Variety magazine, famous for entertainment reporting, announced this week that famed columnist Army Archerd will be honored posthumously by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADOA) at its Sixth Annual International Asbestos Conference on April 10 in Chicago. Archerd will receive the organization’s inaugural Warren Zevon Keep Me in Your Heart memorial tribute.

The award was established in memory of singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, author of such hits as “Werewolves of London,” who died of mesothelioma in 2003. Mesothelioma is a deadly form of cancer that is linked to asbestos exposure. It most often affects the lining of the chest and lungs, but may also affect the lining of the abdomen or, more rarely, the heart.

Warren Zevon’s son, Jordan Zevon, is involved with ADAO as its spokesman. Variety quotes him as saying, “My father would be enormously honored to have had the opportunity to pay tribute to Army Archerd.”

Archerd was a columnist for Variety for more than 50 years, penning his “Just for Variety” column until September 2005. Even after he retired the famous column, Archerd worked as a blogger for Variety. He was one of the most popular and well-respected writers in the entertainment industry, and broke many exclusive stories. He died of mesothelioma on Sept. 8, 2009. It is believed he was exposed to asbestos during his service in the Navy during World War II.

Variety quotes his widow, Selma, as saying, “The tragedy of asbestos disease is a story that unfortunately continues to be written for many families. I hope that Army’s legend of making a difference through his work can help give an even louder voice to the efforts to write its end.”

ADAO was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. It seeks to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a united voice to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure. ADAO’s mission includes supporting global advocacy and advancing asbestos awareness, prevention, early detection, treatment, and resources for asbestos-related disease.

For more information about ADAO or the annual Asbestos Conference, visit ADAO online at www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.

This week the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) praised Senate leaders for a resolution that declares the first week of April 2010 as “National Asbestos Awareness Week.” This is the sixth year in a row that the ADAO has been active in working with Senate leaders to secure a national resolution in recognition of the dangers of asbestos.

The resolution is sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). Co-sponsors and key supporters are Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

A news release from the ADAO quotes the organization’s Co-Founder and Executive Director Linda Reinstein as saying, “We are grateful to the U.S. Senate to have the opportunity to help raise the level of public awareness about the prolific dangers of asbestos and further unite doctors, scientists, and public health advocates during National Asbestos Awareness Week for this important effort. During the past six years, ADAO has seen the progress and indeed, this confirms what Americans deserve and want. We know asbestos prevention and education will save lives and dollars.”

The ADAO was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. It seeks to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a united voice to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure. ADAO’s mission includes supporting global advocacy and advancing asbestos awareness, prevention, early detection, treatment, and resources for asbestos-related disease.

Asbestos is a known human carcinogen and exposure can cause asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. According to the ADAO news release, studies estimate that during the next decade 100,000 workers around the world will die of an asbestos-related disease. This equals 30 deaths per day.

The ADAO annually holds a conference in conjunction with National Asbestos Awareness Week. The Sixth Annual International Asbestos Conference is set for April 10, 2010, in Chicago, Ill.

For more information about ADAO or for conference registration, visit ADAO online at www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.

The G. R. Little Theatre and the north and south wings of the G.R. Little Library on the campus of Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, NC, are closed until mid-April while crews remove asbestos from the facilities. According to a report by staff writer Kristin Pitts, which appears in the Daily Advance, the asbestos removal is part of a planned renovation that will make the existing facilities more energy efficient. The university is in compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for safe asbestos removal.

According to the news report, university spokeswoman Kesha Williams says that other ECSU buildings could potentially contain asbestos, as the material was commonly used in construction prior to the 1970s. However, the material is generally not dangerous unless it is disturbed. The university was proactive in securing an asbestos abatement company to safely remove the existing asbestos during its remodeling of the library and theatre buildings.

During processes like remodeling and demolition, materials containing asbestos may release microscopic fibers that can be inhaled into the lungs. Inhaled asbestos fibers may cause asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs, or mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that may affect the lining of the chest and lungs, the abdomen, or, more rarely, the heart.

The news report says Clean Air Environmental, Inc., a Winston-Salem based company, has been contracted to remove the asbestos from the library and theatre buildings. Project manager Omar Martinez told the paper that the company is currently completing the second phase of what it expects will be a three-part asbestos removal process. He told the reporter that the company is using “negative airs and amended water to capture any [asbestos] fibers” and workers double-bag hazardous materials and properly dispose of the hazardous waste to ensure the safety of workers, students and others on campus in the area of the project.

Energy-saving equipment planned for the library and theatre buildings include new lighting fixtures and an upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit.

Health officials in South Korea are recording significant increases in asbestos-related diseases among the country’s population, including asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma. According to a report by TIME Magazine, the number of mesothelioma diagnoses increased from just 12 in 2001, to 55 new cases in 2007, the most recent year that data is available. It is, “in public health terms, a notable increase,” TIME quotes Paek Dom-yung, an occupational medicine professor at Seoul National University.

While South Korea enjoyed a boom in urban development from the 1960s through the 1980s, it is becoming evident the country’s lax rules on asbestos regulation may have exposed millions of people to health hazards. According to the TIME report, Seoul did not place a full ban on asbestos manufacturing, import and use until last year. It also had no regulations in place for the safe removal of existing asbestos during demolition and remodeling projects.

Now, trade and labor unions in South Korea are calling for the government to take responsibility for workers it knowingly exposed to deadly asbestos, and who are now suffering as a result.

Due to the long latency period between exposure and the development of mesothelioma or other asbestos diseases – which can be as long as 20-50 years – South Korean health officials are bracing for a future epidemic. It is predicted that the incidence of mesothelioma diagnoses in the region will not peak until around 2030.

I am super-late in posting this, but I wanted to share some photos from Heather Von St. James and family’s annual Lung Leavin’ Day celebration. Those of you who have followed Heather’s story here on myMeso know that this is the day that commemorates Heather’s decision to undergo an extrapleural pneumonectomy to remove her mesothelioma tumor.

Prior to the surgery, which removed Heather’s lung and part of her diaphragm, along with the cancer, her family gathered for the first Lung Leavin’ Day. They wrote their fears on plates and smashed them in the fire – a symbolic conquering! Today, Heather celebrates four years cancer free! The 4th Annual Lung Leavin’ Day Celebration was held Feb. 6, and Heather reports that more than 60 people joined her for the festivities. What a wonderful blessing to see Heather healthy and happy, surrounded by friends and loved ones!

Those of us who could not be there in person were there in spirit. Even our good friend Debbie Brewer celebrated “across the pond” in the U.K. I substituted a paper plate and the fireplace for china and a bonfire, but the sentiment was the same nonetheless. We love you Heather, and look forward to many more Lung Leavin’ Days in the future!

Pictured below is a photo of the fire, surrounded by broken plate shards.

Heather lit a candle in tribute to those who have lost their battle with mesothelioma, as well as in honor of those who are still fighting the battle. The names of the meso warriors were posted.

One of the many mesothelioma community members on Facebook posted a question today about a clinical trial being conducted at the Mesothelioma Center, located at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. MyMeso discussed this clinical trial in a July post. The clinical trial is a program of targeted radiation and chemotherapy protocol for pleural mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the lung’s lining almost always caused by asbestos. In response to the Facebook thread, meso survivor and awareness advocate (read: warrior) Debbie Brewer, who many of you know from her story and updates here (thanks Debbie!), mentioned a similar study currently ongoing in Australia.

Debbie provided a link to a story published in November 2009 by ABC News that outlines the work of specialists at Austin Health Centre in Victoria. The treatment, spearheaded by Dr. Malcolm Feigen, a radiation oncologist at the Centre, uses high doses of radiotherapy, concentrated on specific areas of the lining of the lungs to target mesothelioma tumors.

According to the ABC report, 13 patients participated in a pilot program to test this new targeted radiotherapy treatment. Most had some surgery prior to the radiotherapy treatment, and some also had chemotherapy before or after the treatment, although Dr. Feigen believes the patients showed the most benefit primarily as a result of the radiotherapy regimen.

Participants in the U.S. clinical trial at the Mesothelioma Center receive a multi-modality therapy that incorporates surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy in combination.

Listen to the interview with Dr. Feigen about the Australian research, which was broadcast on ABC’s AM morning current affairs program.

The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2009 Mesothelioma Research Grant Awards. Through the generous contributions of its supporters, the Foundation was able to fund eight promising research projects. Executive Director Christopher E. Hahn reports that this is 60 percent more than the organization funded in 2008, when the Foundation, along with many charitable endeavors were beset by budget cuts resulting from the tough economic climate. In an email to Meso Foundation supporters, Hahn said he is hopeful the organization will soon be able to return to its target goal of funding 10 mesothelioma research projects per year.

Projects funded by the 2009 Grant Awards include vaccine studies offering hope of targeted treatment without drastic side effects; a novel investigation of the role of hormones in mesothelioma treatment; developing pathway targets synergistic with current first-line therapy Alimta/Cisplatin; and a study specifically focusing on improved detection and treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma (affecting the lining of the abdomen). Visit the Meso Foundation online for details of each study.

Each year, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation funds critically needed research to develop more effective treatments and ultimately, a cure. The Foundation has provided more than $6 million in grant funding, advancing mesothelioma science through promising studies around the world. The Meso Foundation’s funding objectives are to directly fund basic research and support clinical trials in worthy, peer-reviewed projects as well as to stimulate additional federal research funding opportunities.

The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation is a nonprofit collaboration of patients and families, physicians, advocates, and researchers dedicated to eradicating the life-ending and vicious effects of mesothelioma.

You can help! There are many ways to get involved with the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. These include signing up to receive and respond to Action Alerts, which are specific campaigns for particular aspects of mesothelioma advocacy efforts; visiting your government officials to lobby for mesothelioma funding and awareness; volunteering in the meso community both locally and nationally; education; sharing your meso story; and donating to mesothelioma research.

For more information or to make a donation, visit the How You Can Help page at www.curemeso.org. The Meso Foundation is the recipient of the Charity Navigator “Four Star Charity” award and is recognized as the 2009 Great Nonprofits winner in the category of Cancer Fighters.

A recent report on WDIO-DT and WIRT-DT ABC stations 10 and 13 says approximately 1,000 Iron Range miners and their families have been screened as part of an ongoing study into the link between taconite mining and mesothelioma. The study is being directed by the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Health, and funded by the Minnesota State Legislature, which allocated $4.9 million to the project in April 2008.

An investigation into the link between taconite mining – which takes place in what is known as Minnesota’s Iron Range – began when state health officials noted an unusually high incidence of mesothelioma occurring in taconite mine workers. Mesothelioma is traditionally linked only to asbestos exposure. There is a theory that the taconite mineral may contain similar fibers to asbestos mineral.

Researchers began screening workers and their immediate family members in July. According to the news report, researchers say the study is on track. They would like to see about another 1,000 people, however. Analysis of the respiratory is estimated to take another 18 months.

This screening is one part of the comprehensive five-year study. There are four health studies associated with the project, including a mortality study under the direction of the Minnesota Department of Health and related to miner deaths; a cancer rate incidence study; a respiratory health assessment for miners or former miners (and expanded to include spouses or other close family that may have had secondary exposure to taconite dust), and an occupational exposure study.

On Dec. 31, the online celebrity news source, TMZ, revealed that football and television star Merlin Olsen has filed a lawsuit against a number of companies, claiming they are responsible for exposing him to asbestos, resulting in his recent diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma. Companies named in the suit are Sherwin Williams and Lennox Industries, whose products Olsen says he was exposed to during jobs in his youth, but also NBC Studios, NBC Universal, and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. It is unclear from the lawsuit how the television and movie companies contributed to Olsen’s asbestos exposure.

Olsen was a professional football player for the Los Angeles Rams team, and later had a successful career as a sportscaster and actor, most notably on shows “Little House on the Prairie” and “Father Murphy.”

According to the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the defendants “were engaged in the business of manufacturing, fabricating, designing, assembling, distributing, leasing, buying, selling, inspecting, servicing, installing, repairing, marketing, warranting and advertising a certain substance the generic name of which is asbestos.”

News reports say Olsen, with wife Susan by his side, is fighting his mesothelioma and currently undergoing chemotherapy.

Read the complaint.

A December report by the New York Times revealed that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) has inserted language into the government’s proposed health care legislation that would provide coverage specifically for people exposed to asbestos in Libby, Montana. According to the report, language in the bill would expand Medicare coverage to vicitims of “environmental health hazards.”

According to the Times, the language is even more precise, calling for coverage for “individuals exposed to environmental health hazards recognized as a public health emergency in a declaration issued by the fedearl government on June 17.” This declaration and date, of course, coincides with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s designation of Libby as a Public Health Emergency area.

The Times quotes Baucus as saying the language is not only intended for the people of Libby, but for anyone in the future whose town is affected by a similar tragedy that affects the health and well-being of its people. He said the legislation would provide a safety net to “help people when they need it most.”

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed their versions of the health care reform bill last year. It is now up to the 111th Congress as a whole to reconcile the two bills so that they may be presented to President Obama for his signature.

Congressional leaders say they hope to accomplish this by the end of January.