a report in The Charleston Gazette.

Demolition and remodeling activities are a primary source of exposure to asbestos today. If demolition workers, asbestos removal workers and construction workers are not equipped with proper safety gear or don’t employ techniques to suppress and contain asbestos fibers, the toxic fibers or fine dust can disperse in the air and be inhaled and trapped in a worker’s lung. Over time, the fibers can cause scarring and inflammation, affecting breathing and causing serious respiratory disease including mesothelioma, an incurable cancer that affects the lining of the lung or abdomen. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common form.

Masciarelli, who purchased the property about 18 months ago, with plans to demolish the buildings, said he can’t remove the asbestos the way that state environmental regulators want because the crumbling factory buildings are dangerously unstable and unsafe for his workers to enter. A hearing is scheduled on Aug. 24.

A manufacturer of dinnerware, Taylor Smith & Taylor began in Chester, W. Virginia in 1899. TS&T was bought out in the early 1970s and closed in 1981.

While use of asbestos is limited today in the United States, new cases of mesothelioma can occur through exposure to asbestos during remediation and demolition of buildings containing asbestos if controls are insufficient to protect workers and the surrounding community. An estimated 1.3 million construction and general industry workers potentially are being exposed to asbestos today, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

New York 9/11 Firefighters Have Abnormal Lung Function Years Later

By Wade Rawlins

New York Firefighters and rescue workers who inhaled the noxious cloud of dust, chemicals and asbestos debris at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks still have significantly abnormal lung function years later, a new medical study says.

In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the New York University School of Medicine and the New York Fire Department said they had observed little or no recovery of lung function among firefighters in the nearly decade since they responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center.

The medical researchers compared before and after 9/11 lung function tests of more than 12,700 active and retired New York Fire Department firefighters and rescue personnel — more than 90 percent of those who responded. Their aim is to understand the longer term health effects of the massive exposure to dust and debris at the World Trade Center site based on repeated follow-up lung testing.

The massive exposure to dust at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and repeated exposure to lesser amounts over the subsequent recovery operations led to significant declines in respiratory function in the first year after 9/11 among both firefighters and EMS workers with no history of smoking, the researchers say.

Firefighters had the heaviest exposure to dust and experienced the largest decline in lung function in the first year after 9/11, researchers said. It was more than 12 times the average rate of loss of lung function adjusted for age. Surprisingly, the FDNY firefighters recovered little or none of lung function as shown by follow up tests in a six year period September 2008, the researchers said.

Of those tested, about 13 percent of firefighters and 22 percent of EMS workers who never smoked still had abnormal lung function seven years after 9/11, the study said. Before 9/11, few firefighters had abnormal lung function tests.

Typically, firefighters show no long lasting respiratory effects of smoke inhalation, the researchers said. In the absence of overwhelming exposure, smoke inhalation during firefighting usually causes mild and reversible respiratory impairment.

The researchers said they could not analyze the effect of the use of masks and respirators on lung function, because the use of such safety equipment was minimal during the first weeks after 9/11

Declines in respiratory function also occurred and persisted among non-FDNY rescue workers and volunteers at Ground Zero. other volunteers and workers. But health records were not available among this group to compare lung function before 9/11 to afterward.

Some dust from the World Trade Center collapse contained asbestos and other contaminants, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the agency said at the time that the majority of air and dust sample monitored at the site did not indicate levels of public concern. Inhaling airborne asbestos is closely associated with respiratory disease including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung. Mesothelioma has a long latency period and typically takes 20 to 40 years after exposure for symptoms to appear.

Increased Asbestos Use in Mexico Leading to More Mesothelioma Deaths

Industrial uses of asbestos in Mexico are increasing the number of mesothelioma-related diseases and deaths among Mexican workers, according to a scientific study in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. The researchers say Mexico should ban the use of asbestos in all production processes as a public health policy to control the epidemic of asbestos-related diseases and safeguard the population and future generations.

Malignant mesothelioma is an incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen closely associated with breathing asbestos. The World Health Organization has urged countries to ban the use of asbestos, saying there is no safe level of asbestos exposure.

In their study, occupational health researchers from the Mexican Institute of Social Security and several Mexican cancer hospitals sought to identify the proportion of cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma in Mexico that were attributable to workplace exposure. Despite numerous studies around the world that have underscored the adverse effects of asbestos on workers’ health, the researchers said there was a general lack of recognition of the hazard of asbestos exposure in Mexico.

Because mesothelioma is not recognized as a work-related disease in Mexico, the country’s national health system and Mexican Institute of Social Security, which insures 30 percent of the country’s economically active population, absorb millions of dollars in costs to care for patients with mesothelioma rather than the industries that caused their disease.

In Mexico, chrysotile asbestos —also known as white asbestos—imported from Canada is the most commonly used asbestos fiber and represents the largest threat to workers, the study says. The shipment of asbestos to Mexico is part of an ongoing migration of dangerous industries to less industrialized countries such as Mexico that possess a weak framework for worker protection, the researchers noted. From 1991-2000, Mexico imported about 8 percent of Canada’s total international exports of asbestos, representing $114 million in exports.

Researchers interviewed 472 workers who lived in the Valley of Mexico, an area of central Mexico that encompasses the Mexico City metropolitan area, to assess their potential exposure to asbestos from their jobs as well as from environmental factors such as living near an asbestos factory or having parents who worked around asbestos. More than 100 of the workers had been diagnosed with mesothelioma.

The researchers attributed 82 percent of the cases of mesothelioma in the lining of the lung to workplace exposure to asbestos. They said the pattern of asbestos exposure and disease observed in more industrialized nations in the 1970s is now repeating itselt in Mexico.

“Our results show a clear relationship between industrial use of all types of asbestos and malignant pleural mesothelioma, and in Mexico the major type of asbestos is chrysotile imported from Canada,” the researchers said.

They said deaths from mesothelioma appeared to be underreported in Mexico’s official death records, suggesting the scope of the problem was even greater. Of more than 100 patients diagnosed with mesothelioma, only about a third of patients who had died had mesothelioma listed as a cause of death.

In 2006, the World Health Organization said that all types of asbestos cause mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis and there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos. Even if use of asbestos is eliminated soon, the World Health Organization has estimated there will be 5 to 10 million additional deaths from asbestos. The World Health Organization called for a ban.

But Mexico has not banned asbestos. To the contrary, Mexico’s government supported an effort by asbestos-exporting countries, led by Canada, to block the United Nations from including chrysotile asbestos on a list of recognized toxic substances.

Based of their findings, the researchers called on Mexico to ban the use and commercialization of all forms of asbestos to protect future generations and to require asbestos manufacturers and importers to pay the medical expenses and pensions of diseased workers. The researchers said if asbestos is not banned at once in Mexico, the incidence of mesothelioma would continue to increase in the population for 50 years.

Higher Mortality Among Chrysotile Asbestos Miners in Italy, Study Says

Italian researchers found an elevated incidence of mesothelioma in a study of more than 1,000 miners who worked at an asbestos mine near Turin, Italy. Their findings were reported in the scientific journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The Balangero mine, located near Turin, Italy, used to be Europe’s largest open pit asbestos mine. By the 1970s, the mine produced 130,000 to 160,000 tons per year of chrysotile asbestos. It closed in 1990, two years before Italy banned the mining, marketing and use of all types of asbestos including Chrysotile because of the human health hazards.

Medical researchers have been tracking the mine’s former workers to understand better the long-term health effects of breathing asbestos dust. Asbestos-related diseases such as malignant mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen closely linked to inhaling asbestos fibers, typically don’t appear until decades after exposure.

In the 2009 study in the scientific journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, researchers from four Italian medical institutions reported a significantly higher than expected death rate from pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma among the Balangero miners. All of the cases of mesothelioma occurred more than 30 years after exposure, and two occurred more than 50 years later. Four of the five cases involved miners exposed to asbestos dust for more than 20 years.

The study expands on earlier published research that found an increased risk of oral, laryngeal and pleural cancers among the Balangero asbestos miners, based on health information and mortality data through 1987. The new research tracks 1,056 miners for 16 additional years —through 2003.

The researchers computed expected mortality rates from certain cancers and other causes of death in the province of Turin and throughout Italy. They then compared the expected rates to the actual mortality among the workers employed at the mines starting in 1946 and later. They found four times as many deaths from pleural mesothelioma as expected and increased mortality for pleural and peritoneal cancer combined.

The study also supports a recent conclusion by the U.S. Institute of Medicine that there is sufficient evidence to support an association between asbestos and laryngeal cancer. The study found a greater than 80 percent increased number of deaths from larynegeal cancer above the norm.

Overall, the researchers found excess mortality among the Balangero mine workers from asbestos-related diseases including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis as well as other alcohol-related conditions such as cirrhosis of the liver.

New York Attorney Discusses How To Pinpoint Asbestos Exposure

People who get diagnosed with mesothelioma fall into two categories, said New York attorney Joseph Belluck.

There are those who know automatically how they were exposed to asbestos, the toxic fibers that when inhaled can cause respiratory diseases such as mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen.

“They worked in a Navy ship, or they worked in a factory,” said Belluck, noting occupations commonly associated with asbestos exposure. “They were an automobile mechanic. Their father was a plumber.”

Then there are other people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma who have no idea how they were exposed. They’re looking for answers.

“In almost every case like that, we are able to find an exposure to asbestos,” said Belluck, a partner in Belluck & Fox, a nationally-known law firm that specializes in representing victims of asbestos-related disease. “We’ve represented dentists, veterinarians, physicians, laboratory technicians, teachers. A lot of times people have worked with asbestos, for example dentists or jewelers, and they’re not even aware that they did.”

A Life History

Belluck said it’s important to keep in mind that if someone has mesothelioma, then they were exposed to asbestos at some point. Identifying the exposure is a matter of thoroughly examining their background.

“We start by meeting with our client and taking a very, very thorough life history of the client that includes their occupational history, any military service that they had and any work with asbestos that they would have done at their home or on their automobiles,” Belluck said.

“A lot of times the clients aren’t even aware that certain things they did exposed them to asbestos,” Belluck said. “So that interview is very, very important.

“We have dealt with people in all walk’s of life so we have a good idea of what questions to ask,” he said.

In addition, the lawyers gather information about the occupations of their client’s parent, children and spouses to see if there might have been second-hand exposure to asbestos through other family members.

“If the person served on a ship in the Navy or the Merchant Marine, we would get records from the Coast Guard or the Navy as to the design of the ship and what equipment was on the ship,” Belluck said. “We would hire a researcher in Washington to go to the Naval archives or the Coast Guard archives and actually pull the drawings and documents related to the specific ship that our clients were on.”

“There is a lot of investigation that goes into the case prior to filing it so we know who the proper defendants are,” he said.

New York Work Sites

For many work sites in New York, Belluck & Fox has already conducted extensive investigations and document reviews and is familiar with the equipment and types of boilers on site and possible ways workers could be exposed to asbestos.

“If someone worked at the Kodak plant in Rochester (https://www.belluckfox.com/new-york-asbestos-companies/eastman-kodak/) or the General Electric plant in Schenectady (https://www.belluckfox.com/new-york-asbestos-companies/ge-schenectady/), we’ve already done a lot of work on those sites and the products that we were there,” Belluck said.

“We would use a lot of records and documents that we already have in house here, which is really the main reason to hire a firm like ours,” Belluck said. “We already have a lot of the information and knowledge stored here that allows us to prosecute the lawsuit.”

The number of defendants often named in asbestos lawsuits also makes the cases somewhat unusual. “There may be 15 or 20 parties that contribute to a settlement or overall recovery,” Belluck said. “The majority of defendants settle and one or two hang around and we either have to start trial or finish trial against those.”

Fast Track Docket

Belluck said most cases settle out of court, although every case is prepared as if it is going to trial. Because New York courts often grant requests to put asbestos lawsuits on an expedited schedule because of the plaintiff’s declining health, the cases are often resolved in a year or less.

“It’s a very, very fast docket.” Belluck said. “From the time that we get the case until the time that it’s over is usually seven to 12 months.”

The cases typically settle without a trial, which means the plaintiffs receive their compensation more quickly.

“There are a lot of benefits to settlement for everybody in terms of the risk involved, expense of trial, the emotional and time commitment of a trial,” Belluck said.

Category: Asbestos Exposure