Last week in San Francisco, the family of a former drywall taper was awarded more than $868,000 in a trial against a former manufacturer and supplier of asbestos-containing joint compound, spray texture, and acoustical ceiling spray.

According to a press release on PR Newswire, the jury found that the products manufactured by Richmond, California-based Rich-Tex, Inc. were responsible for the asbestosis and mesothelioma that ultimately killed San Francisco-area resident Douglas Ivance in 2003. Ivance had worked as a drywall taper for 47 years.

Rich-Tex was a manufacturer and supplier of asbestos-containing drywall products, including joint compound, spray texture and acoustical ceiling spray, from 1963 to 1977. According to the press release, the company supplied asbestos-containing drywall products to the majority of Mr. Ivance’s employers during that time period.

The plaintiff’s attorneys presented evidence which showed that when the products in question were mixed, applied, sanded, and/or cleaned-up, they released hazardous asbestos dust, which was then inhaled by Ivance and his fellow employees.

Housing at New Mexico’s Cannon Air Force Base may contain dangerous asbestos, reported the Clovis News Journal earlier this week. A spokesperson for the base says that the Air Force is currently testing the units in its military housing after two unoccupied homes were discovered to contain asbestos.

Captain Rebecca Garcia told the media that approximately 30 additional homes would be tested for asbestos and that results would be available in June. In the meantime, the Air Force is prompting residents to leave any potential asbestos undisturbed.

“So far, asbestos in Cannon housing hasn’t been found in hazardous levels,” Garcia said.
“The risk for people living and working in military housing appears low.”

Encased asbestos is contained in some Cannon housing drywall, floor tile, roof shingles, and ceiling textures, according to Garcia. This type of asbestos should cause no hazard unless disturbed by drilling, sanding, cutting, scraping, or any similar procedure.

About 1,300 of Cannon’s more than 1,600 military housing units are on base and were built in the 1950s and 1960s, when asbestos use was at its peak, explained Garcia. Off-base housing was built in the 1990s and does not pose a hazard.

A decision on whether Cannon should remove the asbestos-containing materials depended on whether Cannon privatized its housing, Garcia explained. However, the privatization plan was put on hold two years ago because of the Base Realignment and Closure proceedings. Cannon was slated for closure. However, the plan could be resurrected if Cannon, as planned, is taken over by Air Force Special Operations in October, Garcia added.

The Australian newspaper reports that the defendants in the court case surrounding James Hardie Industries’ asbestos compensation scandal may try to walk free on a technicality, claiming that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) missed the deadline for the service of documents.

Lawyers for James Hardie Corporation suggested that ASIC “might not have properly served all documents on their clients within the statute of limitations.”

ASIC had waited until the day before the statute of limitations ran out to take action against the corporation and 10 former directors and executives, including former chairman Meredith Hellicar, former chief executive Peter Macdonald, and former chief financial officer Peter Shafron, noted the article.

The former directors are being tried for “failure to use due care and diligence” in connection with Hardie’s establishment of an independent asbestos compensation trust six years ago. Hardie maintained that the trust would be fully funded with $294 million and provide ample funds to compensate thousands of asbestos victims, but it was later found to have a shortfall of more than $1 billion. ASIC is asking the court to impose fines on the officers and ban them from running companies.

An ASIC spokesman, Mike van Maanen, said the ASIC rejected the defense lawyers’ claims. “We do not agree with those defendants’ position that we did not follow correct and fair procedure, and we are not troubled by it,” he said.

On March 12th, the Supreme Court of India directed authorities in Gujarat, along with a technical expert committee, to submit a joint report indicating the conditions for approving dismantling of the controversial toxic-laden Norwegian ship, SS Norway, beached at Alang Coast in the state.

An article in the Hindu News notes that the report must focus on whether the preconditions for dismantling of the ship had been complied with and whether 85 percent of the toxic asbestos waste, which plaintiffs claimed can be recycled and reused, is really reusable.

“These bodies should also suggest who would be the nodal agency to oversee whether compliance has been made before the dismantling plan was approved,” Justice Pasayat said in the order.

The Supreme Court noted that the original disposal plans did not address “how much dust would be generated and what steps are being taken to control it.” The plan also did not address the issue of providing safety measures to workers who would handle the dismantling of the SS Norway.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, a watch-dog group founded in 2004 by asbestos victims, their families and concerned citizens, has organized a Third Annual Asbestos Awareness Day.

To be held at Philadelphia’s Drexel University School of Medicine on March 31st, this day is organized for the purpose of “recognizing accomplishments, remembering and honoring loved ones, and increasing awareness about the dangers of asbestos.”

Co-sponsored by Drexel University School of Public Health and the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, topics at the conference will include Preventing Asbestos Exposure in Homes, Schools, Hospitals and Workplaces; Detecting and Treating Asbestos-Related Diseases; and Asbestos Victim and Family: Psychosocial Support.

Several individuals will be honored at the conference, which lasts all day and includes both pre- and post-conference workshops for medical professionals and others in attendance. Honorees this year include United States Senator Patty Murray, who has rallied for an asbestos ban in the U.S.; Dr. Michael Harbut, a member of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation; Patrick Martin, a member of Canadian Parliament, who has promoted asbestos bans in Canada; Survivor Paul Zygielbaum and his wife Michelle, activists for asbestos-related causes; and Les Skramstad, the Libby, Montana mine worker who brought Libby’s asbestos plight to national attention, honored posthumously.

Looser asbestos-handling laws will hasten the demolition of at least 12,000 more homes in hurricane ravaged South Mississippi, reports the Sun Herald.

Thanks to an extension granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “No Action Assurance” will continue to be in place until September 30th for houses in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, and Pearl River counties. About 4,200 residential structures will have been demolished when the extension ends, officials at Mississippi’s Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) said. The MDEQ is responsible for regulating air admissions during building demolition.

“We appreciate the efforts of the EPA in recognizing the continued need for this flexibility,” said Trudy Fisher, MDEQ executive director. “This flexibility has substantially helped the progress of hurricane recovery efforts along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and its continuance is necessary to ensure the current pace toward recovery.”

The EPA’s No Action Assurance policy means that local governments do not need to examine every home that needs to be torn down. An MDEQ spokesperson also explained that, under this policy, county or city governments can also fill out one set of paperwork to demolish entire streets or subdivisions

Bickham Forshee, MDEQ’s asbestos section supervisor, noted that demolition contractors will still need to follow worker safety guidelines for handling asbestos and will be required to post a supervisor certified to work with the material at each job site.

“Most houses are going to have some asbestos because it’s in more materials than you would realize,” Forshee explained. “We will be having a weekly presence on the Coast monitoring for it.”

In a “strongly-worded” letter sent to him by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Cal), Architect of the Capitol Steven Ayers was asked to explain how his agency is addressing ongoing problems related to the deteriorating utility tunnels that run beneath Capitol Hill.

According to an article in The Hill newspaper, Feinstein expressed concern in her letter to Ayers, noting that the AoC has not adequately confronted tunnel hazards nor worker health concerns.

“Worker health and safety must be of the utmost concern to the AoC, and to the Capitol Hill community,” Feinstein wrote. “Therefore, I ask you [to] raise the priority of this matter and proceed as fast as possible.”
The AoC countered with a statement saying that the clean-up of the asbestos-ridden tunnels remains a top priority.

“The AoC remains fully committed to ensuring employee safety, to solving the utility tunnel issues, and to keeping Congress informed of our progress,” AoC spokeswoman Eva Malecki said.

The article also reports that Feinstein questioned the AoC’s handling of $27.6 million for tunnel repairs appropriated in an emergency action passed last April.

“I would like to know how you have allocated that appropriation and how [you] would allocate your FY2008 request for tunnel repairs,” she wrote.

Malecki replied to the inquiry by noting that $25 million of the $27.6 million in emergency supplemental funding has been obligated.

Feinstein says she would like to see a “specific asbestos abatement plan and a specific timeline for fixing these problems.”

“The plan should include your actions to protect the employees who work in the tunnels and ameliorate all of the conditions for which citations have been issued.”

A former auto mechanic and laborer from Pawtuckett, Rhode Island has been awarded $2 million in a claim against mega automakers, General Motors and Ford.

According to a press release on PR Newswire, Roland Leo Grenier, Sr. was awarded the amount after a lengthy trial in New Castle County (DE) Superior Court.

During the course of his employment at various auto-related facilities, Grenier used several products manufactured by General Motors and Ford that contained asbestos, including vehicle brake and clutch mechanisms. Grenier currently suffers from mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer. The jury determined that his 35 years in the auto industry resulted in his developing the fatal disease.

“Mr. Grenier had no idea that the products he used while providing for his wife and children would later threaten his life,” said his lawyer, Rick Nemeroff. “It’s gratifying to see that the jury agreed that these companies should be held responsible for the pain and suffering caused by their products.”

Testimony in the case showed that officials from General Motors and Ford knew about the dangers of asbestos exposure, states the press release, but did nothing to protect Mr. Greiner.

The trial lasted three weeks and it took the jury ten hours of deliberation to reach the verdict in favor of the plaintiff. In the $2 million compensatory damages verdict, members of the jury assessed 70 percent liability against General Motors; 16 percent against Ford; and 2 percent against seven other defendant companies.

A 27-year-old British woman, who believes she may have contracted mesothelioma on her walk to school as a child by passing a factory yard where asbestos sheets were cut, is the youngest recorded victim of the disease.

The Oldham Advertiser reports that Leigh Carlisle, of Failsworth, had doctors stumped as to how she was exposed once they concluded that her severe respiratory problems were indeed a result of mesothelioma. A look into Carlisle’s past resulted in focusing on the short cut she always took on the way to and from school.

“I used to take a short cut across a yard in Failsworth on my way to primary school,” Carlisle told the doctors. “I know that men working there cut asbestos sheets and handled asbestos materials in the yard, but I had no idea that by walking through the yard I could have inadvertently got cancer.”

Carlisle, who first consulted doctors a few years ago, said: “It took several years for doctors to diagnose me with mesothelioma. I was passed from pillar to post between various hospitals until they realized what was wrong with me.”

Now, Carlisle hopes to spend the time she has left raising awareness of the disease and welcomes a recent announcement by the British government stating that they hope to organize better health services for those with mesothelioma.

“Mesothelioma is a very cruel disease, for which there is no cure,” said Carlisle’s attorney, Adrian Budgen. “Ms. Carlisle’s case shows that mesothelioma cannot be regarded as an ‘old person’s disease’ any longer. We are aware of a growing number of people who have developed mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos dust on their loved one’s work clothes.”

A Colorado court has ruled that the Air Force is responsible for asbestos clean-up costs borne by home builders at the former Lowry base, a decision, say experts, which could have expensive implications for the U.S. military.

According to a report in the Rocky Mountain News, Richmond American Homes and other companies involved with building at the Lowry base sued the Air Force after discovering asbestos in the soil and failing to persuade the U.S. government to pay the bill.

The expense totaled about $9 million, parts of which covered construction delays and compensation for homeowners, the builders’ lawyers told the media.

“This case has national importance because of a decision to close 22 major military bases by 2011,” said Michelle Kales, an attorney with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Denver.

Kales says the decision will grab the attention of builders nationwide who have built or are considering building on the site of a former military base. “[This] provides assurance they won’t have to bear the potentially significant cost of environmental contamination,” she added.

The article confirms that the group of home builders, which also includes Metropolitan Development, Standard Pacific of Colorado and Touchstone Homes, purchased the property in 2001 and 2002 from the Lowry Redevelopment Authority, a quasi-public entity overseeing the base’s conversion from military to civilian use.

After the builders located asbestos, they contacted the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which temporarily halted all construction at the site. Because the Air Force did not agree to clean up the asbestos, the builders had to take it upon themselves to hire licensed asbestos removal firms to clear the debris.

“It is critical for the insurance, finance and development industries to have strong confidence in these projects in order for them to be successfully redeveloped,” Tom Markham, executive director of the Lowry Redevelopment Group, said in a statement. “Essential to that is the Defense Department’s acknowledgement of its responsibilities to pay for cleaning up hazardous materials such as asbestos.”