Mesothelioma & Asbestos: An Introduction

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that attacks the body's mesothelial cells around the organs. The mesothelium provides a protective membranous lining for the internal organs and allows moving organs (i.e. the heart and the lungs) to glide easily against adjacent structures. The names of the three regions of mesothelial cells that provide protective coating are 1) pleura, the sac which surrounds the lungs; 2) peritoneum, the lining which protects the abdominal cavity; and 3) pericardium, the sac which surrounds the heart. Three different types of mesothelioma cancer attack these three different regions.


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Science: Asbestos ruling supports payouts

A move by insurers to stop paying out to people diagnosed with a condition showing asbestos exposure has failed. A High Court judge ruled thousands of people with pleural plaques - scarring on the lung lining - were still entitled to compensation.

But the money they could claim, previously £5-£15,000, was reduced.

Norwich Union, Zurich and British Shipbuilders, who took the case, said the condition did not impair quality of life or lead to more serious diseases.

'Anxiety' compensation

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More lawsuit limitations for Texans may be in the offing

A man who developed cancer after working around asbestos is urging lawmakers to keep people like him in mind as they retool the state's asbestos litigation system.
Charles Kramer says he worries about how his wife and daughter will survive financially after he dies.

The 77-year-old from Brenham was diagnosed almost a year ago with mesothelioma -- an untreatable cancer of the stomach lining. Asbestos is its only known cause.

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Asbestos claims could top $150m

Asbestos-related claims could cost the Accident Compensation Corporation at least $150 million in lump-sum payments over the next 10 years.

Figures released to the Herald under the Official Information Act show ACC could face costs ranging between $75 million and $415 million depending on the number of claims.

Medical experts say the final figure is likely to be higher than the "middle costing" of $150 million as the number of people with asbestos-related disease has been underestimated.

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Asbestos ruling goes in favour of payouts

Thousands of workers who have been exposed to asbestos were given new hope of compensation yesterday, as a high court judge ruled that insurers would have to pay out to those who have developed "pleural plaques" on their lungs if they had suffered from anxiety as a result.

The landmark ruling is a blow to the insurance industry, which was hoping to avoid having to pay any claims for pleural plaques. Asbestos-related claims are expected to cost the UK insurance industry up to £10bn over the next 40 years - of which pleural plaques will account for up to £1bn.

Medical evidence has shown that the development of pleural plaques - a small hardening on the side of the lung - does not have any detrimental effect on people's health, unlike most other asbestos-related conditions, some of which can be fatal.

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Proposals would limit asbestos lawsuits in Texas

Charles Kramer's battle with terminal cancer has taken him to the state Capitol.

With oxygen tank in tow, he's there this week to ask lawmakers to carefully consider proposed changes to Texas' legal system involving the asbestos litigation system.

After working in Houston-area chemical and power plants for 22 years, Kramer, 77, has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a terminal cancer whose only known cause is asbestos.

He lays awake most nights worrying about how his wife and daughter will survive financially on just Social Security and the small pension left after he dies.

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Cancer Research UK - Mesothelioma to peak by 2015

DEATHS from mesothelioma, an asbestos-related lung cancer, will peak within ten years in the UK and then fall to a much lower level, according to new figures published in this week's British Journal of Cancer*.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer in the lining of the lungs or the lining of the abdomen. It is thought that the majority of cases are the result of exposure to asbestos, but the disease can take up to sixty years to develop. Mortality in Britain rose from 153 deaths in 1968 to 1,848 in 2001 and is still increasing, but the new study suggests the rate will begin to decline by 2015.

Researchers from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), together with Professor Julian Peto of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and The Institute of Cancer Research, have improved on previous forecasts by taking account of the changing patterns of exposure to asbestos following the sharp reduction in asbestos use around 1980.

Professor Peto says: "The peak in mesothelioma deaths will be earlier and at a lower number than formerly thought. The abrupt reduction in asbestos exposure in 1980 has altered the lifelong patterns of exposure that people have experienced. This makes the previous age-related models inaccurate.

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Hardie 'chewed up' by asbestos hit

The new chief executive of James Hardie Industries has revealed the company's earnings had been "chewed up" by its asbestos liabilities funding scandal, leading to a 30 per cent fall in profits.

Louis Gries released figures showing the company had blown an otherwise handsome improvement in profit by spending tens of millions of dollars trying to dig itself out of the controversy over its failure to provide adequate compensation to asbestos victims.

The announcement in Sydney came as Mr Gries admitted he had been sacked from his only previous job -- at another former asbestos producer -- for reasons he refused to discuss.

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The case against Grace

The Eschenbach Study, the Hamster Study, the Enbionic Review, the Monson Mortality Study ...

One after the other, the details spill out of eight separate probes in the 1970s and 1980s that held evidence of the depth of asbestos poisoning in Libby.

The federal government built much of its case around those studies in a 10-count criminal indictment released last week against W.R. Grace and seven senior employees.

The company and the seven men are charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and violating the Clean Air Act.

Important documentation revealing the hazards of Libby's asbestos-laced vermiculite was suppressed by Grace and its top executives in a conspiracy that spanned more than 20 years, the U.S. District Court indictment alleges.

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San Francisco Jury Awards $1.25 Million in Asbestosis Case

A San Francisco jury unanimously awarded damages of $1.25 million to a retired pipefitter who developed asbestosis and asbestos pleural disease due to his on-the-job contact with asbestos (Quarles v. Advocate Mines, Ltd; SF Superior Court; #409170). The plaintiff, Geronia Quarles, was represented at trial by James Nevin and Christopher Andreas of Brayton Purcell in Novato, California.

Advocate Mines, Ltd., the defendant, supplied asbestos fiber for Transite asbestos-cement pipe. It did not provide any warning to consumers about the asbestos fiber and continued to sell the product even though its miners had asbestos–related health problems. The jury concluded that the company acted with "malice" or "oppression."

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Workers down tools over asbestos

DANGEROUS asbestos left in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital's Block 7 despite an intensive removal program has triggered an industrial row and work bans. Workers on site expressed grave concern this week after being covered in asbestos dust while drilling during renovation of the block.

They went to the Industrial Relations Commission, which ruled the workers had a reasonable concern their health was at imminent risk.

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