After an article in the Minnesota Star Tribune exposed the fact that the state’s health commissioner kept secret the results of a study on asbestos-caused cancer among taconite miners, she continues to defend her decision not to release the results to the general public for more than a year.

Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach claims that during the year in which they held the results of the study, her office was working to design two new studies to determine whether the taconite itself had caused the cancer of 35 additional miners.

“And what we were trying to do was to make sure we had a scientific basis and protocol put together, so that when in fact the study results come out, that there is peer review process so they are accepted within the community, and actually by the regulatory agencies, so that decisions can be made,” Mandernach told the media.

Susan Vento, whose husband – Congressman Bruce Vento – died of mesothelioma in 2000, says she can’t understand why the design of the studies would take so long. “If that’s the amount of time it takes, the Department of Health can’t be trusted to handle this issue. That makes no sense at all,” she stated.
Vento also claims that the Health Department is locking out medical researchers and union officials, as well as the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. She believes that all of those individuals could have helped design the studies.
“I think by doing it in secret, they really shut off a lot of opportunity for a plan that’s comprehensive and really proactive,” Vento said.

A British man who served as an electrician’s mate on Britain’s first nuclear submarine has received a sizeable settlement as compensation for his exposure to asbestos while on the job.

According in an article in the North-West Evening Mail, Ken McDonald, age 67, was an employee at Vickers Shipyard in Barrows during the 1960s. While working on the HMS Dreadnought from 1961 to 1963 he would carry bags of asbestos for the electricians to use for lagging pipes aboard the vessel. He would come home covered in asbestos dust but had no idea it could harm him or his family members, he told the newspaper.

Earlier this week, he was awarded £102,500, thanks to the assistance of the local Barrow Asbestos Related Disease Support group, who put him in touch with his former union and their legal experts.

“When I was diagnosed with mesothelioma I was not surprised but it was a tremendous shock,” McDonald said. “Usually when you’re diagnosed with this illness they give you between two and twelve months. You’ve just got to get on with it and take each day as it comes.”

McDonald had nothing but praise for the local asbestos disease support group, which has helped dozens of shipyard workers obtain the compensation they deserve.

“If I hadn’t gone to them I wouldn’t have got my interim payment from the government, which you get almost immediately,” he said. “I am relieved to have received this compensation but I would rather have my health back. At least now I know that my wife and family will be provided for. I’m hoping I’m going to live a little bit longer than they said I’m going to.”

An article in the Minnesota Star Tribune has exposed the fact that the Minnesota Department of Health suppressed information pertaining to research about deadly mesothelioma among workers in the state’s taconite mines. The information in question was kept quiet for more than a year, the article points out, despite the fact that a government scientist urged the health department to release the information because of the health implications connected with it.

According to the article, the department discovered in March 2006 that mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer, had stricken 35 more taconite miners than the 17 previously known. All 52 of the miners have died.

Records obtained by the newspaper show that the information was scheduled to be released last fall but the state health commissioner, Dianne Mandernach, decided to withhold the new information until a “plan” was in place. These same records also show that the department feared that “public disclosure of the findings would create controversy.”

Mandernach said that releasing the findings without having a plan for further studies could “excite and cause tremendous concern before you have all of your ducks in a row.” Public health experts disagree.
“Whether or not they had a plan in place is neither here nor there,” said Dr. Ian Greaves, an associate professor of environmental health at the University of Minnesota who is an expert in lung diseases.
“They’re a public agency that serves the public, and I think it’s overreaching to think they should take an attitude that they know best. … This sounds very paternalistic in some ways.”
According to the article, the Health Department has regularly released public health research. Officials could not cite another case in which findings were withheld for a year.
The department did, however, quickly release a report which stated that no cancer clusters were found in Washington and Dakota counties, where groundwater pollution is a growing concern. The findings were made public shortly after the work was done.

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began cleaning up the former Lawrence, NJ site of Friction Products Division (FDP), a company that manufactured brakes which contained asbestos.

An article in the Trenton Times notes that officials from the federal EPA brought a crane to the five-acre site near the state’s capital to begin removing 10 “baghouses” or fabric filters, all of which will be transferred to a sealed area and decontaminated.

FDP had manufactured brakes at this site for about 15 years. When they closed their doors in 1997, they allegedly filed the proper paperwork with the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) but no follow-up was completed. When the DEQ finally visited in December 2005, they determined that clean-up was necessary.

An initial assessment found that the company had left behind about 1,000 bags of chemical waste. However, further testing revealed that the dust in the baghouses contained dangerous asbestos fibers. Because the property has not been disturbed by outsiders, the DEQ says there is little concern about exposure to asbestos by the general public.

FDP has since moved to neighboring Morrisville, PA, but the EPA has vowed to pursue both the company and the land owner, DSC of Newark, for reimbursement of the $800,000 it will cost to clean up the area. The clean-up should be complete by early July.

The owner of a Maryland hazardous waste transport company has pleaded guilty to improper disposal of asbestos and to knowingly making false statements in connection with the improper disposal of such waste materials.

According to a press release on WebWire, Terrance Yates, owner and operator of Hazport Solutions Inc. pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had determined that the company falsified information on waste shipment records about the disposal of asbestos-containing materials.

The situations in question occurred between August 2004 and July 2006. During that time period, Yates contracted with five hazardous waste removal companies to haul 12 – 17 trailers full of asbestos waste from clean-up sites in Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia and carry them to an EPA-approved landfill in Pennsylvania. Instead, the trailers were abandoned at a service station storage yard in Severn, MD. Some broken bags of asbestos-containing debris were also found outside the trailers.

The EPA started clean-up on the trailers last August and subsequently ordered the asbestos removal companies involved in the scheme to remove and dispose of the material in the proper manner.

According to the article, Yates faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Workers at India’s Alang Shipyard, who have been charged with the task of dismantling the controversial asbestos-laden Norwegian Ship known as the Blue Lady, are currently undergoing medical testing, reports an article on DailyIndia.com.

According to the article, medical professionals from the National Institute for Occupational Health have been conducting general check-ups of all the workers at the shipbreaking yard. In addition, they are mandating training to teach workers about the proper handling of asbestos on-the-job and about the importance of wearing protective masks while working with the hazardous material.

“Earlier, there were no such things, but since the anchoring of Blue Lady there are some health scares. That’s why we are getting a medical check-up,” said Dharmendra Yadav, a worker at the yard.

Earlier this year, India’s Supreme Court had allowed the ship to enter Indian waters, but put a hold on its dismantling, pending a report by an expert panel on the quantity of toxic wastes on board. Norway, it was found, had grossly underestimated the amount of asbestos aboard the ship, which once served as a cruise liner.

The team of 15-members of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) and Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) gave clearance for the ship to enter the yard after the committee carried out a five-day inspection of the ship. Dismantling began recently.

Medical experts and members of the environmental watchdog group, Greenpeace, believe the shipbreaking puts workers at risk for asbestos-related diseases.

“This atmosphere is considered hazardous for the workers. So a government sponsored team has come here to do a medical check up of the workers,” said G.B. Makwana, a doctor with Alang medical hospital who stressed that hundreds of Indian shipyard workers have already died of asbestos-caused diseases.

According to several newspaper accounts, government leaders who’ve been rallying for a total ban of asbestos in the U.S. say the Senate is “just a week or two away” from a deal that would accomplish the task.

The fight to ban the dangerous mineral has been led by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga), who note that the legislation to ban asbestos will also include a separate clause that would authorize $50 million in research to combat the health effects of this dangerous material, which has killed approximately 231,000 people since 1980 and is expected to claim at least that many more by 2040.

“Some of the research money also could go toward identifying the risks of inhaling naturally occurring asbestos, which can be found in underground seams that are more common in the vicinity of earthquake fault lines,” notes an article in the Centre (PA) Daily.

The potential agreement was disclosed on June 12th at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif), who has also been integral in introducing such legislation.

“World production of asbestos actually increased in 2005, from 2.36 million metric tons in 2004 to 2.4 million metric tons in 2005,” she said. While the last U.S. mine closed in 2002, Boxer said, 2,530 metric tons were imported into the country in 2005, along with 90,000 metric tons of products that contain it. Asbestos is still used in more than a dozen chlorine factories throughout the U.S.

More than 40 countries have already banned asbestos. While it is still widely used in third world countries, the United States is one of the few world powers that have refused to issue a total ban thus far. Canada still mines asbestos and joins Russia and China as the leading exporters of the hazardous substance.

According to a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) press release, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint against the city of Winslow, Ariz., a former city administrator, and a former apartment complex owner for improper asbestos removal and demolition of nine apartment buildings. The complaint involves serious violations of the Clean Air Act.

The complaint focuses on the demolition of the Apache Apartments and the removal of asbestos from the buildings. According to the press release, extensive violations involve the “breaking up of, collection, transport, and burning of asbestos-containing materials.”

“This is one of the worst asbestos-related violations we have seen,” said Deborah Jordan, the EPA’s Air Division Director for the Pacific Southwest region. “The regulations that were violated in this case are designed to protect workers and the public from exposure to friable asbestos, a known carcinogen. Not only was asbestos released to the outside air during the demolition, but released again at the landfill, and again when the debris was burned and uncontained for weeks.”

Complex owner William Christie agreed in May 2002 to remove asbestos-containing siding from the building after it was declared uninhabitable. He was also to pay the city of Winslow $3,000 for city-employed crews to demolish and haul away all structures on the property, explains the press release.

Christie and other parties involved in the fiasco, including the city of Winslow, failed to notify the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality of their intent to demolish the apartments. Four of the nine buildings were demolished before neighbors began complaining and, after inspections were made, Christie was ordered to cease demolition. However, he failed to comply and the remaining buildings were demolished without proper permits and with asbestos in place.

Additionally, the article points out, some asbestos-contaminated debris was improperly disposed of at the Painted Desert Landfill, and more asbestos debris was transported to city-owned property and burned - resulting in additional asbestos release and exposure to workers and the public.

The defendants are subject to civil penalties of up to $27,500 per day for each of five violations.

A contractor hired to remove asbestos from a Philadelphia-area elementary school faces a potential sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty on June 11th to a criminal violation of the Clean Air Act for failure to properly remove the asbestos from the building.

According to an Associated Press article, Branko Lazic, who owns Bilaz Inc., was hired to remove asbestos from Mattison Elementary School in Ambler, a suburb of Philadelphia, in June 2002. He is accused of leaving the school while the work was being done, though he admitted to knowing that it was unlikely the work would proceed in a proper manner while he was away from the building.

Prosecutors state that the school’s staff, including teachers and janitors, had to remove a coating of white dust from furniture, books, and other items before the start of the next year. Most were unaware that the dust came from asbestos material found throughout the school.

This violation of the Clear Air Act may result not only in imprisonment and a fine for Lazic, but he will probably also be ordered to pay restitution to the school. Sentencing is set for later this month.

Educators at two Orange County, California high schools feel that the sloppy removal of asbestos from their respective buildings has put teachers, students, and staff at the school in danger of developing serious respiratory problems.

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, faculty at Troy and La Habra High Schools, both part of the Fullerton Joint Union School District, believe the school board “did not adequately protect students and teachers from dust that may contain asbestos and lead-based paint,” and added that exposure to these substances has caused an increase in respiratory problems among those who inhabit the school on a daily basis. In one case, asbestos was removed while students and faculty were still in the building and no notification was given.

The article also cites an incident where a Troy High School teacher found five large plastic bags marked “danger” and “asbestos” left sitting near a system that circulates air throughout the school building. Officials say the bags were removed promptly when discovered but were unaware of how long they had been sitting in that location before being detected.

Dina Skrabalak, a Spanish teacher at Troy, said she developed asthma, chest pain and bronchitis during the renovation when dust circulated in the halls of the building in which she taught.

“My concern is that there was asbestos floating around while school was in session, with no signs posted for months at a time,” Skrabalak said. “I liken it to being trapped in a garage with solvents and chemicals you got at Home Depot.”

The district has been renovating its six four-year high schools. Work on the structures include replacing old plumbing and electric as well as removing asbestos and other hazardous materials from the buildings, most of which were built in the 1950s and 1960s. Federal guidelines require school districts to notify parents, teachers and employees, as well as the state air quality agency, of any plans for removing asbestos from school buildings, but that hasn’t always been the case, say the nearly 100 faculty members who recently signed a petition expressing concerns about health risks.

“Any time you have asbestos removed or disturbed, you have an air quality problem and a health problem,” said Tina Cherry, spokeswoman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which oversees the safe removal of asbestos when buildings are renovated or demolished.