Mesothelioma Illinois

The Co-Founder, President & CEO of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization is urging the government to take action and ban the importation of asbestos following the release of a report that documents a spike in U.S. asbestos consumption during the first half of 2011.

Linda Reinstein, who founded the ADAO after her husband became sick with mesothelioma and passed away, wrote in a statement that she was “appalled and shocked” by recent data in the 2012 United States Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries that showed asbestos consumption listed at 1,100 metric tons from January through July of 2011.

The figure represented a substantial increase from the consumption figure of 820 metric tons documented over the same seven month period in the same report one year earlier. The 280 metric ton difference represents a 34 percent increase in consumption.

Reinstein continued that the figures in the report run against the information that the asbestos industry has been arguing for years; that both the importation of asbestos from other countries and the levels of asbestos exposure that the public faces have been in decline.

In the wake of the report, she called on Congress and the President to “immediately prohibit the importation of raw asbestos and asbestos-containing products from crossing our borders to protect public health.”

“Nothing can bring [my husband] or the hundreds of thousands of other victims back to life, but we can begin by aggressively preventing exposure thus eliminating deadly diseases,” she said.

If you or a loved one have been exposed to asbestos fibers and later been diagnosed with mesothelioma, there may be legal options worth pursuing. Call Sokolove Law today to learn more about possibly pursuing a mesothelioma lawsuit.

Asbestos

More than 25 years after leaving her job as a machinist at a factory in England, a woman has died from mesothelioma that ws likely caused by asbestos exposure.

According to the This Is Lincolnshire, 47-year-old Larraine Kirk developed mesothelioma 25 years after she worked as a machinist in a factory between 1980 and 1984. While she was an employee there, she performed repairs on heating pipes that often were lined with asbestos insulation products.

In June 2011 a tumor was found in her bowel. She was eventually diagnosed with mesothelioma, and fought the disease before passing away Last October.

In addition to mesothelioma, asbestos exposure can cause also cause other deadly diseases such as asbestosis and asbestos lung cancer.

If you or a loved one was exposed to asbestos and has since developed mesothelioma, contact Sokolove Law to receive a free legal consultation.

Asbestos

Several areas of a nursing home in Pennsylvania have tested positive for asbestos fibers.

According to WFMZ, the Gracedale Nursing Home facility in Northampton County recently tested positive for asbestos after the deadly fibers were detected in certain areas of the building.

Tom Harp, Northampton County’s director of administration, said that the Gracedale Safety Committee requested asbestos testing for the building after construction work was done that they believed may have exposed some asbestos products.

Harp said that certain areas of the nursing home have been shut down and none of the asbestos fibers became airborne and inhaleable. He noted that the cleanup may costs tens of thousands of dollars.

If you or a loved one has been exposed to asbestos, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation.

Asbestos

Elbert County in Denver, CO has a unique asbestos abatementproject to tackle – that of a public landfill and trash compactor site. The site has historically been used to dispose of roofing and building materials, much of which was from before the mid 1970’s when buildings were routinely constructed with an abundance of asbestos. The landfill has been the primary dumping site for such rubbish but then it is compacted into bundles and shipped off to another landfill.

Concern about asbestos at the site arose when a backhoe company began excavating the grounds in preparation to remove an old missile silo. Local residents in the area called in complaints to authorities that contaminants were being spread by the excavation. Subsequent soil tests and tests to the debris at the landfill showed the presence of asbestos. No charges were filed because the asbestos had not yet gone airborne, but rather was contained to the landfill site.

Upon learning of the presence of asbestos among other environmental contaminants, the excavating was ceased and the area was covered, pending professional asbestos abatement services.

Cory Stark, director of Elbert County Emergency Management determined that the backhoe company, Backhoe Services, was operating without having tested the soil first and without a formal contract with the city. As reported by the Denver Post, Backhoe Services could not be reached for comment.

Stark asserts that there has been no danger to local residents so far as the toxins have been contained. Still, local residents have remained cautious and concerned. They are now taking their trash and debris to an alternate dump site.

Asbestos diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis, andmesothelioma are the unfortunate result of asbestos exposure. If you have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, contact amesothelioma lawyer at Sokolove Law today for a free consultation.

Asbestos

In what was described as the largest asbestos settlement in the history of Missouri, the family of a deceased Jackson County Courthouse employee has settled her asbestos lawsuit for $10 million.

The lawsuit was filed by Nancy Lopez against the U.S. Engineering Co. over the company’s failure to take proper precautions to protect courthouse workers while handling asbestos in the building, according to the Associated Press. In her suit, Lopez, who worked at the courthouse in Kansas City for 27 years, claimed she developedmesothelioma cancer from her asbestos exposure. In October 2010, she passed away from the disease. The asbestos lawsuit settlement was awarded to her family late last month.

If you or a loved one has suffered from asbestos exposure and later developed mesothelioma, call an asbestos attorney at Sokolove Law today for a free consultation.

Asbestos

When repairs were needed on an old nuclear power plant in Surry, VA, contract workers were called in to do the work. Hundreds of workers were hired including electricians, pipe fitters, generallaborers and other contractors from eight different companies. When a dozen workers were caught in a cloud of asbestos after cutting some old pipe, the workers reported the incident. Theexposed workers report that they were told all asbestos-containing pipes would be clearly labeled, but they were not labeled at all.

A state investigation ensued and six of the eight companies involved in the plant restoration work were cleared of blame. The company that was in charge of labeling the asbestos-containing pipes and products and that was tasked with safely removing asbestos from the building was Hopewell-based Quality Specialties Inc. and they were fined $4,900 for not labeling the pipes. The state has targeted one other company – Dominion Power, the electricity supplier for VA and NC and the owner of the power plant — to take partial blame for the incident but have not released details of their investigation.

Asbestos was used when the plant was first built to insulate pipes and other parts of the plant from excessive heat. Asbestos has been widely used for such purposes for the past century, but less so in the past 30 years or so since asbestos exposure was definitively tied tomesothelioma and other types of cancer. Asbestos is only carcinogenic when it is airborne and can be breathed into the lungs. Although any amount of asbestos exposure carries risk,mesothelioma victims are usually people who were once exposed to asbestos at a high concentration for an extended period of time.

A spokesperson for the power plant, Richard Zuercher, attempted to assuage the concern of the exposed workers and their families by asserting there was no danger to them. “Most of the asbestos has been removed and replaced with asbestos-free material, including the area where the workers were,” says Zuercher. “There is some equipment with asbestos at the plant, but it has all been abated.”

Zuercher’s statement was proved false, however, after the State Department of Labor and Industry tested the environment and found asbestos fibers on the clothes of the 12 exposed workers as well as in three of the worker trailers.

Exactly how much asbestos the workers were exposed to is indeterminable because the plant’s owner, Dominion Power, did not have air sampling equipment on site at the time of the incident.

Asbestos

The great-great niece of the founder of the first asbestos mine to ever open in Canada is speaking out against the continued production of asbestos at the Jeffry Mine in Quebec.

Susan Henry is the descendant of Andrew Stuart Johnson, who founded the Johnson Mine Company in Thetford Mines in 1878. However, despite her heritage, Henry opposes governmental support of asbestos production in Canada, particularly the government’s recent decision to promise a $58 million loan guarantee to Westmount-based Balcorp Ltd. to expand the Jeffry Mine into an underground operation.

With the expansion, the mine would be capable of producing 200,000 tons of asbestos annually, the Montreal Gazette reported.

In order to protest the expansion, Henry has partnered with the David Suzuki Foundation over the last three months to launch a letter-writing campaign designed to increase sentiment against the mine expansion.

“Although my great-great uncle, Andrew S. Johnson, founded his mine … in good faith, the intervening years have revealed the very dangerous nature of asbestos,” read a message Henry recently released to foundation members, according to the Gazette. “It is deeply disturbing to me that we are now poised to ramp up exports to developing countries, when we are fully aware of how lethal this mineral can be.”

The campaign aims to send 10,000 messages to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest that oppose the reopening of the Jeffrey Mine. Currently, almost 9,000 letters have been sent.

If you or a loved one have been made sick by asbestos exposure, contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation regarding amesothelioma lawsuit today.

Asbestos