Mesothelioma Law Blog

Automobile Factory Workers Face an Increased Probability for Cancer

n Detroit and elsewhere, the high rate of cancer and other deadly illnesses in America's auto factory workers continues to be a growing concern.

A link between auto workers and cancer began gaining attention in the 1970s. During this time, asbestos-related cancers such as mesothelioma began cropping up in an unusual number of industry employees. The cause, as it turns out, is the extended amount of time that auto employees spent working around asbestos-laden brake pads and clutch plates.

Though asbestos regulation enacted in the 1970s and beyond have significantly limited the amount of asbestos exposure current auto workers are exposed to, the number of new mesothelioma cases continues to rise. This is because mesothelioma has a latency period of between 20 and 50 years. As such, retired auto workers who worked in plants prior to the 1980s are only now experiencing the deadly side effects of working among such hazardous materials.

Though asbestos is now regulated, it is not the only hazardous material found in our nation's auto factories. Hazards that are as old as the auto industry itself include paint vapors and solvents, welding fumes, foundry chemicals, die cast components and carcinogens released during patternmaking.

Since the 1980s, a number of studies have been released that correlate the above list of hazards to a growing number of potentially fatal illnesses. For auto workers specifically, the facts can most easily be summed up by a 1994 study titled "Cancer in the Auto Industry." In the study, the author lists a number of illnesses that can be linked to specific jobs in auto factories. These correlations include:

• Assembly plant workers: Hodgkin's Disease and lung, lymphoma, stomach, pancreas and trachea cancer
• Ball bearing production: pancreas and stomach cancers
• Die casting & electro-plating: lympho-reticulo sarcomas and stomach cancers
• Engine plants: liver and bladder conditions
• Engine and foundry plants: stomach and prostrate cancers
• Maintenance: pancreatic cancer
• Mechanics/Repairmen: stomach, bladder, lymphopoietic and lung cancers
• Millwrights: rectum and lung cancers
• Patternmakers: colon, brain, colorectal and stomach cancers
• Spray Painters: colon cancer
• Tool and die makers: digestive and lymphopoetic cancers
• Welders: lung, pancreas and stomach cancers

Source: Energy Publisher

The Law and Mesothelioma

Asbestos has had a long and controversial legal history behind it. Repeatedly it has come into conflict with the law because of the deadly effects it has had and continues to have on human beings. Since asbestos is used as an industrial product, thousands of industrial workers have had their lives destroyed due to sustained exposure to this mineral. Not only industrial workers, but even their families have been and continue to be at risk. The worst thing is, owners of such industrial companies have willingly jeopardized the lives of their employees in the bid for more profit.

Israel City Has One of Highest Rates of Mesothelioma

The city of Nahariya and surrounding area on the northern coast of Israel has one of the highest concentrations of people with mesothelioma in the world, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

The incidence of the disease in the area reached 5.72 per 100,000 residents between 2002 and 2008, Dr. Micha Bar-Hana, director of the Israel Health Ministry’s cancer registry, said at a conference at Petah Tikva’s Medical Center. That compares to a rate of 3.55 cases per 100,000 people seven years ago.

Nahariya was home to the only asbestos plant in the nation, which was shut down in 1997. Mesothelioma develops several decades after exposure. Most cases involve people who worked with asbestos. Health experts expect the number of cases will go up in coming decades.

The area around Genoa, Italy, has the highest rate of asbestos-related cancer cases in the world with 5.8 cases per 100,000 people, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Dr. Avi Weiner, an expert in work-related diseases in Haifa, said that people who were in close contact with those who were directly exposed also were at risk of developing mesothelioma. He said he’d seen two cases of wives who became ill because their husband’s clothes carried asbestos particles.

Source

Court upholds settlement in asbestos lawsuits

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to let an insurance company settle some asbestos lawsuits for about $500 million in exchange for blocking any future litigation resulting from its long relationship with Johns Manville Corp., once the world's largest producer of asbestos.

Travelers Cos. had been named in lawsuits alleging that it tried to hide dangerous health effects of asbestos. The company argued that asbestos claims must be paid out of a trust created by Johns Manville in the 1980s and approved by a federal bankruptcy judge.

Asbestos is a mineral that was commonly used until the mid-1970s in insulation and fireproofing material. Exposure can increase the risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma and other ailments, according to federal health agencies.

Travelers settled with several groups of plaintiffs in 2004 with the caveat that federal courts make clear the company would not have to face any new similar lawsuits. The 2nd U.S Circuit Court of Appeals overturned lower-court approval of the settlement, saying a bankruptcy judge lacked the authority to act so broadly.

The high court on Thursday overturned that decision and sent the case back to the New York-based federal appeals court.

Source

Gene Tests can provide More Information about Mesothelioma Patients

According to a recently published report a type of gene testing could help to determine certain information about mesothelioma patients. The results of a study were recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, with officials claiming that this certain type of gene testing could determine a couple of important factors.

The gene testing that is at the centre of the study involves looking at the ratios of four genes. Researchers involved in the study have claimed that this type of testing can help to predict the survival odds for mesothelioma patients, enabling medics to work out which patients have the best chances of survival.

Another thing that this type of gene testing can apparently help with is to help determine which mesothelioma patients are likely to make the best candidates for surgery. This could help in the treatment of patients that have this form of cancer, which is notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat.

The report stated: “Patients whose gene ratio test results predict a good prognosis after surgery may more confidently select the treatment option that includes surgery. Patients assigned to the predicted poor outcome group…could be counseled to forgo surgery, which would not benefit them, and to seek best supportive care.”

Source

Marathoner running to raise funds for mesothelioma victims

arathoner Miriam Roche competed in the Edinburgh Marathon on May 31 in honor of her father, who died of mesothelioma, and to raise money for an asbestos support group. Ms. Roche’s father died in April 2006 from the asbestos-related cancer. She describes him as a fit and athletic man before his diagnosis with the disease in late 2005.

For more information and to learn how to support her efforts, go to the Belper News.

Mesothelioma Patient Gambles on Life, Wins Again

A mesothelioma patient who bet bookmakers he would outlive his doctor’s predictions collected his second round of winnings June 1, 2009. Jon Matthews received more than $8,000 yesterday, bringing his total winnings to more than $16,000 so far.

The 59-year-old Buckinghamshire, England resident was diagnosed with mesothelioma in April 2006 and even after undergoing a series of treatments including lung surgery, doctors told him not to make any plans for Christmas of that year.

More

Future Unknown for Texas Mesothelioma Bill

As the end of the 81st regular session of the Texas Legislature draws near, the future is uncertain for many proposed bills. The regular session is set to conclude on June 1st. The state capitol has been humming with activity, but between filibustering speakers and marathon approval session, it seems that many bills will still slip through the cracks.

One bill facing a great deal of scrutiny is Senate Bill 1123, and the companion House Bill 1811. These two bills are designed to change the standards relating to asbestos-related mesothelioma lawsuits in Texas. The new bills would require that plaintiffs introduce proof of the amount of asbestos they were exposed to that triggered the onset of their mesothelioma cancer. The bill hopes to prove causation in order to minimize the number of mesothelioma cases where defendants may have no responsibility.

SB 1123 was authored by state Senator Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. SB 1123 was approved by the Senate in April. However, there was opposition against the bill from both business and legal reform activists. HB 1811 was authored by state Senator Craig Eiland, D-Texas City. HB 1811 has not yet passed, and is currently stuck in the House Committee on the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence.

SB 1123, along with literally hundreds of other bills, did not make it past the House. The deadline for the House to pass new Senate bills was midnight on Tuesday the 26th of May. This means that the fate of SB 1123 is uncertain. Currently, the future fate of this bill is unknown.

Source

Asbestos Cancer Fatalities In US May Peak In 2010

Deaths due to the disease known as Malignant Mesothelioma which is a form of cancer mainly caused by over exposure to asbestos are on a rise in the United States. The Centers Disease Control officials examined death records of people in the US, and to their great surprise found that over 18000 deaths occurred in US between 1999-2005 due to malignant mesothelioma. According to the officials, majority of the deaths that occurred due to mesothelioma were among Caucasian people, with Maine being the highest state

Source

Insurers seek asbestos law review

UK insurers are hoping to overturn a new Scottish law that allows people to claim for past exposure to asbestos.

The Damages Act means Scots with pleural plaques can claim compensation - even though a House of Lords ruling prevents this in the rest of the UK.

Insurers are to go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking a judicial review of Scotland's legislation.

They oppose giving compensation because the condition has no symptoms and causes no pain for those that have it.

Although pleural plaques do not cause or develop into a more serious asbestos-related condition, they do signify an increased risk of developing mesothelioma because of exposure to asbestos.

Diseases such as mesothelioma and lung cancer have been diagnosed in hundreds of Scots - many of them former Clydeside shipyard workers.