The hundreds of residents and volunteers who’ve been sifting through the debris in Greensburg, KS since the town was largely destroyed by a killer tornado several weeks ago may be in danger of exposure to hazardous asbestos.

The Kansas City Star notes that experts believe the government should be doing much more to protect those residents and volunteers from breathing in asbestos and other hazardous materials that may be lurking in the debris. Asbestos is especially prevalent in homes built prior to the mid 1970s.

Unfortunately, the article points out, federal and state regulations do not give regulators authority to require asbestos removal from single-family homes, said Becky Ingrum Dolph, an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency Region 7.

“It’s a shame, because people are out there and most likely getting contaminated,” added Leland Sumptur, a Lenexa asbestos abatement manager who teaches and has consulted nationally.

Just two weeks after the tornado hit Greensburg, the EPA arrived to take air samples to determine whether or not asbestos levels were dangerous. At that time, the tests were negative. If the samples had been positive, points out Dolph, the EPA would have been allowed to move in.

“Legally, we don’t have any authority to require the individual homeowner to do anything,” Dolph said.

Others believe that not just the air but also the debris should be tested. “For someone to suggest they did air sampling and they didn’t find anything, that is so wrong to do that,” said Celeste Monforton, a researcher and lecturer on public health policy with George Washington University. “It gives some people a false sense of security.”

“Really the risk is going to be to the people rummaging through the debris and what they are breathing there,” Monforton said. “For someone walking down the street it might not be such a problem.”

A report in the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, cites a recent study by the Environment Ministry which shows that residents who lived in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, from the 1950s through 1970s were 14 times more likely to die from asbestos-related mesothelioma than the national average.

The study points out that the rate was particularly high among women living near factories in Amagasaki that produced asbestos, with those figures sometimes reaching as high as 69 times the national average.

According to the article, the survey included about 180,000 people who lived in the city from 1955 to 1974, a time during which asbestos particles were scattered from asbestos-related plants. The last plant closed in late 2001.

Among the data used for the survey was information on 42 people who died from mesothelioma in the city from 2002 through 2004, and the rate of people across the country who died from this aggressive form of cancer.

In Amagasaki, the mortality rate for men ranged between 3.3 times to 12.1 times the national average, depending on age groups, the survey found. The figure for women ranged from 10.4 times to 14.5 times the national average.

The mortality rate for women living in the city’s Oda district, where Kubota Corp.’s former Amagasaki asbestos plant and other asbestos-related facilities were concentrated, was between 29.6 times and 68.6 times the national average. The figure for men in the area ranged from 10.6 times and 21.1 times the national average.

Despite the figures, the ministry did not see an immediate need to address the asbestos issue. “It cannot be said that the survey immediately showed that there is a higher risk of developing the disease (by inhaling asbestos particles) through the general environment,” a ministry official said. Others, however, hoped that the study would prompt calls for revisions to Japan’s special measures law, allowing it to better compensate victims of asbestos.

The hundreds of residents and volunteers who’ve been sifting through the debris in Greensburg, KS since the town was largely destroyed by a killer tornado several weeks ago may be in danger of exposure to hazardous asbestos.

The Kansas City Star notes that experts believe the government should be doing much more to protect those residents and volunteers from breathing in asbestos and other hazardous materials that may be lurking in the debris. Asbestos is especially prevalent in homes built prior to the mid 1970s.

Unfortunately, the article points out, federal and state regulations do not give regulators authority to require asbestos removal from single-family homes, said Becky Ingrum Dolph, an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency Region 7.

“It’s a shame, because people are out there and most likely getting contaminated,” added Leland Sumptur, a Lenexa asbestos abatement manager who teaches and has consulted nationally.

Just two weeks after the tornado hit Greensburg, the EPA arrived to take air samples to determine whether or not asbestos levels were dangerous. At that time, the tests were negative. If the samples had been positive, points out Dolph, the EPA would have been allowed to move in.

“Legally, we don’t have any authority to require the individual homeowner to do anything,” Dolph said.

Others believe that not just the air but also the debris should be tested. “For someone to suggest they did air sampling and they didn’t find anything, that is so wrong to do that,” said Celeste Monforton, a researcher and lecturer on public health policy with George Washington University. “It gives some people a false sense of security.”

“Really the risk is going to be to the people rummaging through the debris and what they are breathing there,” Monforton said. “For someone walking down the street it might not be such a problem.”

A 59-year-old British shipyard electrician, who is currently battling asbestos-caused mesothelioma, has received one of the largest compensation awards in an asbestos suit in British history. According to an article in The Northern Echo, Raymond Shanks was recently awarded £948,565 by a High Court.

Shanks worked for the Swan Hunter Group, a company which has operated a shipyard in the town of Wallsend for several decades. The grandfather of two was employed there as an electrician for about four years – from 1965-1969 – performing tasks in various locations throughout the shipyard and coming into contact with dangerous asbestos nearly every day.

According to Shank’s attorneys, after an operation and chemotherapy, “he has enjoyed a stable and good quality of life since last year,” although he has constant pain in his chest and can only walk at a “snail’s pace”. The former Australia resident, who returned to the UK after his diagnosis, isn’t expected to last more than another year of so.

The judge in the case, noting that Shanks had previously been “very fit and active”, awarded him £70,000 for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. The balance was to cover loss of earning, relocation costs, medical care, and other miscellaneous expenses.

A Des Moines, Iowa company that makes putty used for repairs to wood and plaster, model building and sculpting is being sued by four cancer patients who believe its products have made them sick with mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused disease.

According to an article in the Des Moines Register, the Donald Durham Company has been making putty since 1932 and this is only the second time they have been included in any asbestos-related lawsuits. The first case was dismissed in 2005 when tests conducted on behalf of the plaintiff found no asbestos, said Hayward Draper, the company’s legal counsel.

Durham’s product is sold nationwide under the name Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty. The article notes that the company has three employees and four contract workers that prepare the dry-form putty, which is then mixed with water by the consumer. The company’s annual sales are between $1 million and $5 million, according to the Iowa Manufacturers Register.

An attorney for the plaintiffs noted that tests showed the presence of asbestos in the Durham putty, but Durham’s president, Ron Lindhart, said several tests on behalf of the company show the putty has no asbestos. The plaintiffs’ attorneys maintain that the alleged source is a talc ingredient mined by R.T. Vanderbilt Co. of Norwalk, Conn.

Following a rash of fines imposed on companies who’ve illegally demolished buildings containing asbestos cement, Britain’s Health and Safety Executive has issued a warning asking construction and demolition companies to take “extra care” when working on structures that may contain the material.

The warning came on the heels of one such instance, after Wye Valley Demolition Ltd of St Weonards, Hereford, was fined £6,000 and asked to pay costs of £13,621.49 at Hereford Magistrates’ Court following the release of asbestos during the demolition of a former grain store building in Bodenham.

Instead of being removed under controlled circumstances, the asbestos in the old grain building was torn down and smashed to the ground by a piece of demolition machinery, spreading the hazardous material throughout the demolition site and putting workers and locals at risk.

Joy Jones, principal inspector for construction for the Health and Safety Executive issued this statement. “People working in the construction industry need to exercise caution when working in areas that may contain asbestos. Asbestos should not be treated lightly as it causes 3,500 deaths in Britain each year, with annual numbers predicted to go on rising into the next decade. All people working in areas that may contain asbestos need to be aware of the dangers to others and the financial penalties imposed if asbestos is mishandled. The risks from asbestos cement are lower than from other asbestos materials but contractors still need to take proper precautions.”

A man who spent several decades rubbing down asbestos-lagged pipes in his job as a decorator has died of mesothelioma and his wife wants compensation from the companies that employed him and put him at risk, notes an article in the Manchester Evening News.

Carol Wilkinson, whose husband Trevor led an otherwise healthy life as a motorbike enthusiast until his diagnosis three years ago, is seeking £300,000 from four companies in Greater Manchester (England).

Wilkinson first visited his doctor in 2004 to complain of a respiratory infection that wouldn’t go away. He was subsequently diagnosed with mesothelioma and lived for almost three years after the diagnosis, thanks to several clinical trials being conducted at a nearby hospital. He died last month.

“Trevor was my best friend. He was always fit and healthy and lived for racing motorbikes,” said Carol Wilkinson. “We had big plans for our future. We were going to get a bike and ride around America.”

“I retired this week and he should have been here to share it with me. But now I’m on my own, wondering how to fill the void his death has left.”

The family’s solicitor, Pauline Chandler said: “Mesothelioma is increasingly claiming the lives of people in occupations outside the traditional heavy industries and there are more and more painters and decorators being affected.” Nearly 2,000 people die in Britain each year of mesothelioma.

The developer of a condominium project in downtown Kansas City has pled guilty in a federal court to violating federal standards for asbestos removal during an extensive renovation project which took place last year.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal, Michael J. Abbott of Manhattan KC LLC waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Scott Wright earlier this week. He is accused of violating the Toxic Substances Control Act and the federal Clean Air Act.

Abbott, age 34, is the managing member of Manhattan KC, which owns The Manhattan, formerly the University Towers building, located on 8th Street in downtown Kansas City.

“By pleading guilty, Abbott admitted that he had removed asbestos-containing material in the then-University Towers building in April and May 2006 without state accreditation as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act,” the article notes.

The Kansas City Health Department was tipped off by an anonymous caller who had witnessed the illegal removal of asbestos from the 12th floor of the towers during the renovation process. Upon examination, the Health Department discovered a large amount of dust and construction debris on that particular floor. Air quality samples contained 3 percent and 4 percent chrysotile asbestos, a dangerous material that is federally regulated.

In court earlier this week, Abbott admitted that regulated asbestos-containing material was removed from the University Towers by unaccredited workers.

Furthermore, as the representative of Manhattan KC, Abbott also pleaded guilty, in a separate but related case, to failing to comply with work practice standards related to the removal of asbestos from University Towers in violation of the Clean Air Act.

Abbott admitted, in a second plea agreement Monday, that “he and other workers had removed regulated asbestos-containing material from the areas of the building involving more than 160 square feet of material without following the Clean Air Act work practice requirements,” the article notes.

Fines of $100,000 will be paid by Abbott and Manhattan KC LLC.

Asbestos-related diseases in Canada are on the rise, says Pat Martin, a member of the Canadian Parliament from Manitoba, who has been leading a campaign to ban asbestos use in Canada as well as its export. Furthermore, Martin continues, Department of National Defense (DND) employees and civilians are being sickened every day due to exposure to the hazardous material in their surroundings, caused by the rampant use of asbestos in military buildings and submarines.

Martin, who points out that more than 40 countries have already banned asbestos, told the Epoch Times that he doesn’t understand why Canada continues to mine and export the material, despite national and international attempts to ban its production and usage.

“Canada should hang its head in shame,” says Martin. “We use tax dollars and foreign missions to host pro-asbestos conferences [in third world countries]. We also undermine the efforts of other countries to ban asbestos.”

Canada is the second largest producer and exporter of asbestos in the world. Figures show that Canada produces 200,000 tons of asbestos per year, 97 percent of which is exported to third world countries, such as India, Thailand and Indonesia. These countries have no regulatory system to monitor the safe use of asbestos, so are easy targets for exporters like Canada, many believe.

“We are exporting it like crazy, while the rest of the world says “no”. This is absolutely morally and ethically reprehensible on the part of Canadian government, to impose this legacy of exporting human misery and disease to these underdeveloped countries where health and safety standards are either poor or non-existing “says Martin.

Asbestos mining, however, has been shut down everywhere in Canada except for Quebec. In that province, where the industry is privately owned, an estimated $97 million per year in revenue is generated by the mines. Quebec also has the country’s highest cancer rate. More than 800 miners still toil in the mines there each day.

Canada also continues to feel the crunch caused by their overuse of the material throughout the past several decades. This summer, more than $1 billion will be spent to remove asbestos from the Parliament buildings in Ottawa.

The new owner of an old apartment complex in Kennebec, Maine knowingly exposed the buildings tenants to asbestos during a renovation process which will turn the structure into high-end apartments.

The Kennebec Journal reports that representatives from Harper’s Development Corporation told the tenants that they didn’t have to vacate until the end of the month and then sent crews in to begin gutting the units, tearing out walls and filling the air with construction dust. They failed to test for asbestos before the construction began, even though there was evidence that it was present.

“I knew it was there,” said Harper’s Operations Manager, Ed Sullivan. “The old boiler is insulated — obviously it’s asbestos — and there’s asbestos in the pipes and crawl space. A few of the rooms have vinyl flooring with asbestos in it.

“There’s no asbestos in the plaster, that tested negative, or the new sheetrock or joint compound, where I’m told it’s normally found.”

“I’m very angry with (Harper’s President Kevin) Mattson and his Harper’s Development,” said tenant Deborah Berube. “He knew before his crews started working here that there was asbestos in this building, and he deliberately put us in harms way.”

Harper’s eventually hired a company to test the building for asbestos, but only after tenants complained to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
John Bucci, a compliance inspector in the lead and asbestos unit at the DEP, said asbestos was found in some of the units’ linoleum flooring and the basement.

“Asbestos is an issue here,” Bucci said Thursday. “If you look at the extent of the renovation, there’s a lot of other materials that would have caused a dusty environment, with all the plaster they took out. I understand why these guys are upset.”

“It’s hard to tell if anyone is at risk,” Bucci said. “We have rules and regulations to tell you how to (inspect and remove asbestos).”