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The Olympic Games in China and Asbestos Use April 17, 2008 China has long been one of the world’s largest producers and users of asbestos. It is also a country with very high industrial injury rates from accidents like the recent rash of mining disasters, workers exposure to toxic chemicals, and high pollution levels. Environmentally, China is itself a disaster. Although these so-called Green Olympics in China are much ballyhooed, and the Chinese government denies the use of asbestos in its massive construction projects, the question remains: Have any Olympic venues been built with asbestos? The world class athletes of the Games are the picture of health itself. They are the refinement or ideal of a healthy individual. It would be a shame of course if the locations these athletes competed in actually harmed their health. While to date no asbestos exposure or use has been noted at the venues, many anti-asbestos and environmental organizations worry about just such a possibility. Ominously, as work on the Olympics progressed, China's reliance on asbestos increased. Between 2001 when it was awarded the games, and 2006, annual consumption increased by 34%. Almost three million tons of asbestos were used over this period. Because China has been growing at a fantastic rate and thereby putting stress on world markets in all areas related to construction such as concrete, steel and energy, it is indeed curious that the use of asbestos has likewise gone up during the pre-Olympic period. Although it is not proof, it is nonetheless worrisome. In 2001 china used just under 400,000 tons of asbestos and by 2006 they were using 530,000 tons. Their percent of global production went from 21 to 26 % during the same period. While we may want to assume that the International Olympic Committee is making sure that no asbestos has been used in constructing the Olympic venues and residences, we have no guarantee of that. Let us assume for a moment that in fact the toxic mineral has not been used? Since consumption has gone up almost 35 percent, it means that somewhere in Chine, even if not in the Olympics, the Chinese are using more of the very deadly substance.
The top five users of asbestos in the world are generally recognized as China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan and Brazil in that order. All of them (except for India) are also top producers of asbestos. China uses almost twice (82% more) as much asbestos as Russia in the number two spot. It uses almost four times as much as the number five user in the world, Brazil. For much more detailed statistics on asbestos see the US Geological Surveys webpage.
Clearly, as with population, China is in a league of its own when in comes to asbestos use and production. China’s lack of real, as opposed to merely legislated, protections for its people and workers is legendary. The mining safety record and very high rates of cigarette smoking are just two of the more visible examples of this lack of any effective government assistance. Asbestos use is just another area that points out why living and working in China can be a dangerous thing to do. Unfortunately, most Chinese have few options to change their living and working situations It's easy to send a man to the moon. Why? Because we get to begin at the beginning and figure out each step of the way. We designed everything very logically from the ground up based on things we already knew. We made each and every component of the rocket, and we laid out each wire and jet thruster. This means we know everything about what we are doing because after all, we designed it. We drew up the blueprints. We didn't design the strange and wonderful human body. Evolution did over millions of years and generations. Evolutionary design is anything but logical. It is the result of millions of mistakes all coming together to actually work. These natural "designs" are incredibly intricate and convoluted. Many systems are interacting in highly complex ways that are maddening to figure out. In comparison, a Saturn V rocket is a wonder of simplicity. This wire goes from here to there and not anywhere else and does not affect anything else but what we tell it to. It doesn't have any unexpected consequences - because we designed it that way. We still have a long way to go in understanding how the body functions, how cancer cells begin, how they grow and spread, and how our treatments affect the cancer and the body. We have only sketchy blueprints of the body and of cancer at this point. An additional problem is that a moon shot is a moon shot. It is basically the same each time. But cancer is not cancer meaning a small cell lung cancer is a completely different thing from a prostate cancer of a brain tumor. Depending on how you count them, there are 200 cancers. Each one different and each one requiring a different treatment. Even within each cancer they are subtypes and different stages, each requiring a different treatment. Also, it is incorrect to say we can't cure cancer. We can and we do, every day. But we can only cure a handful of them, only certain types and only is we catch them early enough. This is why we can send a man to the moon, but can't cure all cancers. All radiation causes cancer. Radiation includes visible light waves, radio waves, x-rays and many other types of electromagnetic waves. The only ones that can possibly cause cancer are the ones with high enough energy to do irreparable damage to your DNA; this is called ionizing radiation. The amount of energy that these waves carry is directly related to the frequency; the higher the frequency the more energy. An ion is an atom that has lost or gained an electron and is no longer electrically neutral. This happens when say an x-ray, which always has enough energy to ionize an atom, slams into an electron in the atom and knocks it completely out of its orbit. The electron can then hit a strand of DNA and cause damage. The DNA has repair mechanisms and so may be able to repair this damage before it does any harm. But sometimes it can't make the repair and so the DNa is permanently damaged. If enough damage is don't in the right places the cell can loss control of its own growth mechanism and become cancer. So it is important to separate out the ionizing radiation from the non-ionizing radiation. Some ultraviolet rays, x-rays and gamma rays are ionizing radiations. All the rest including radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light and the lower end of ultraviolet rays do not have enough energy to create ions thus causing DNA damage. While these non-ionizing types of radiation can be dangerous in other ways (don't put a cat in the microwave oven), they don't lead to cancer.
Will Asbestos Executives Ever Be Jailed? April 2, 2008 The International Ban Asbestos Secretarial (IBAS) reports that for decades asbestos companies have literally gotten away with murder. In recent years, courts in Europe and North America have indicated that the time is coming when officers of asbestos companies could go to prison for complicity in the asbestos scandal. In Italy and France, criminal convictions have been handed down which included jail sentences for senior employees of the Eternit Asbestos Group, the Alstom Power Boiler Company and the Trigano Company. Court cases pending in Italy and the United States may result in prison time for senior company officials. You can see the full article published on the IBAS site called Jailing Asbestos Executives by Laurie Kazan-Allen where she discusses court cases against executives found to have commited "intentional homicide" due to their actions and inactions involving asbestos and their workers. As of yet however, no asbestos executives have actually served time in prison for their complicity in the asbestos-related deaths of their workers. Often they avoid jail time by moving out of the country in which they were found guilty. San Francisco Court Upholds $11 Million Award March 28, 2008 A California state appeals court in San Francisco upheld an award of more than $11 million to a former Bay Area couple for an incurable lung disease. The husband Joseph Garza suffered after being exposed to asbestos in Navy shipyards in the 1940s and 1950s. Garza joined the Navy when he was just 17 and worked for more than a decade on ships at the Hunters Point shipyard in San Francisco and elsewhere. He was using asbestos products to repair boilers without any warnings or protective gear, the court said. He was also exposed to asbestos insulation in later jobs, but a San Francisco jury assigned 75 percent of the responsibility for his illness to Asbestos Corporation which made the sealant used by the Navy, according to the court. Joseph and his wife Mary are now Colorado residents. They filed the suit against Asbestos Corp. Ltd. in 2005 after Joseph was diagnosed with asbestosis. Garza, now 77, testified he needs an oxygen unit to breathe, can walk only half a block, and is losing his ability to care for his wife, who is almost completely dependent on him because of her own health problems. In a July 2006 verdict, the jury awarded more than $1.1 million to Joseph Garza for medical costs and emotional distress, $400,000 to Mary Garza for loss of her husband's care and attention, and $10 million in punitive damages against Asbestos Corp. The First District Court of Appeal upheld the verdict Friday and said the evidence justified the jury's conclusion that the company had acted reprehensibly. Citing testimony that Asbestos Corp. had been aware of asbestos' dangers since the 1940s but sold it without warning labels until 1970, the three-judge panel said the company, "... intentionally marketed a defective product knowing that it might cause injury and death." W.R. Grace to Pay $250 Million Settlement Over Asbestos March 12, 2008 The settlement requires the approval of a federal judge overseeing the company’s bankruptcy proceedings and does not resolve a separate criminal case in Montana also arising from Grace’s alleged asbestos contamination of Libby, a small community in the northwestern part of the state. A Grace spokesman, Greg Euston, said the company was pleased with the settlement but that he could not comment further on orders of the judge in the criminal matter. The EPA referred questions to the U.S. Justice Department. A Justice Department spokesman Andrew Ames said that the department could not comment on the settlement because it is a continuing criminal case. Three years ago federal prosecutors charged W. R. Grace and seven senior employees with knowingly exposing miners and residents in Libby to asbestos. Over one thousand people became ill, and some died, according to prosecutors. An extensive cleanup operation has been under way in and near Libby since May 2000. In 2003, a federal court in Montana ordered it to pay the environmental agency $54 million for investigation and cleanup costs incurred to that point, but the money has not been paid because of the bankruptcy proceeding. The settlement announced on Tuesday takes account of that payment and directs that future payments be directed to a special E.P.A. account to be used to clean schools, homes and businesses in Libby, Montana that are contaminated with carcinogenic asbestos dust. The material came from a vermiculite mine and processing plant the company operated in and near Libby from 1963 to 1990. The vermiculite, which is used in insulation and other building materials, was contaminated with high levels of asbestos. Asbestos is known to cause lung cancer and mesothelioma, a fatal tumor of the lining of the chest and abdomen. Exposure to asbestos also causes scarring of lung tissue. Latest Mesothlioma Clinical Trials November 26, 2007 To view the latest mesothelioma treatment clinical trials listed by the National Cancer Institute see this link: http://www.cancer.gov/search/ResultsClinicalTrialsAdvanced.aspx?protocolsearchid=3860494 Clinical trials are studies designed to find better ways to treat mesothlioma patients. There are currently 34 trials listed but the number changes often as trials open and close. Twenty-one of these trials are in the United States. Most of the rest are in Europe. Some of the newer drugs being tried in these trials are: Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid (SAHA), AZD2171, PXD101, Sunitinib Malate, Bevacizumab, Dasatinib, MORAb-009, Pemetrexed (Alimta), Bortezomib, Pazopanib, and NGR-h TNF. For more information on these and other drugs see the National Library of Medicine's drug information directory. For instance, they have very complete information on Bortezomib. However, this directory does not have information on very new drugs like AZD2171 which may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth and by blocking blood flow to the tumor. There are also some gene therapy trials. Clinical trials are not always about new drugs. For instance there is a trial exploring the use of new radiation technology (tomotherapy), to treat mesothelioma more aggressively than has been possible before. Tomotherapy's ability to treat unusual shaped tumours, particularly when they are wrapped around sensitive normal tissues (the lung), enable higher doses of radiation to be used and this may improve its effectiveness. The trial is scheduled to treat 17 patients with tomotherapy and assess the breathing, symptoms, and quality of life of the patients before and after treatment. IBAS Announces New Website November 13, 2007 IBAS, the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, launched a new website today at http://www.ibasecretariat.org/. The website offers articles on asbestos and related issues, event and conference schedules, information and resources. The International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), established in 2000, provides a conduit for the exchange of information between groups and individuals working to achieve a global asbestos ban and seeking to alleviate the damage caused by widespread asbestos use. Such use may be largely historical in the established economies of the West but is continuing in developing nations. Since its inception, IBAS has been involved in co-sponsoring and supporting national and international conferences furthering the above aims. In so doing, IBAS has sought to counter the asbestos industry's control of the information stream and to provide a platform for victims to speak out against the injustices they have suffered. IBAS has a continuing role in raising public awareness of asbestos hazards and providing informed comment on current developments. Federal-Mogul's Bankruptcy Reorganization Is Finally Approved November 8, 2007 Federal-Mogul Corp., the maker of Champion spark plugs based in Southfield, Michigan, won court approval of a reorganization plan that resolves the billions of dollars in asbestos claims that pushed the company into bankruptcy six years ago. The reorganization plan approved by a Pittsberg court sets up a trust to compensate victims of Federal-Mogul's products that often contained asbestos. Federal-Mogul's plan attempts to take care of as much as $9.4 billion in asbestos claims, according to court papers. Federal-Mogul used asbestos, a heat- resistant material that can cause respiratory illness, in brake pads. Jose Maria Alapont, named Federal-Mogul's chief executive officer in 2005, told Bloomberg News in June that the company expects to be profitable after emerging from bankruptcy protection. The company had $22.1 million in net income for the first three quarters of the year, compared with a loss of $82.6 million for the same period last year. Federal Mogul makes engine parts like pistons for automakers as well as replacement parts such as brake pads and Moog brand shocks. The company employs 45,000 employees in 35 countries. The 157 companies that make up Federal-Mogul filed for Chapter 11 protection in October 2001 to deal with more than 500,000 asbestos claims. Before the company can exit bankruptcy, its plan must also be approved by federal District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez in Camden, New Jersey. In August, Fitzgerald approved a $3.5 billion financing package to pay for the company's exit. Under the plan, the asbestos victims' trust would be funded with insurance proceeds and at least $775 million. On October 1, 2001, T&N Ltd., formerly the UK's biggest asbestos group, ceased paying asbestos-related disease claims when its American parent company, Federal Mogul (FM), filed for voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S. and administration under the UK Insolvency Act of 1986. Years of cross-Atlantic negotiations, scores of court appearances and millions of pounds of professional fees later, the UK courts approved plans for T&N to exit the administration process. More Mesothelioma Reading: Three Common Cancer Misunderstandings April 14, 2008 Cancer is a fascinating and very complex subject. As with any scary and complicated situation, many misconceptions can arise in the minds of people. And when you are a cancer patient, or a family member, sometimes your fears and misunderstandings can get away from you and cause you to make poor choices. This article discusses a few ideas that will help you put cancer into a reasonable perspective. Chemotherapy is a poison that harms the immune system so why would I want to use it? Many people have trouble understanding this common misunderstanding. The simple answer is you want to take chemotherapy because it has been shown in careful studies time and time again to help cancer patients. While it lowers the immune system when you are taking it, and for a short time after, the immune response typically bounces back. And if it doesn't, there are ways to help it bounce back. Another thing to think about while you are trying to preserve your immune system is; if your system was so great before, why did it not stop your cancer then? Clearly, you need more than your own immune system to attack the cancer. Forty years ago every child with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) died of the disease as did adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma patients. Now 85 percent of the children with ALL are cured of it; a remarkable achievement all thanks to chemotherapy. And Hodgkin's is no longer that death sentence it once was and these days has very high survival rates. These are just two examples of poison curing cancer, and there are many more. And in many more situations where chemo can't cure the cancer, it can greatly delay how quickly it comes back. There are certain cancers where chemo doesn't work, like prostate cancer, and so is not used. If your doctor offers you chemotherapy it is because long and expensive studies have shown that it works in spite of its effect on the immune system. If studies don't show that it works, then like with prostate cancer, the doctor won't offer you that treatment. This same argument, by the way, goes for radiation therapy also.
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