Residents on Chestnut Street in the city of Hartford discovered over a dozen garbage bags filled with asbestos-laden insulation this week. Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection officials believe that someone dumped the asbestos illegally in an attempt to save money.

“They were open to the public where anybody could have walked over the bags,” stated Brian Emanuelson, a DEP official. The eighteen garbage bags were carelessly tossed into a pile in a small field on the side of the street and were discovered by residents who lived nearby. DEP officials removed the bags and safely transported them to a landfill.

Chestnut Street resident Nancy Walker claims that this is not the first time that garbage has been carelessly left on the side of the street. Other residents told the DEP that various items, such as old mattresses, couches, and even deceased animal carcasses, have been found in the same area before – an area where neighborhood children often play.

“We have a lot of children here growing up,” stated Walker. “…if they were exposed to asbestos, we don’t know what the long-term effects could possibly be.”

The potential long-term effects associated with exposure to asbestos include the development of mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs. Mesothelioma has a survival rate of less than 1% and has no known cure. Asbestos fibers can be inhaled and will settle into the lungs, where they can remain for up to fifty years before an individual will begin to experience symptoms associated with mesothelioma.

The DEP has no suspects, but urges residents in the neighborhood to be on the lookout for suspicious dumping. “My daughters plays outside,” said Hartford resident Denell Hicks. “I just think it’s disgusting that people think this is a city dump.”

This afternoon, Minnesota health officials and politicians will meet together to receive an update on the research that’s delving into the cause of lung disease among iron ore miners in that state.

According to a Minnesota Public Radio story, the two groups will come together to hear more about the progress of the $5 million study that will examine “various aspects of the complicated question of why men in northeastern Minnesota are getting mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos, at twice the expected rate.”

The study is being conducted by the University of Minnesota – School of Public Health. It was approved in April and research began immediately. Study results will be garnered from assessments of the health of active and retired miners, the review of death certificates, and investigations into the 58 miner deaths caused by mesothelioma.

In addition, the Natural Resources Research Institute is analyzing iron ore samples and dust in the air in Iron Range communities, to see how closely they match asbestos dust, the article explains.

A worker removing old tiles and clearing the former Universal Hotel Liquidators site in New Haven, Conn. reported the building’s owner to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) this week after becoming suspicious about the presence of asbestos inside the building.

According to an article in the New Haven Register, Ernie Jones says he left the work site each day with a “hard cough” and had a feeling that something just wasn’t right. After reporting his concerns to OSHA, federal, state, and city workers showed up at the site on Wednesday, probing allegations that asbestos had been removed without masks or ventilation being used; that piles of asbestos-coated debris had been left unsecured outside; and illegal immigrants were sleeping on cots inside the building.

On Wednesday, City Building Official Andrew Rizzo issued two cease-and desist notifications to Brooklyn, N.Y.-based property owner State Assets LLC, the owners of the building, stopping any further work at the property and halting use of the second floor as an illegal boarding house.

Rizzo said he asked workers about the possibility that asbestos tiles were removed from the site before the inspections so as to avoid prosecution. Regardless of whether or not that occurred, city Director of Environmental Health Paul Kowalski said asbestos was indeed found at the site.

Project manager Aryk Benmaim said the site was previously tested for asbestos by a private company and the results came back negative. After worker complaints, the city retested and got positive results.

“It was zero. (The city) insists on taking samples, and it came out positive. I don’t know how it could be,” Ben-maim said.

Anonymous workers told OSHA representatives that illegal workers are brought in each day from New York. They bag the asbestos every night, readying it for removal. During the day, Jones and his fellow workers tear up the tiles using an ice chisel.

“I’ve built half of downtown,” Jones said. “I always had masks. This is the only building I’ve had where the boss gave me no masks and no protection.”

OSHA continues to investigate the situation.

The state of Virginia is conducting an investigation to determine whether a contractor or sub-contractor for the new $14 million U.S. Navy housing project in Newport News illegally dumped asbestos debris at a landfill in Suffolk that was not licensed to accept toxic friable asbestos.

According to an article in The Daily Press, John Holland, owner of John C. Holland Enterprises Inc., a landfill off Nansemond Parkway in Suffolk, told reporters that debris from the Navy site at 31st Street and Washington Avenue is being tested for asbestos and has been quarantined. The state allows the landfill to accept non-friable asbestos-contaminated material, which is asbestos that remains undisturbed and has not broken down, explains Holland.

Holland explained that he continues to feel unsure about the state of the asbestos at his landfill and whether or not the debris might release toxic fibers. “There is a possibility. It’s quarantined. For right now it’s not going anywhere,” he said.

Officials from the Virginia Beach office of the state Department of Environmental Quality were telephoned by Holland last week when he became suspicious about the debris from the U.S. Navy project.

A sample taken on March 6 from a stockpile of siding material left at the construction site was tested by a certified environmental laboratory in Chesapeake. On March 11, the laboratory confirmed that the sample contained 15 percent asbestos.

An article in the San Jose Mercury News points out the fact that home inspectors hired to review homes for new buyers rarely pay attention to the presence of asbestos.

“Asbestos is generally regarded as “outside the scope” of a home inspection and is typically not mentioned by most home inspectors,” says columnist Barry Stone.

“For home inspectors, the issue is one of legal liability. If any material is disclosed as a potential source of asbestos, the inspector may be held liable for other possible asbestos materials that were not mentioned in the inspection report,” he adds. “For this reason, the home inspection industry has excluded asbestos as a consideration during home inspections.”

Many common building materials, he points out, may contain asbestos, especially in older homes. These include sheet vinyl flooring, asphalt and vinyl floor tiles, adhesive mastics, acoustic ceiling texture, heat duct insulation, asphalt composition roofing materials, plaster, stucco, drywall, joint compound and more.

Stone points out that most of these materials present no health hazard unless they are worn or damaged. However, some argue that inspectors should simply “point out” these potential hazards so that the homeowner can keep an eye on the hazardous material and catch any problems if they arise.

In addition, notification of where asbestos may be present could stop do-it-yourselfers from tearing out floors, ceilings, or walls where asbestos might be present. Instead, they would understand that it is necessary to hire abatement professionals to remove and dispose of the material.

In Australia this week, a new research group dedicated to addressing the needs of mesothelioma sufferers was launched by Karen Banton, widow of long-time asbestos campaigner, Bernie Banton.

According to a press release from Research Australia, “the Asbestos Research Group will facilitate research and raise awareness of asbestosis and asbestos-related diseases both to the medical fraternity and the general community, with the aims of improving treatment and enhancing the quality of life of those affected.”

The Group, headed by Brisbane-based doctors Roger Allen and Maurice Heiner, “will analyze the progression of the disease over time as the basis for further research into reduced lung function then study asbestos-pleural pain. It will also analyze the physical, emotional and financial effects of the disease on patients.”

Dr. Allen has treated mesothelioma patients for the past 20 years and has viewed first-hand the terrible effects of the disease.

“I continue to see middle-aged adults dying from mesothelioma or asbestosis, the victims of decades of appalling indifference around the world to the known dangers of asbestos, and the ravages of asbestos will continue for decades to come,” Dr Allen said. “One of our Group’s highest priorities will be to highlight these tragic effects in a world where the mining and export of asbestos continues in many countries.”

Dr Allen also says a “second peak” of asbestos-related cancers and asbestosis will hit Australia in the next 20 years and said that it had been forecast that between 2000 and 2050 an estimated 27,000 deaths from mesothelioma would occur in that country.

“However, the number of mesothelioma patients was just the tip of the iceberg”, he said. “The vast majority of patients with asbestos diseases suffer from benign asbestos pleural disease and asbestosis. The pain they endure was the subject of the first research project of the newly established Asbestos Research Group, the results of which I hope will be published and lead to greater recognition of benign asbestos pleural pain.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that it will continue to monitor air samples for asbestos in the aftermath of an EF-5 tornado that killed seven people and injured at least 67 others in Parkersburg, Iowa, on May 25.

EPA coordinators report that the monitoring tests, which determine the level of asbestos particles in the air, will be set up at key points in the city of Parkersburg. The monitoring, using sophisticated fixed monitoring systems, will begin on Tuesday, June 10, 2008, and will continue for as long as necessary until it is deemed that the air is free of fibers or below the acceptable levels, reports a press release by the EPA.

On Wednesday, June 11, EPA Region 7 will deploy its Mobile Command Post to Parkersburg. The vehicle is outfitted with equipment necessary to receive and transmit data obtained during the sampling.

Airborne asbestos is often a concern after a tornado or any other natural disaster that destroys buildings and other structures that might contain asbestos. After Hurricane Katrina, high levels of asbestos and other toxins were found in the air in New Orleans and other towns affected by the hurricane.

An article in the Toledo Blade reports that attorneys and their clients who submit claims to the Owens Corning Asbestos Trust for compensation for asbestos-related diseases should be prepared to wait for their money.

The problem, reports attorney Jimmy Rodgers, is not those who run the trust but rather the number of claims made against the trust. According to the article, “since starting in late October, 2006, the trust has paid $390 million on 70,000 claims submitted by people – primarily construction workers, ship-builders, and others – who developed lung diseases from working around asbestos-containing insulation and other products once made by Toledo-based Owens Corning and its Fibreboard subsidiary.”

The trust was established as a result of Owens Corning’s six year bankruptcy case. The company contributed several billion dollars worth of cash and stock to the trust in order to compensate the victims. The trust has received an additional 256,000 claims and faces new demands for compensation daily, the article explains.

“The ultimate number of asbestos … claims to be filed and the liability for all such claims is not determinable at this time,” trustees wrote. “The net assets available for the payment of claims at Dec. 31, 2007, may or may not be sufficient to meet all future obligations of the trust,” said the first detailed financial report on the trust, filed in Delaware earlier this spring.

Owens Corning asbestos claimants and their attorneys continue to be concerned that the company’s asbestos fund may go the way of a similar trust at Johns-Manville, which was under-funded. The lack of funding resulted in a trimming of compensation payments to asbestos victims.

But so far, says Rodgers, a Chattanooga attorney, things are going well with the OC trust. “By and large, I’m fairly pleased with how it’s operated,” he said of the trust and the procedure to obtain compensation, which includes the option of filing a claim via the internet.

Builders constructing a new state prison in Grayson County, Va. struck a vein of natural asbestos, stalling the building process until a plan is devised to remove the naturally occurring but dangerous mineral.

“This should not change the overall plan,” said William Ring, the county administrator. “They have to develop a plan to deal with what they have found. The site is still the selected site.”

According to an article in The Journal Reporter, though grading began on the site last fall, contractors just recently noticed a soft brown material which they realized was not ordinary rock.

Work on the site ceased on May 9. State officials tested the material and confirmed that it was asbestos, said Larry Traylor, the director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections.
“Additional tests to determine if asbestos particles had been present in the air were performed, and those results indicated no asbestos particles present,” Traylor added.

The article reports that Balfour Beatty, the contractor in charge of the prison project, will start work with a limited crew next week to remove or contain the asbestos vein. The company has also posted signs on the site and will begin performing awareness training for people working on the site so as to avoid unnecessary exposure to the toxic mineral, which can break down and release fibers that can be inhaled. Asbestos is a known carcinogen, causing a cancer known as mesothelioma, which attacks the lining of the lungs.

A recent Japanese Environment Ministry survey reported that 145 – or 18 percent – of approximately 800 people who live near Japan’s asbestos factories show signs of pleural plaques, a scarring and thickening of the lungs that can lead to the cancer mesothelioma.

According to an article in The Yomiuri Shimbun, ministry officials reported the results of the survey yesterday to a group of health experts. The 145 people, they reported, most likely breathed asbestos fibers in the air around their homes. None of them had direct exposure with the dangerous mineral.

The ministry conducted the survey last year in six different areas of Japan – Yokohama, Hashima in Gifu Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture, Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture, and Tosu in Saga Prefecture. All the places surveyed had been the site of factories that handled asbestos, including several that made construction materials.

Of 1,814 people who said they might have inhaled asbestos in the past, the ministry analyzed the data of 804 people who had never worked at the factories or who had not lived with anyone who had, and were presumed to have inhaled asbestos through the air, the article states. Other signs possibly related to asbestos exposure were discovered in 509 people, or 60 percent of the 804 people whose data were carefully analyzed.

“There’s no longer any doubt that there was pollution, in which people around the factories inhaled asbestos,” said Sugio Furuya, secretary general at the Tokyo-based Japan Occupational Safety and Health Resource Center. “The government should quickly establish a health management system to help them receive medical treatment for free.”