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Rabu, 27 Januari 2010

Navy Family wins $1.2 Million Asbestos Lawsuit Award

The family of a retired Navy sailor who developed mesothelioma cancer from his exposure to asbestos on the job has been awarded $1.2 million in damages. Virginia resident Gerald Gray was exposed to asbestos decades ago when he was stationed aboard a ship for four years and following that duty, was stationed at a Navy shipyard. At one time he was the second highest ranking enlisted man in on active Navy duty. The defendant in the case, John Crane Inc. is a company that made asbestos gaskets and packing materials for marine engines.




The only known cause for mesothelioma is asbestos fibers, which can be inhaled without knowledge in the presence of asbestos products that are damaged or aging. The asbestos lawsuit was heard in a Newport News courtroom, where the jury awarded a total of $4 million in damages against five defendants. Four of the defendant companies had settled out of court prior to the verdict, while the John Crane Company chose to fight the accusation. Among the complaints in the case is the fact that asbestos manufacturers such as Crane turned out their products without warning users of the potential danger involved in installing and using asbestos materials.




This is not the first asbestos liability suit the company has faced. In 2008 a San Francisco court awarded a plaintiff suffering from an asbestos-caused disease the sum of $3.9 million; this complaint evolved from the use of Crane asbestos products while working at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.




Navy veterans and shipyard workers have proven to be extremely high risk groupd for the development of mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer - all caused by asbestos. Every shipped commissioned by the Navy between 1930 and the early 1970s was loaded with asbestso, used as insulation for boilers, engine rooms and piping systems. Thirty percent of all mesothelioma victims in the United States are military veterans.




This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 6:14 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


source : http://www.asbestosnews.com/

Asbestos vs Mesothelioma

Unlike most cancer, mesothelioma is almost always caused by just one sourceasbestosexposure. The National Cancer Institute says that up to 80% of all mesothelioma cases are caused by asbestos exposure. However additional causes of the disease are just guesses and include such exotic factors as exposure to a mineral in Turkey called Zeolite and previous infection with the Simian monkey virus. Exposure to radiation may make the development of mesothelioma more likely.




For most of the twentieth century, asbestos was heavily used in the manufacture of all types of insulation, flooring, ceiling tiles, pipe fittings, plaster, caulking, roofing, and other construction products. Any industrial facility or power plant (including naval engine rooms) that generated heat probably had pipes, tanks and other fixtures insulated with asbestos. Some sort of asbestos product was at virtually all construction job sites up to 1985 or so.




Asbestos is a fibrous material that when disturbed, emits fibers into the air which can be inhaled by any nearby worker: a miner, a construction worker, a ship's crewman working around the ship's pipes and boilers, plumbers, carpenters, auto mechanics, workers in the oil business, in power plants, in chemical plants - the list goes on. The list also includes family members of workers that brought home asbestos fibers on their clothing and shoes from the job site.


source : http://www.asbestosnews.com/

Asbestos Prompts EPA’s First Public of Health Emergency

On June 17th the EPA declared its first-ever "public health emergency" in a belated response to the massive outbreak of asbestos related diseases in Libby, Montana. The federal agency has allocated $6 million dollars to pay for healthcare costs related to mesothelioma and other health problems that have developed in Montana residents who worked in and live in the vicinity of the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine located in Libby.




From 1963 until 1990 the Grace corporation operated the vermiculite mine, extracting ore that was used to make insulation and that was contaminated with tremolite asbestos. The ore was shipped all over the nation for insulation production, leading to potential health problems for the workers who manufactured Grace's Zonolite insulation, the workers who installed it and the millions of homeowners who currently live with asbestos contamination in their walls and ceilings.




The grant of funds was made to Lincoln County, Montana, where the two towns of Libby and neighboring Troy are located. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that there are 500 people with asbestos-related illnesses such as lung cancer and asbestosis in the two towns which total 3.900 in population. A spokeswoman for the department said 50 new cases are diagnosed every year, including some in workers' relatives and children who never set foot in a mine.




"I don't think anybody escaped from the exposure," said Montana Senator Jon Tester. "Nearly every family, if not every family, that was exposed to it has some health issues." The deadly asbestos fibers that cause asbestos health problems were carried home on the dusty clothes of mineworkers. Daily operations at the Libby mine and the mill that processed the ore sent clouds of asbestos dust drifting over the area.




Six weeks ago several W.R. Grace executives were acquitted on charges that they knowingly allowed exposure of Libby miners and residents to the asbestos fibers released by their vermiculite ore. However Grace still faces over one hundred thousand asbestos lawsuits and liability claims filed by Montana citizens who have developed mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases.




Asbestos legal experts expect the liability claims to continue for years because of the broad exposure to asbestos that has occurred in the Montana region. The EPA has had the authority to issue public health emergency alerts since 1980; the years of potentially fatal toxic exposure in and around the W.R. Grace mine is their first such emergency declaration.




This entry was posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 6:44 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


source : http://www.asbestosnews.com

About Mesothelioma Tumor

About Mesothelioma Tumor. Mesothelioma Tumor is preventable cancer that is frequently the result of an employer's choice for profits over worker health safety. Mesothelioma Tumor is a result of cancer of the tissues that line our internal organs, including the lungs, called "mesothelium." Mesothelioma Tumor sufferers usually succumb to the cancer within four to 14 months after being diagnosed, though some patients have been known to live longer.




There is no known cure for Mesothelioma, and treatment for Mesothelioma Tumor has not advanced far since the 1980s.

Peritoneal Of Mesothelioma

All About Mesothelioma. There is a lot of depressing information on the internet about peritoneal mesothelioma and the survival associated with this cancer. Reading it you would think that no one has ever survived peritoneal mesothelioma beyond a year or so. This information is far from comprehensive. To help balance some of the negative information that is so prevalent on the Web, we present some case histories of long-term peritoneal mesothelioma survival as published in the peer reviewed medical literature. 9 Years +




In November 1979, a 73 year-old man had abdominal pain and distension and was found to have an abdominal mass. A laparotomy was performed that revealed peritoneal malignancy with ascites. A biopsy demonstrated that the tumor was malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. No special treatment was recommended other than draining of the ascites. In spite of the continuing ascites and the gradually-enlarging abdominal masses, the patient enjoys good health, and lives independently at home. How many more years (in excess of 9) this patient lived with peritoneal mesothelioma is not known.




See: Norman, P.E. and Whitaker, D., Nine-Year Survival in a Case of Untreated Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Med J Aust 1989; 150: 43-44.




15 Years +




A woman was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. She had surgery ("total excision"). Seven years later the peritoneal mesothelioma recurred and she had another surgery ("reexcision"). She remains well 15 years after the initial diagnosis. The patient did not receive chemotherapy.




See: Asensio, J.A., et al., Primary Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma: A Report of Seven Cases and a Review of the Literature, Arch Surg; Nov 1990, 125, 1477-1480.




17 + Years




In 1962, a 31 year-old woman had abdominal pain for several months and a mass was detected. She underwent exploratory laparotomy which found tumor nodules spread throughout her abdomen. The diagnosis of peritoneal mesothelioma was made. Complete surgical removal of the tumor was not possible. She was treated with radioactive phosphorus, radiation, and oral chemotherapy (cytoxan). She remained well for 17 years. In 1979 she had recurrent peritoneal mesothelioma. She was treated with cytoxan again and continued to live as of the writing of the published medical report.


Source:-http://mesothelioma-lawyershouston.blogspot.com/2009/06/peritoneal-mesotheliom

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