A Colorado woman who believes she was exposed to asbestos both at work and at home during renovation projects is suing dozens of companies after she contracted mesothelioma, a serious form of cancer for which the only known cause is the inhalation of asbestos fibers.

According to an article in the Madison County Record, the suit was filed in an Illinois court earlier this week on behalf of Joann Dennett, who claims she was employed from 1958 to 2008 in various positions at various locations throughout the United States, including Illinois.

Companies included in Dennett’s suit include Bondex International, CBS, Chrysler, Federal-Mogul Asbestos Personal Trust, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, Goodyear, Honeywell International, Ingersoll-Rand, International Paper, John Crane, MetLife, Monsanto, Pfizer, Philips Electronics and Trane US.

Dennett was diagnosed with mesothelioma approximately one year ago and is currently undergoing treatment for the disease.

“The plaintiff’s exposure and inhalation, ingestion or absorption of the asbestos fibers was completely foreseeable and could or should have been anticipated by the defendants,” the complaint states.

Typical of asbestos suits, Dennett’s claim alleges that “the defendants included asbestos in their products even when adequate substitutes were available and failed to provide any or adequate instructions concerning the safe methods of working with and around asbestos.”

It also claims that “the defendants failed to require and advise employees of hygiene practices designed to reduce or prevent carrying asbestos fibers home.”

Work at a mill in central New Brunswick, Canada had to be halted and more than 100 workers evacuated when asbestos dust was accidentally released late last week.

According to an article on CBC News, cleanup is beginning at the AV Nackawic Mill after wall siding containing asbestos was punctured last week. About 100 contract workers were sent home and were told they could return to work when cleanup was complete.

Testing taking place since the time of the accident indicated no release of particles inside the mill and mill president Peter Vinall believes that the incident did not put anyone’s health in danger.

The workers, who have been off-site since the puncture, don’t need to worry, Vinall said.

“This is low-grade asbestos material that’s used throughout the mill,” he said. “All the areas have this kind of cladding … As far as I’m concerned, they don’t need to be concerned.”

Some workers, however, are concerned about the overall safety at the mill and say the asbestos incident is just one of many that put them at risk on a regular basis.

Andrew Dawson, a representative of the mill’s labor union said: “A lot of the guys do have concerns over the safety of the mill although I think it would be inaccurate to say the mill is an unsafe site,”

A recent article in the Billings (Mont.) Gazette announces that the film documentary “Libby, Montana” has been nominated for an Emmy award. The film, produced by Doug Hawes-Davis, profiles the struggles of the small Montana town as hundreds of its residents become sickened by asbestos, caused by the presence of the W.R. Grace and Company asbestos-tainted vermiculite mine, which operated in the town for more than 30 years.

Hawes-Davis and co-producer Drury Gunn Carr were contacted last week about the award by the producers of “P.O.V.,” a documentary series that airs on PBS. “Libby, Montana” was part of that series and aired on PBS nationally last August. Its audience numbered more than 3 million viewers.

“[The nomination] took a couple days to sink in, to tell the truth,” said Hawes-Davis. “Now that I think about it, it’s our biggest honor as filmmakers by a long shot.”

The film was nominated in the category entitled “Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story Long Form.” It will be up against four other documentaries, including two others from the P.O.V. series.

Since last August, the film has received much critical acclaim and has been lauded for bringing the plight of Libby residents to the public eye.

“If the political pressure to prosecute Grace’s executives to the full extent of the law persists, it will be due in part to this deeply moving film,” wrote a critic for the San Antonio Current.

Hawes-Davis also wonders what impact his film might have on the trial of W.R. Grace and several of its executives, scheduled to begin in about two months.

“It increases the probability that there will be a pursuit of justice,” he said. “Whether or not people are convicted is really up to the court system. But my hope is that the movie had some role in building public understanding. I love the idea that the movie could have that kind of impact, but I’m trying to be realistic about it. I do believe that this type of media can raise public awareness.”

A magnet school in the Albany (NY) City School District will have to close for an entire school year due to the presence of hazardous asbestos.

According to an article in the Schenectady Daily Gazette, the Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology has serious asbestos problems that will take a year to remediate. This September, the 500 students who attend the school, ranging from kindergarten to grade six, will need to be moved to another nearby school for classes.

Work to replace windows and remove a small amount of asbestos began at the school after students finished classes in June. But what was thought to be a small abatement project turned into a much larger ordeal, district officials noted.

“In doing this and other work, they found there were places that we believed to be remediated in late 1980s that were not remediated for asbestos,” said school district spokesperson Ron Lesko.

However, Lesko noted that air quality tests performed at the school did not show high quantities of asbestos in the air. But he says the district would prefer to err on the side of caution.

“There is a perception of asbestos and health risks. We don’t want to take any possibility of putting anyone at risk and want to protect students and staff,” said Lesko. “We will remediate the building properly and have work complete for 2009-2010.”

The police headquarters in Rye, New York will undergo an asbestos cleanup for the second time in three months due to the extensive presence of the hazardous mineral inside the station. This second cleanup comes after the local union proclaimed they had “no confidence in the city manager and police commissioner earlier this year based on conditions at the station,” notes an article in the Journal News of the Lower Hudson Valley.

“The basement and front desk area’s air supply vent will be wiped down and cleaned using special vacuums after recent testing showed asbestos particles in the air,” said Assistant City Manager Scott Pickup, adding that an old fax machine and teletype machine also will be discarded.

“Anything that comes to the city’s attention, we are going to take any step necessary to remediate it,” he said, noting that health risks are minimal because asbestos levels are low.

However, Franco Compagnone, president of the Rye Police Union, claims that the city did nothing about the problem until the union paid a private company to conduct additional testing, which verified the presence of the hazardous dust.

“I’m satisfied it’s getting done, but it’s the way we had to go about it,” Compagnone said of the May no-confidence vote and numerous letters to the city. “We’re not demanding; we just want to work in an environment that is safe.”

The cleanup proceedings will disrupt dispatch operations but all other police functions should operate as normal while the work is being completed.

The Mesothelioma Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center are recruiting patients with pleural mesothelioma for a new clinical trial involving targeted radiation therapy.

According to a Washington Post article, any mesothelioma patients aged 18 and older who have not had recent radiation therapy and have not received prior chemotherapy treatment with the drug Alimta will be considered for the study.

“Current surgical and chemotherapy treatments of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma are unsatisfactory and have not been shown to significantly prolong survival. In this study, we will investigate whether a combination of chemotherapy and radiation targeted directly at the lung’s lining can improve outcomes while avoiding surgery,” stated principal investigator Dr. Robert Taub.

“The trial is also significant, because our center is the only one nationwide that is offering this experimental therapy to treat pleural mesothelioma,” he added.

It is hoped that the procedure will kill cancer cells on the surface of the lung but spare other healthy parts of the body around the affected area, the article points out.

“Patients enrolled in the study will receive several rounds of targeted chemotherapy using the drugs cisplatin and doxorubicin via surgically implanted catheters. Some patients will be randomly selected to receive additional systemic (intravenous) chemotherapy using the drugs cisplatin and pemetrexed,” states the article. Patients may also elect to have lung surgery as well.

In an effort to address community concerns about an asbestos site in suburban Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Department of Health recently issued a document which states that current exposures at and near the so-called BoRit site in Ambler pose “no apparent public health hazard to the community for cancer effects or no cancer effects.”

The document was released on July 14, adding that though current exposures at the site are not harmful to the public, “on-site exposures to asbestos fibers when on-site soils and asbestos-containing material are disturbed are a public health hazard to area residents.” The report also notes that increases in dry conditions during periods with little rain may increase the potential of asbestos fibers becoming airborne.

Local residents have been concerned about the site for years and local public health officials have long been calling for containment of the area, the article points out. A fact sheet, issued by the state Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and distributed to area home and business owners, states that this month EPA contractors have been onsite to prepare for cleanup activities at BoRit as part of the removal action program.

“Prior to enacting the planned containment and stabilization work, it was necessary to bring workers and machinery onsite to clear overgrown vegetation, repair fencing and begin building access roads,” the fact sheet stated.

The public has been encouraged to carefully read the fact sheet and direct any questions to the EPA’s local community office in Ambler.

Parents of students at Tempe Union High School received a letter this week that told them the school has now tested negative for asbestos, however, information on the school district’s website tells them otherwise.

An article in the Arizona Republic noted that in May, the district website reported that “of the 49 samples collected from the identified areas, 10 were found to be positive for asbestos content.”

The asbestos was found in pipe insulation in canopy areas outside the school, in piping above the ceiling tiles in the school’s cafeteria hallway and in outdoor canopy roofing areas, according to a report submitted by Prime Consulting, Inc.

Linda Littell, a district spokeswoman, said asbestos has now been removed but parents seem to doubt the veracity of the statement given the seriousness of the problem reported on the website.

“I think they’re trying to gloss over and cover up the information,” said parent DeAnne Clowes. “They’ve tested that one area and found asbestos and cleaned it; that’s what they should have told parents.”

Clowes battled district officials to get the asbestos report posted on the website. After discussions with several district higher-ups, it was finally posted and has been available for parents to review. Clowes notes that the school is also facing serious problems with mold and elevated carbon dioxide problems, further complicating the process of cleaning up the building.

Testing and re-testing of the air in a Boulder apartment building continues this week, about 10 days after the building suffered a serious fire that left many tenants without a place to call home.

According to an article in the Boulder Daily Camera, environmental experts were back at the Hill House Apartments on Monday to test the air for asbestos levels and fire officials told the 50 or so displaced tenants that it could be a while before they are allowed back into their apartments.

“We will make a determination as soon as we know how bad it is,” said Boulder fire marshal Dave Lowrey, indicating that they will need to wait for this current batch of air testing results before making a decision.

After the blaze on July 12, clean-up crews determined the place was uninhabitable because they found asbestos in the drywall mud at the scene.

“The scene has been turned over to the property management company and insurance company,” Lowrey said, noting that testing and cleanup have been ongoing since the fire, which is believed to have been sparked by a careless smoker.

A similar fire occurred at the Holly Apartments in Boulder on May 11, also creating concerns about asbestos contamination. To date, the tenants who were displaced in that particular fire have not been allowed to return to their apartments.

Demolition at a trailer park in Longview, Wash. had to be halted because the park did not possess the proper permits for asbestos disposal, putting locals at risk for asbestos exposure from discarded asbestos-containing materials.

The Longview Daily News states that the Southwest Clean Air Agency issued a field notice of violation to the River City RV and Mobile Home Park because trailers in the park were being stripped of asbestos-containing siding as residents were preparing to vacate the park.

The park, which contained spaces for 166 trailers, was supposed to close on June 30, according to the article. However, owner Louie Gadini began to demolish the trailers before that date, residents say, resulting in the potential spread of asbestos dust.

“Gadini has argued that he only demolished trailers if the owners granted permission or if they presented a safety hazard,” the article points out. He also claims he hired a licensed abatement contractor so that any asbestos was disposed of properly.

However, the Clean Air Agency maintains that proper disposal was an issue and has demanded that demolition cease until proper permits are obtained.