“For every life lost to asbestos, a shattered family is left behind.” This is the motto and the message of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) co-founder Linda Reinstein. Linda, who now serves as ADAO’s executive director, became an activist on behalf of the victims of asbestos disease in 2003, when her husband Alan was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He passed away in May 2006.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, which Linda established in 2004 along with co-founder Doug Larkin,  is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving as the voice for all asbestos victims. Its mission includes education, outreach, networking for asbestos victims, and especially working to accomplish a complete ban of asbestos in the United States. ADAO has gotten a U.S. Senate resolution to officially declare April 1 as Asbestos Awareness Day, and hosts an annual Asbestos Awareness Day Conference to increase awareness and help prevent future exposure.

This year, the Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson supported National Asbestos Awareness Week, the first week of April, and issued a statement about the deadly health hazard posed by asbestos.

Since co-founding ADAO, Linda has globally united countless individuals and families who have been affected by asbestos related diseases, including mesothelioma and asbestosis. She also has worked to produce awareness materials including a slide show called “Asbestos Kills,” and other educational materials including an internationally distributed online book, “Reflections,” which features articles from renowned global experts.

Last week, the ADAO launched a new resource center page on its web site, and issued a call to action for those of us in the mesothelioma community to push for a complete ban on asbestos in the United States by contacting our Congressional representatives.

There is an easy way to do it – just visit www.banasbestos.us and click on the link that says “Write Your Congressman,” which is on the home page. This will take you to a form you can fill out, and it will automatically send the message to your Congressional delegates. Remember, YOU shoud be THEIR voice on Capitol Hill!

“I need them to feel our pain,” Reinstein said. “Asbestos victims – patients, families, caregivers -  are turning their anger to action, across the nation, working for the difference we can make, together.”

Pictured above, Linda Reinstein with her and Alan’s daughter Emily. The flag is in recognition of Alan’s military service to his country.

A recent study published in the September 2009 issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reports workers at four U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities have elevated risks for developing cancer, and former construction workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state are 11 times more likely to develop mesothelioma, in particular.

The study, Mortality of Older Construction and Craft Workers Employed at Department of Energy (DOE) Sites, was funded by the DOE and involved a medical screening program that began in 1996 and followed older construction workers at four DOE nuclear weapons complex sites. Sites in the study were Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina; Hanford near Richland, Wash.; and facilities at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Amchitka, Alaska.

The study indicated Hanford workers were 11 times more likely to develop mesothelioma, and three times more likely to develop multiple myeloma, a cancer found in white blood cells. Additionally, Hanford workers died of asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs resulting from asbestos inhalation, at rates 30 times higher than the general population. The study also found higher rates of deaths from cancers of the trachea, bronchus and lungs among Hanford workers.

According to the report, significantly excess mortality was observed for all cancers, lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis at all four sites studied. Additionally, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was in excess at Oak Ridge and multiple myeloma was in excess at Hanford. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was significantly elevated among workers at the Savannah River Site.

Workers participating in the study, called the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program, were followed to determine their vital status and mortality experience through Dec. 31, 2004. There were 8,976 workers included in the initial screening program, all of whom had participated in the building trades at the sites. Their data was gathered between 1998 and 2004, and compared to the National Death Index.

Approximately 31 percent of the people in the study – or close to 3,000 workers – had done construction work at the Hanford facility. Since the beginning of the study, 266 Hanson workers had passed away, and 94 of those deaths were attributed to cancer. That number reflects 14 more cancer deaths than would be expected in the general U.S. population.

According to its web site, the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program was developed to identify health problems caused by hazardous substances that workers may have been exposed to while working on a Department of Energy site. It is led by the CPWR, The Center for Construction Research and Training, in Washington, D.C. The consortium includes the University of Cincinnatie Medical Center (Ohio), Duke University Medical Center (N.C.), and Zenith Administrators, Inc., Seattle, Wash. The program is sponsored by the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO and endorsed by various state and local Building and Construction Trades Councils.

Additional sources:

Seattle PI
Aiken Standard
The News Tribune

An Australian artist, photographer Chris Ireland, has created an emotional exhibit titled “Breathe,” which captures the feelings of 14 women who have lost their husbands to mesothelioma and other asbestos cancer and disease. Ireland spent time with each woman in an effort to understand her particular story, and to create a photo that would attempt to convey not only her emotions, but a bit of the man she loved.

The exhibit debuted at the Australian Centre for Photography on July 17 (ended Aug. 22) and will next be featured at Latrobe Regional Gallery beginning Sept. 5 and running through October 4.

According to a World News Australia report about the project, Ireland was inspired with the idea for the exhibit after learning about mesothelioma in his mid-teens when a friend’s father passed away from the disease. He feels that the fact that mesothelioma is currently incurable adds to the poignancy of the loss, and says he hopes that by sharing these ladies’ stories, he can help raise awareness about the dangers of exposure to asbestos.

The World News quotes Ireland as saying, “…these ladies have gone through pain, they deserve to be heard and other people should avoid the same process.”

More information about the exhibit, including its striking images, can be found at Chris Ireland’s web site.

The Latrobe Regional Gallery is located at 138 Commercial Road, Morwell VIC. The exhibit will be open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) reported this week that the New South Wales Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that it will impose penalties against seven former directors and three executives of  James Hardie Industries Limited. James Hardie is a manufacturer of Fiber Cement Siding and Backerboard. The court said the former Australian listed entity (JHIL) breached the Corporations Act in 2001 when making statements about the adequacy of asbestos compensation funding. The court also ruled James Hardie Industries NV (JHINV, based in the Netherlands) breached its continuous disclosure obligation in 2003.

James Hardie was one of Australia’s largest manufacturers of asbestos building products, and was alleged to have known the dangers of asbestos for decades.

The current proceedings came about as a result of ASIC’s investigation of matters identified by the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation. James Hardie established the foundation, which was intended to compensate families who lost loved ones to asbestos disease, in 2001. The inquiry into the MRCF was established in 2004, and the commission found that James Hardie industries deliberately underfunded the victims’ compensation fund

According to a report by Nonee Walsh of ABC News, who has been following the story since 2003, James Hardie has spent about $25 million so far fighting the ASIC’s case, while asbestos victims and their families have been simultaneously negotiating for new funding for the foundation. Payments to the new asbestos compensation foundation are currently suspended.

Walsh also noted that Australia has one of the highest rates of asbestos disease in the world, including asbestos-caused lung cancer, mesothelioma. In 2003, when the sale of all asbestos products was finally banned in Australia, the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission went on record as saying there is no known safe level of asbestos exposure.

The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos exposure, and there is currently no known cure. Mesothelioma most often affects the lining of the chest cavity and lungs, but also may affect the lining of the abdomen or, more rarely, the heart. Asbestos exposure also causes a variety of other diseases, including asbestos, a severe scarring of the lungs.

It is estimated that the levels of asbestos disease will not peak in Australia until 2020, when it is expected that there will be 13,000 cases of mesothelioma and up to 40,000 cases of other asbestos-related lung cancer and disease.

The New South Wales Supreme Court imposed financial penalties totaling $750,000,  and said the company directors and executives named in the case will be barred from serving other boards of directors for between 5 and 15 years.

According to the ASIC, the James Hardie decision underlines the responsibility of companies to assess and check the veracity of statements make to the market. ASIC Chairman Tony D’Aloisio said, “The decision is another important step in improving corporate governance in Australia and that improvement will add confidence to the integrity of our markets.”

The matter will return to the Court on August 27, at which time the Court will make orders reflecting the penalties. The defendants will then have 28 days to appeal the findings.

This week the Lung Cancer Alliance announced a big step forward in raising awareness and establishing real support for lung cancer research. The agency announced Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) has agreed to cosponsor the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act of 2009, S.332.

This important legislation authorizes a five-year program to reduce the mortality rate of lung cancer, which continues to be the number one cancer killer.

Even though mesothelioma is not technically classified as “lung cancer” because it affects the lining of the chest and lungs, and can also affect the lining of the abdomen and the heart, I am excited to see real progress being made in this area. Funding for research and treatment of lung cancer can only benefit victims of mesothelioma – pleural in particular, affecting the lungs – as well as other asbestos-related diseases that affect the lungs, such as abestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs.

The bill will require the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Defense and Veterans Affairs to combine forces on a comprehensive, coordinated plan of action with funding authorized for five years to accomplish mortality reduction goals.

Of particular interest is a requirement in the bill directing the Secretaries of Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans’ Affairs (VA) to implement an early detection and disease management program for military personnel who are at high risk of lung cancer because of exposure to carcinogens during active duty. As the mesothelioma community knows, many veterans, particularly those who served in the U.S. Navy, now suffer from mesothelioma as a result of the widespread use of asbestos on Navy vessels for years.

According to the LCA, the bill includes specific authorizations of $75,000,000 for certain National Institutes of Health (NIH) agencies in FY10 and authorizes such additional sums as may be necessary for all the cited agencies to accomplish the goal for FY2010 through FY2014.

Read more at the LCA web site.

A startling new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization, says a new study reveals more cancers than previously thought are related to exposure to asbestos fibers. Results of the study were published this summer in the Lancet Oncology journal.

The findings were part of an article published in the July 19 edition of the Guardian, which says medical researchers now believe that the danger of asbestos exposure may have been “seriously underestimated.”

Asbestos disease – particularly mesothelioma – is a looming epidemic in the UK, expected to peak in the middle of the next decade, resulting in about 5,000 deaths each year, according to figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Many of these deaths will be a result of secondary exposure, in addition to more typical industrial type exposure, the agency says.

The Guardian article says “patterns of premature fatalities” among such professions as electricians, plumbers, garage mechanics, and even teachers and hairdressers” are now being reported.

Additionally, the government’s Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) estimates that as many as 90,000 people each year may be developing pleural plaques – an early indicator of asbestos contamination in the chest cavity and lungs. There is a debate currently raging in the UK to determine whether or not people diagnosed with pleural plaques are eligible to sue for compensation for their injury. A 2007 House of Lords judgment barred these claimants, saying pleural plaques “do not alter the structure of the lungs or restrict their expansion.”

However, proponents for the rights of those with pleural plaques to sue point out that this early asbestos disease could develop into more serious diseases including asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs, and mesothelioma, a deadly cancer.

According to the Guardian, more than half of all work-related deaths from six major cancers in the UK are related to asbestos. Additionally, studies estimate that as many as 125 million people around the world work in asbestos-contaminated offices and factories, even if asbestos is not actively used in any manufacturing or other activity at that facility.

Now, the IARC study says “sufficient evidence is now available to show that asbestos also causes cancer of the larynx (throat) and of the ovary.”

In researching for my upcoming visit to Washington, D.C., to attend the International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma, I was encouraged to find some news from the office of Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). He has recently gone on the record with strong objections to the continued use of asbestos in America and around the world. Asbestos, of course, is linked to mesothelioma as its only proven cause.

In a news release from his office on Capitol Hill, Kucinich says, “Asbestos is a highly toxic material that has no place in construction projects here or anywhere else, especially when viable alternatives are available.” In the past, asbestos was used for fire protection, but there are other modern materials available now that preclude the necessity for using asbestos. Still, it is included in many construction materials today, including roofing shingles.

The statement was spurred by a letter of inquiry that Kucinich spearheaded, to urge The World Bank to finalize a construction guidance that would drastically reduce the use of asbestos in new construction projects. The report was commissioned in 2006, and completed in 2008, but its release has been stalled. Kucinich, joined by four other members of Congress, urged World Bank to release the guidance immediately.

The World Bank is not a bank in the usual sense, but  is a source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries worldwide. It is made up of two development institutions owned by 185 member countries. The World Bank carries out projects and provides a wide variety of analytical and advisory services to help meet the development needs of individual countries and the international community.

Regarding asbestos, the 2009 Guidance says, “Health hazards from breathing asbestos dust include asbestosis, a lung scarring disease, and various forms of cancer … Mesothelioma, a signal tumor for asbestos exposure, occurs among workers’ family members from dust on the workers’ clothes and among neighbors of asbestos air pollution point sources. Some experimental animal studies show that high inhalation exposures to all forms of asbestos for only hours can cause cancer.”

Kucinich says, “Global asbestos use is on the rise at the very time it should be eliminated.”

Read the full text of the 17-page Guidance on Asbestos.

Reuters news service reported on Friday that W.R. Grace & Co. stock value jumped 36 percent following the company’s aquittal on criminal charges. The company, along with seven of its executives, had been on trial since Feb. 19 in the U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana.

A federal grand jury charged the company and executives in February 2005 with knowingly exposing workers at its vermiculite asbestos mine, and residents of the nearby town of Libby, Montana, to deadly asbestos fibers. A June 2008 Supreme Court decision upheld the grand jury’s findings and allowed the case to proceed to trial.

However, on Friday, May 8, a jury aquitted the company and five of the executives of all criminal charges. Two company executives had already been dismissed during the trial proceedings.

Asbestos exposure is linked to serious health problems, including asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs, and mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that affects the lining of the lungs and, more rarely the stomach and/or heart. Studies of former W.R. Grace & Co. miners, and residents of nearby Libby, have indicated that 227 people have died to date from asbestos disease, and there are more than 1,800 active cases of asbestos disease. Of that number, 77 deaths are attributed to secondary, non-occupational exposure, affecting people who never worked in the mine.

W.R. Grace & Co. is based in Columbia, Maryland, and is worth $945 million, according to the Reuters report. The news agency reports the stock value has now doubled in 2009, at $13.06 per share, after a four-year low of $2.96 in November.

The W. R. Grace & Co. criminal trial continues in Missoula, Montana, but this week two executives on trial for environmental crimes have been dismissed from the case. Robert Walsh was dismissed Monday, and William McCraig was dismissed from the case Thursday morning. Judge Donald Molloy is presiding over this case. Defense attorneys have been seeking to have the entire case dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct, but on April 29 Judge Molloy issued an order not to dismiss the case.

The trial began Feb. 19 in U.S. District Court. A federal grand jury charged W.R. Grace & Co. in February 2005, along with seven of the company’s executives and managers. In June 2008, a Supreme Court decision upheld the grand jury’s findings and the court date was set. The company and its executives are charged with knowingly exposing workers at the Libby, Montana mine, and residents of the town of Libby, to hazardous asbestos.

The asbestos is found in vermiculite, which was mined in Libby for many years. Hundreds of people in Libby have died as a result of asbestos-related diseases, including asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs, and mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that affects the lining of the lungs and, less commonly, the stomach and/or the heart.

W.R. Grace defense lawyers are currently presenting their case to the court. It is estimated that the case will go to the jury by the end of next week.

If you are interested in following this case, there is an excellent blog site, Grace Case, which is a joint project of the School of Law and the School of Journalism at the University of Montana. The site provides reports from the courtroom from either a news or legal analysis standpoint, depending on which students are filing the posts.

A video produced by WorkSafe BC (the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia), which is dedicated to promoting workplace health and safety for the workers and employees of the province, provides a fascinating glimpse of how asbestos fibers affect the body. British Columbia is the westernmost Canadian province, and WorkSafe BC serves areas including Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, BC Interior and BC North.

The short video mainly illustrates asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs caused by the inhalation of microscopic asbestos fibers. However, these fibers also can cause mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that most often affects the lining of the lungs, but which also can affect the stomach and/or the heart.

According to WorkSafe BC, since the year 2000, more workers in BC have died from asbestos disease than any other workplace injury.

Watch the video!