I was recently sent a link to a story in USA Today about a new health study in North Dakota. According to the report, the North Dakota Department of Health, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the University of Cincinnati, are looking for North Dakota residents who have been exposed to erionite dust.

Erionite is a mineral with microscopic fibers similar to asbestos. Health officials are concerned that, like asbestos, the erionite fibers can lodge in the body and cause diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma.

The story notes that the erionite has been used extensively as gravel in road construction throughout western North Dakota. About 50 volunteers are needed for a study, with health officials focusing on those exposed to erionite dust for 20 years or more. Good candidates for participation in the study are those who worked on road crews or gravel pits.

People participating in the study will receive chest x-rays and CT scans, which will then be sent to a research team at the University of Cincinnati, which is overseeing the testing.

Erionite is positively linked to mesothelioma in Turkey, althought the type of erionite found in North Dakota is slightly different from that found in Turkey, according to the news story. However, both have microscopic fibers similar in length and width to those found in asbestos.

Erionite has been under investigation as a concern in North Dakota since 2006, when testing began in Dunn County, particularly in the area of the Kildeer Mountains. The state Health Department requested the EPA test the fibers, and it determined at that time that erionite fibers were similar to asbestos fibers, which can be easily inhaled if they are disturbed and become airborne.

For more information, read the Erionite Fact Sheet provided by the state Department of Health and EPA, or visit the Erionite Information page on the Department’s web site.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Feb. 5 that Anderson-Wilcox Corp. and Cutting Edge Concepts II LLC agreed to pay a fine of $300,000 for improper removal and disposal of asbestos at a New Haven, Conn., site. The fine is part of a settlement agreement between the companies, the EPA, and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Connecticut.

According to the EPA news release, the companies were fined for improperly removing and disposing of asbestos from a historic property that was undergoing renovation and construction. Despite knowing that asbestos was prevalent in the structure, built in the 1800s, the EPA said the companies instructed subcontractors to remove asbestos-containing materials such as vinyl floor tile from the building and to throw it into standard open trash dumpsters.

By failing to use extreme caution in handling asbestos-containing materials, the company put its workers and the public at risk. Asbestos fibers are deadly when they are disturbed, as in demolition work, which releases them into the atmosphere. Inhaled asbestos fibers may cause a variety of asbestos-related diseases including asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs that impairs breathing, and mesothelioma, a deadly cancer.

The effects of asbestos exposure may not become apparent for years after exposure, when they manifest to cripple or kill.

Just last week, I was invited to participate in a good-intentioned project to help renovate a building for use by a charity group. The notice announced plans to tear down sheet rock, pull down ceilings and rip up flooring, and I shuddered at the thought of potential asbestos exposure.

It still boggles my mind that people are not aware of the potential hazards in tasks that seem harmless and even helpful.

If you are planning to undertake a building renovation project, please, please consider calling an asbestos abatement expert to have the structure inspected for possible asbestos hazards before you begin. Extreme caution should be used - and in many cases is required by law - when handling asbestos-containing materials.

Residents of Eden and Lowell, Vermont who live within a 10 mile radius of the old Belvedere Mountain Asbestos Mine are being warned by the state Department of Health that they are at increased risk of illness as a result of their exposure to the mine. The warning is a result of the Vermont Asbestos Group Mine Health Study, which examined the impact of a currently inactive asbestos mine and mill that operated from the early 1900s until 1993.

According to the Department, the asbestos ore was mined from open pits producing chrysotile asbestos. The site is made up of a network of mine and mill buildings and structures, and two significant mill tailings piles estimated at 29-20 million tons. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has been investigating the property due to significant erosion in the asbestos waste piles, which they believe is migrating off site into nearby streams and wetlands.

An official news release from the Vermont Department of Health dated Nov. 6 said there is an immediate need for additional investigation of the impact of the mine, and the potential for increased asbestos-related health risks for people who live nearby. The EPA is in the early stages of evaluating the site for potential listing on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), which would make it eligible for federal funding for a comprehensive cleanup of the site, according to the release.

The Health Department is hampered in its evaluation of the impact of the mine because there is not much information available about the levels of exposure - whether people inhaled asbestos, where, how much, or over what period of time.

The statement quotes Health Commissioner Wendy Davis, MD, as saying, “It is extremely important that Vermonters stay off the mine, and we recommend that you contact your health care provider if you are concerned that you may have been exposed to asbestos.”

A report by FOX Channel 44 serving Burlington and Plattsburgh featured an interview with an Eden resident who wished to remain anonymous. The resident is quoted as saying there was so much asbestos drifting from the mine that at some times the ground appeared to be dusted with snow.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. will pay a civil penalty of $55,000 to the State of Massachusetts for a violation of its Clean Air Act and Consumer Portection Act following the improper removal of asbestos from a customer’s home. The story in the Wicked Local Pembroke reports Sears contractors improperly removed asbestos when replacing a boiler in October 2004.

The news agency reports that the complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court notes that Sears assured its customer that it could remove an existing boiler, which contained asbestos insulation, and replace it with a new one, safely and cost-effectively. The complaint says Sears assured the customer the workers would be properly licensed and trained.

However, the workers who arrived to complete the work - a plumber and second subcontractor - were not licensed or trained to handle asbestos. The complaint notes that the workers removed the existing boiler wearing no protective gear, did not seal the area, and dropped the boiler, breaking it open and releasing asbestos into the air when the insulation crumbled. The workers cleaned up the spilled asbestos insulation material with their bare hands, and disposed of it in regular black trashbags, the Wicked Local reports.

Asbestos dust was released into the air in the customers’ basement and first-floor area, exposing them to carcinogens. Asbestos is linked to the development of asbestos related diseases including mesothelioma and asbestosis.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), contractors need to determine whether asbestos is present pior to conducting any renovation or demolition activity. Companies doing work on a project that possibly contains asbestos are required to hire a Division of Occupational Safety (DOS) certified asbestos abatement contractor.

If asbestos is present, there are MassDEP requirements for anyone handling asbestos, including special supplies and equipment, specific work practices including setting up a containment area, air filtration equipment, packaging and labeling of waste. If the area is contaminated by improper handling of asbestos, MassDEP says, cleanup procedures specific to the job are required.

Contractors should check with their state office of Environmental Protection or Occupational Safety before beginning any project that may involve asbestos, as regulations may vary from state to state.

According to the Massachusetts complaint, Sears subcontractors never notified their Department of Environmental Protection or filed an Asbestos Notification Form when removing the boiler.

The Wicked Local reports part of the settlement will require Sears to develop and implement a customized asbestos training program for salespeople and managers, and to provide enhanced supervision on all jobs where asbestos may be present.

Last week, I mentioned that I’d come across an interesting story about a jazz musician and noted writer in Britain, who released a recording of his work begun in 1973. Keith Shadwick was a professional musician in Australia at the time, and he, along with drummer Gary Norwell, had formed a band called Sun, with a few other musicians. The group released one album, but then broke up. Keith and Gary recorded several jazz tracks before going their separate ways, and Keith revived the project off and on, in the mid 1980s and again in 2005 when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

A British record label, Candid Records, agreed to release the CD, and Keith recruited a number of musicians to fill in the gaps on the tracks to finally see the project through. The CD was called Free Time, a name initally selected because the original tracks recorded in 1973-74 were done during a recording studio’s down time, when a friend who worked there was able to lend Keith and Gary the space. But the liner notes, penned by Keith to tell the story of how the recording came together, tend to more solemn reflection.

“Then suddenly completion is in front of you and there is no free time anymore,” he writes, and it’s easy to see the dual implication of a completed project and a completed life.

Keith passed away just as the CD was pressed, and it is unlikely he saw it in its final form.

The special edition release of Free Time is available only through the Candid Records web site, and is shipped from the UK. Cost is £9.99 plus shipping, which totals around $24 U.S. once you figure in the exchange rate. But all proceeds from the sales will go to Bart’s Mesothelioma Research, an organization in Britain dedicated to the treatment of mesothelioma.

I received my CD yesterday. Full of free-spirited modern jazz tunes highlighting Keith on saxophone, the CD is joyful and jamming and sometimes poignant. It is perhaps hardest to comprehend when mesothelioma steals the breath of those who create music, before it steals their life.

An article published by the Daily Inter Lake, which serves Northwest Montana, reports on a new study by Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a pulmonologist affiliated with the Center For Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) in Libby, Montana. Dr. Whitehouse’s study, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, predicts an epidemic of mesothelioma cases in Libby in the next 10-20 years.

Dr. Whitehouse, along with four other physicians including CARD’s Dr. Brad Black, studied 31 mesothelioma cases, including 11 cases not previously reported. The study focused specifically on non-occupational asbestos exposure, including exposure to contamination of the community, the surrounding forested area, and areas in proximity to the Kootenai river and the railroad tracks used to haul vermiculite.

It is estimated that more than 200 people in Libby have died from asbestos-related disease, and CARD is following 2,000 additional asbestos cases. CARD primarily serves Libby residents who were affected by the W.R. Grace-operated vermiculite mine, which was in operation for many years, and at high capacity from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Focus has recently shifted to include people suffering from asbestos disease and mesothelioma who never came into direct contact with the vermiculite mining operation. In June, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency announced an $8 million grant to fund a five-year study of the effects of low-level asbestos exposure.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Asbestos Committee held public meetings July 21 and 22 in Washington, D.C., to discuss changes in the way it measures the risk posed by inhalation exposure to asbestos. Results of this meeting are coming under fire, as environmental groups, labor safety leaders, physicians, scientists and politicians object to the EPA’s proposed revised evaluation standards.

According to recent report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, there were 20 experts appointed to the SAB’s asbestos panel, charged with evaluating the validity of the EPA’s plan to change how the toxicity of the six types of asbestos regulated by the government differ in danger. Its findings would be submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

According to the PI report, scientific advisors say the EPA used the asbestos panel to submit new studies that contradict longstanding research into the dangers of asbestos. The new studies say chrysolite, in particular, the most common type of asbestos, isn’t dangerous and doesn’t cause mesothelioma.

PI quotes Dr. David Egilman, an occupational medicine specialist, who testified at the public meeting, as saying the new study was financed by mining and other asbestos-related industries, and said the studies have no scientific credibility.

Another vocal spokesperson at the hearing was Sen. Patty Murray, who sponsored S. 742, the Ban Asbestos in America Act of 2007, which passed the Senate on Oct. 4, 2007. Currently, it is the companion bill to H.R. 3339, the Bruce Vento Ban Asbestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act, sponsored by Rep. Betty McCollum, which currently is in committee in the House of Representatives.

Sen. Murray has long been an advocate for a total asbestos ban, calling for better worker protection. The PI quotes Sen. Murray as telling the committee, “I’d like the political appointees at the EPA to look into the eyes of a mesothelioma patient and say that asbestos isn’t dangerous. It appears that this administration is once again putting politics before public health.” Murray is currently chairwoman of the Senate Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee.

The EPA asserts the new system is needed to improve how asbestos-contaminated Superfund sites are evaluated. The organization can move forward with its proposal without approval from the OMB or the SAB, if it so chooses.

This is a reminder to those who haven’t yet contacted their representative in U.S. Congress about H.R. 3339, the Bruce Vento Ban Asbestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act. Please take the time to do this right now! It’s very important to let your Representative on Capitol Hill know that you support this measure to finally ban asbestos in the U.S. and provide funding for mesothelioma research.

The bill is currently in committee, with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Even if your district’s representative is not on this committee, it is important to let him or her know that you support the bill so that they know how to vote. The more voices they hear from their constituency, the better chance they will pay attention when this finally comes to the House floor.

If your representative IS a member of this committee, it is even more important. Many bills “die” in committee, never making it to a vote of the full House or Senate. Please make sure your representative helps get this bill approved in committee and to the floor for its vote.

My representative, Terry Everett (2nd District, Alabama), acknowledged his receipt of my request with a letter, in which he said he will keep my thoughts in mind should the bill make it to the floor, although he is not a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

According to information provided by Everett’s office, H.R. 3339 would require several actions to be taken by the federal government in addressing asbestos and its harmful effects. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would establish a plan to increase awareness of the dangers posed by asbestos-containing materials in homes and workplaces and encourage participation in research and treatment endeavors of asbestos-related disease patients.

The bill also would require the disposal of asbestos-containing materials within two years and the prohibition on the importing, manufacturing, processing or distributing of asbestos-containing materials, except for specific exemptions sought by the Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

If you are not sure of the representative for your Congressional District, visit the House of Representatives online. You can also find out here if your representative is a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Please take the time to do this today. Your one voice is SO important. Let it join thousands of others to finally make a real difference.

Today Alfacell, the manufacturer of ONCONASE, announced it will begin distribution of the mesothelioma drug in Israel. The company will partner with Megapharm, Ltd., a leading pharmaceutical company in Israel. ONCONASE recently completed an international confirmatory Phase IIIb clinical trial for unresectable malignant mesothelioma.

The news comes just a day after Haaretz.com, a leading news outlet in Israel, noted that asbestos-related cancer is 10 times more prevalent in Nahariya, a city of approximately 50,000 located in the North District of Israel on the Mediterranean sea, just south of the Lebanese border at Rosh HaNikra, than it is in the rest of the country. The report is based on data submitted by the chief doctor of the Health Ministry’s Acre District.

The medical report was presented to the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee, which is currently calling for greater action from Nahariya’s government to address the problem. The story quotes Tamar Bar On, head of the Environment Ministry’s Asbestos Department, as saying that “between 70 to 150 thousand cubic meters of asbestos [can] be found scattered across the Western Galilee, mainly in private yards.”

Committee MK Yossi Beilin (Meretz) has been selected by the committee to chair a panel dedicated to addressing the asbestos problem in Nahariya.

Alfacell will manufacture and supply ONCONASE to Megapharm, while Megapharm will be responsible for all activities and costs related to regulatory filings and commercial activities in a defined marketing territory, according to an Alfacell press release.

ONCONASE is a first-in-class therapeutic product candidate based on Alfacell’s proprietary ribonuclease (RNase) technology. A natural protein isolated from the leopard frog, ONCONASE has been shown in the laboratory and clinic to target cancer cells while sparing normal cells. ONCONASE triggers apoptosis, the natural death of cells, via multiple molecular mechanisms of action.

ONCONASE has been granted fast track status and orphan-drug designation for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma by the FDA. Additionally, ONCONASE has been granted orphan-drug designation in the European Union and Australia.

I was very sad today to learn that Rear Admiral Phil Coady, U.S. Navy (Ret.) passed away yesterday, June 30. Admiral Coady served as Chairman of the Board for the Lung Cancer Alliance, and was kind enough to share his story with this blog in April. A non-smoker, Coady was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in 2005. The diagnosis spurred him to advocacy, particularly on behalf of Veterans.

Although Coady didn’t suffer from mesothelioma, he was very much aware of the risks posed by asbestos. His work during his time in the Navy very often put him in contact with the substance, he said, and seven of his friends died from mesothelioma since his retirement. In addition, for 10 years following his retirement, Coady worked as president of the Navy Mutual Aid Association, a non-profit veterans benefit group and life insurance service, where he said he saw what he thought was a disproportionate amount of lung cancer deaths.

When he began investigating lung cancer research efforts, Adm. Coady was shocked at the relatively few dollars spent by the Veterans Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense, considering the number of veterans affected by the disease. He also was disappointed at the overall lack of funding for lung cancer research in comparison to spending on other cancers, especially since lung cancer is the leading cancer killer.

He dedicated himself as Chairman of the Board for the Lung Cancer Alliance, fighting the battle for lung cancer awareness and funding under the organization’s motto “No More Excuses. No More Lung Cancer.” He led efforts in lobbying Congress to make lung cancer a national health priority.

Just last week, Coady saw some of the first fruits of his efforts, when Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate creating and authorizing at least $75 million for lung cancer research. This is the first ever multi-agency, comprehensive program targeted at reducing lung cancer mortality.

Perhaps the best memoriam Adm. Coady could receive is for supporters of lung cancer awareness and research to contact their U.S. Senators NOW and ask them to add their support to S. 3187, the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act. Remember him and take action for those to come after him! You can view his obituary here.

Blessings to Adm. Coady’s family at this time of loss.