Personal Injury & Auto Accident Info

Mesothelioma Asbestos

Mesothelioma Asbestos: One-Time ‘Magic’ Mineral Now a Worldwide Health Menace as Human Toll from Exposure Reaches Epidemic Proportions
Date Published: December 7, 2005
By Steve DiJoseph on newsinferno.com

On Monday, major settlements of asbestos-related death and injury claims were announced in Japan and Australia. The United States has been the center of mesothelioma asbestos-related litigation for several years and at present, Congress is attempting to reach an accord with respect to a trust fund that would finance the resolution of asbestos claims over the next several decades by shielding the corporations responsible for the problem by implementing what many see as nothing more than a corporate bailout of the asbestos industry.

Simply stated, asbestos is as deadly a natural time-bomb as the world has ever known. Yet, it continues to be mined and exported from advanced countries like Canada and Russia to developing nations where more death and disease will eventually follow.

Asbestos producing countries have repeatedly blocked the addition of chrysotile (white) asbestos to the UN list of highly dangerous substances that cannot be exported to developing countries without their knowledge and agreement.

Mesothelioma - Asbestos Cancer

Plaintiffs with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related cancers -- is increasing, such that "jury verdicts that were coming back two to three years ago in the $2.5 to $3 million range are now coming in at the $4.5 to $6 million range," Joseph F. Rice of Motley Rice, a national plaintiffs' mass tort practice said.

In the United States, the average mesothelioma-related settlement was $1 million; for cases that go to trial awards averaged $6 million, according to a study by the RAND Corporation. Only a small fraction of the thousands of asbestos-related lawsuits in the United States every year are related to mesothelioma. In 2004, a bill in the United States Senate aimed at asbestos litigation reform failed to reach a floor vote. In January of 2005, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter announced he would again try to pass an asbestos litigation reform bill.

A separate bill introduced on March 17, 2005, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005 (FAIR act of 2005), seeks to ensure a set amount of compensation dependent on the symptoms of the victim. The range is from Medical Monitoring for victims with Asbestosis or Pleural Disease to $35,000 for victims with Mixed Disease With Impairment all the way to over $1,000,000 for Mesothelioma victims and nonsmoking Lung Cancer victims.

Mesothelioma

New data my provide important treatment advances in mesothelioma and lung cancer

Press Release by Eli Lily and Company; June 5, 2005

Patients with a cancer of the lining of the lung, known as malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), lived longer than previously reported(1), when treated with Eli Lilly and Company's Alimta(®) (pemetrexed) in combination with cisplatin, according to updated data presented today at the 11th annual Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).

Alimta is the first and only approved therapy to show a statistically significant survival advantage in patients suffering from this difficult-to-treat cancer(2). Alimta is also approved in the United States, the European Union and several other countries as a monotherapy for second-line non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

"Before Alimta was available, patients suffering from mesothelioma had no hope -- rarely living a year after diagnosis," said Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, director of the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas. "At 18 months, there is still a statistically significant difference in survival, which demonstrates patients are living longer when treated with this Alimta combination. If you look out further to 24 months, 22 percent of patients treated with Alimta are still alive."

Mature data presented at WCLC represent an update from trial results from the largest randomized, Phase III mesothelioma trial ever reported involving 448 patients published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) in July 2003(2). Today's data showed median survival of patients treated with Alimta plus cisplatin was almost thirteen (12.8) months after diagnosis and 42 percent (3.8 months) longer than patients who received cisplatin alone (p = 0.003).

In addition, 33 percent of mesothelioma patients treated with Alimta plus cisplatin survived 18 months compared with 23 percent treated with cisplatin alone. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.030). When treated with Alimta plus cisplatin, 22 percent of patients survived 24 months compared with 17 percent receiving single-agent cisplatin (p = 0.209).

When Alimta is given as a single agent, the most common side effects include disorders of the blood and lymphatic system, gastrointestinal disorders, fatigue, and rash. The risk and severity of side effects associated with Alimta can be controlled when used with folic acid and vitamin B12 -- a supplement unique to Alimta therapy.

Asbestos Cancer Victims Ignored

Mesothelioma kills 1,800 people a year - more than cervical cancer - but there is no cure and treatment only relieves the symptoms.

A British Lung Foundation conference is due to demand that ministers invest more money into research and improve access to compensation.

The Department of Health said it was reviewing current treatment practices.

People with mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer which is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos, often die within a year or so of diagnosis.

The disease can take years to develop after exposure to asbestos.

The number of annual deaths from mesothelioma has been steadily increasing since the early 1960s when a couple of hundred a year died.

The death rate is expected to keep rising until 2015. By 2050 90,000 people are expected to have died from the cancer.

Victims who were exposed to asbestos at their workplace are entitled to compensation from government, while those who were exposed by other means can get money under common law.

British Lung Foundation chief executive Dame Helena Shovelton said she wanted the conference to "put mesothelioma on the map".

"Mesothelioma is a particularly cruel disease because sufferers simply contract it through their choice of job, where they live, who they live with or in some way they could never have known about.

'Not good enough'

"The government needs to make it more of a priority, it was hardly mentioned in the 2000 Cancer Plan and victims are basically told there is nothing that can be done for them.

"This is distressing for those diagnosed with the cancer and simply is not good enough. It would not happen with any other cancer.

"It also needs to be easier for people to access compensation. When you are diagnosed it is not easy or a first priority to go about getting compensation."

And Liz Darlison, of support group Mesothelioma UK, said one of the problems was that not many health professionals were fully aware of the disease.

"The government needs to take a two-pronged approach towards mesothelioma - improve the current treatments available and offer proper compensation."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said ministers had set up a lung cancer advisory group to help improve the delivery of services.

She added: "A subgroup has been set up specially to look at this type of cancer.

"it will recommend what action should be taken to tackle this particular cancer including service organisation, treatment and awareness raising, and will be making an initial report to the wider advisory group in April."

Mesothelioma Personal Injury Attorneys

Mesothelioma Attorneys

Mesothelioma attorneys Lewis & Scholnick specialize in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits based on asbestos exposure.

Each year over 3,000 people will suffer and die from asbestos exposure. Asbestos, a known toxin since the 1930's, is an inexpensive fibrous material that is extremely durable and heat resistant. Because of these properties it was heavily used in industry throughout the United States. After its carcinogenic (asbestos cancer-causing) properties were discovered many industries irresponsibly continued to use asbestos, putting the public, their workers and families at risk.

Even today asbestos-containing products still remain in buildings, ships, industrial facilities and other environments and continue to expose the public to this extremely dangerous material. The EPA has stated that asbestos "presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health;" even low levels of asbestos exposure can trigger mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural disease and lung cancer, diseases that are almost exclusively caused by asbestos.

The Law Firm of Lewis & Scholnick has specialized in handling mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease lawsuits, for personal injury and wrongful death, since 1981. With a winning record, mesothelioma attorneys Lewis & Scholnick have participated in lawsuit settlements totaling over $50 million, including recent lawsuit cases that settled for over $3 million each.

Asbestos Cancer Claims & Mesothelioma

Asbestos settlement payouts:

Halliburton Co. is gearing up to distribute $2.78 billion in cash and 59.5 million shares to thousands of asbestos and silica claimants, inching closer to leaving those inherited liabilities in the past.

The Houston-based oil services conglomerate said Tuesday that final installments of the cash portion of the settlement have been placed in trust. Last week the company issued the shares. Together, along with notes with a net present value expected to be less than $100 million, the payouts will settle all current and future asbestos and silica claims.

Asbestos Cancer, or Mesothelioma claims were inherited when the company acquired Dresser Industries Inc.

Jury Awards $1.25 Million in Asbestosis Claim

In an asbestos claim 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 (mesothelioma).

(PRWEB) February 11, 2005 -- A San Francisco jury unanimously awarded damages of $1.25 million for an asbestos claim to a retired pipefitter who developed asbestosis and asbestos pleural disease due to his on-the-job contact with asbestos.

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.”

Asbestosis and asbestos pleural disease are serious, debilitating illnesses caused by asbestos exposure. Asbestosis scars the lungs; asbestos pleural disease damages the membrane lining the lungs and chest cavity (the pleura). Both diseases reduce lung capacity, restrict breathing, and reduce the victim’s ability to transfer oxygen from the air into the blood. About one in seven people who suffer from asbestosis eventually develop lung cancer.

Mesothelioma Lawsuit

W.R. Grace Faces Asbestos Charges related to Mesothelioma

W.R. Grace and seven top executives conspired to release asbestos and to hide health problems at its asbestos–contaminated vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

(PRWEB) February 11, 2005 -- A grand jury indictment accuses the company of exposing its employees to asbestos cancer, failing to disclose air monitoring results, interfering with an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and giving away asbestos–containing materials to schools and local residents. Charges include clean–air act violations and wire fraud as well as conspiracy.ted into a type of insulation that may be contained in millions of homes.

“The situation in Libby provides an example of the shameful treatment that many workers have received from asbestos-related industries,” said Alan Brayton, founding and senior partner of Brayton Purcell, a law firm representing asbestos victims. “Many people are not aware of the extent of the damage caused by asbestos. It is responsible for an aggressive cancer known as mesothelioma as well as for asbestosis, which is a painful scarring of the lungs. These diseases take decades to develop, and we may only be seeing the beginning of the problem.”

What is Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is still a relatively rare form of cancer. There are an estimated 2,000 - 3,000 new cases per year in the United States.

i-Newswire, 2005-02-03 - Approximately 7-13 per one million male patients with a history of asbestos exposure contract mesothelioma. Diagnosis usually occurs 20-40 years after initial exposure to asbestos. For these reasons, it is important for American males to understand the basics of this disease.

The Mesothelioma Reporter has announced the launch of a special report, "What Is Mesothelioma?’. The report is available online at http://www.mesotheliomareporter.org/2004/03/what_is_mesothe.html at no cost. The information within explains the basics of pleural mesothelioma, peritoneal mesothelioma, and pericardial mesothelioma, and describes the symptoms related to this asbestos-related disease.

The guide was edited by Jimmy Atkinson of The Mesothelioma Reporter (  http://www.mesotheliomareporter.org  ). "Mesothelioma is a deadly disease, so if someone has asbestos exposure-related symptoms, it is important that they understand the importance of seeking medical help quickly,’ said Atkinson.