Former asbestos executives found guilty; landmark verdict in Italy

A landmark verdict handed down by a three-judge panel in Turin, Italy, could set a precedent for manufacturers dealing with toxic environmental substances, like asbestos. Following a two-year trial, two former executives of a Swiss building-products company were found guilty on criminal charges, held responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 people who lived and worked around four Italian asbestos cement factories. Asbestos has been proven to cause deadly diseases, including mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, abdomen and, in rare cases, the heart. The verdict was handed down Monday, Feb. 13, 2012.

The defendants were Stephan Schmidheiny, former owner of Eternit, a Swiss building products conglomerate, and Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, a major shareholder in the company. Both were sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of involuntary manslaughter. This verdict marks the first time executives affiliated with an asbestos injury case have been found criminally liable.

Linda Reinstein, president and CEO of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) has been in Italy following the case. In a statement following the verdict, she said, “This is huge international news, as it sets a precedent for future criminal action against company executives who neglect the health and safety of their workers. Corporations and our governments must be responsible and held accountable for human, social, and environmental rights violations. The Eternit case sent a signal around the world…”

Reinstein founded ADAO following her husband Alan’s death, from mesothelioma, in 2006. Under her leadership, the ADAO’s many volunteers and affiliated professionals crusade tirelessly for the rights of workers in the United States and around the world who have been harmed – and who continue to be harmed – by asbestos.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 125 million people are still exposed to asbestos on the job, and more than 100,000 people die each year of mesothelioma or asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs causes by asbestos fibers.

While asbestos manufacturing and use is more rampant in third-world countries that are largely unregulated in regards to the deadly mineral, the ADAO points out that asbestos still has not been completely banned in the United States, which imported nearly 1,000 metric tons of the deadly substance in 2011.

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University theatre, library closed for asbestos removal

The G. R. Little Theatre and the north and south wings of the G.R. Little Library on the campus of Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, NC, are closed until mid-April while crews remove asbestos from the facilities. According to a report by staff writer Kristin Pitts, which appears in the Daily Advance, the asbestos removal is part of a planned renovation that will make the existing facilities more energy efficient. The university is in compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for safe asbestos removal.

According to the news report, university spokeswoman Kesha Williams says that other ECSU buildings could potentially contain asbestos, as the material was commonly used in construction prior to the 1970s. However, the material is generally not dangerous unless it is disturbed. The university was proactive in securing an asbestos abatement company to safely remove the existing asbestos during its remodeling of the library and theatre buildings.

During processes like remodeling and demolition, materials containing asbestos may release microscopic fibers that can be inhaled into the lungs. Inhaled asbestos fibers may cause asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs, or mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that may affect the lining of the chest and lungs, the abdomen, or, more rarely, the heart.

The news report says Clean Air Environmental, Inc., a Winston-Salem based company, has been contracted to remove the asbestos from the library and theatre buildings. Project manager Omar Martinez told the paper that the company is currently completing the second phase of what it expects will be a three-part asbestos removal process. He told the reporter that the company is using “negative airs and amended water to capture any [asbestos] fibers” and workers double-bag hazardous materials and properly dispose of the hazardous waste to ensure the safety of workers, students and others on campus in the area of the project.

Energy-saving equipment planned for the library and theatre buildings include new lighting fixtures and an upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit.

Tags: asbestos, asbestos abatement, asbestos fibers, asbestos removal, asbestosis, Clean Air Environmental, Elizabeth City State University, EPA, Inc., mesothelioma, North Carolina, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Events, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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‘Third wave’ of asbestos victims being diagnosed with mesothelioma

In Australia, which has the highest per capital rate of mesothelioma in the world, doctors and researchers are seeing a new wave of younger people diagnosed. They call these patients the “third wave” or the “bystander wave.”

Mesothelioma is a deadly form of cancer that typically affects the lining of the lungs or abdomen, and it is caused exclusively by exposure to asbestos. The “first wave” of victims were those who worked in mines. In Australia, this was primarily the Wittenoom blue asbestos mine in Pilbara. The second wave was made up of people who worked with asbestos products, usually in factories, shipyards, or as builders and electricians.

The “third wave” of asbestos victims, also called “bystanders,” were just that – simply people who came into contact with people who had asbestos on their clothes, such as family members of asbestos workers, or those who unknowingly came into contact with asbestos through activities such as home renovations.

According to a report in the Brisbane Times, Australia stopped mining asbestos in 1983 and banned it from building products in 2004, for years it was included in upwards of 3,000 products ranging from insulation to brake linings. It is estimated that asbestos was widely used in Australian buildings between 1945 and 1980.

As a result of this “bystander” exposure, medical experts expect to see new cases continue to rise until at least 2020. Even people with only distant or very brief exposure to asbestos 30 or 40 years ago are being diagnosed now.

Mesothelioma is difficult to diagnose. Jane Krsevan, now 47, told to the Brisbane Times she began experiencing problems with fluid on her lungs when she was 34. She chalked it up to her smoking habit and immediately quit. But her symptoms only got worse. She developed stabbing back pain, which doctors thought was possibly a pulled muscle.

As her health continued to deteriorate, finally when she mentioned to a doctor that her father was a builder whom she had watched make insulation boxes for hot water heaters –40 years ago – he put the puzzle pieces together. Two years ago she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. She underwent a pleural pneumonectomy, removing one lung and part of her diaphragm.

Australia’s Asbestos Diseases Research Institute (ADRI) maintains a database of mesothelioma patients. They report the number of cases with no occupational exposure is increasing.

The situation is much the same in the United States, Great Britain, Italy, and other areas of the world. Wherever asbestos has been, death has followed. Despite this grim reality, asbestos is still mined in some countries and is still used regularly in countries such as India. In many places – including the United States – asbestos is still not completely banned.

On a hopeful note, in June Australia’s ADRI researchers presented information to the American Society of Clinical Oncologists meeting in Chicago about a new treatment for mesothelioma. The details have not yet been made public, but the ADRI says clinical trials may begin as soon as later this year.

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Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer tangled up in asbestos injury lawsuits

It seems odd that a company primarily involved in human pharmaceutical research, development and production is on the hook for nearly $1 billion in damages to the victims of asbestos-related diseases. But that’s exactly the situation in which drug maker Pfizer finds itself.

Recently the U.S. Supreme Court declined Pfizer’s appeal to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which decided a number of lawsuits linking Pfizer to a company it previously owned interest could go forward. The Court of Appeals decision allows litigation to proceed that would hold Pfizer accountable for $964 million to be put into a settlement fund for people who have claims related to asbestos exposure resulting in illness and death.

Asbestos is known to cause diseases including asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs, and mesothelioma, a rare and deadly cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, abdomen and occasionally the heart. There is no known cure for mesothelioma. More than 10,000 people each year are diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases.

Pfizer is linked to the litigation because it previously owned Quigley Company, Inc., which made heavy insulation for heavy industry. The purchase was part of a diversification plan that included a minerals, pigments and metals division. The Quigley insulation was used in projects operated by this division.

The Quigley insulation contained asbestos. Quigley filed bankruptcy in 2004, facing 160,000 lawsuits related to asbestos exposure. Pfizer says this bankruptcy should protect it from liability in these lawsuits.

The Courts disagree. Federal Judge Stuart Bernstein issued a ruling that will allow Quigley to exit bankruptcy and hold its former owner, Pfizer, responsible for contributing to the settlement fund.

There are still a number of individual lawsuits not part of the settlement fund that are pending in this litigation. Pfizer says it will contest these lawsuits.

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