Asbestos abatement is currently underway at South Main Street Elementary School in Pleasantville, NJ after workers located asbestos in aging floor tiles.

School officials stated that at least four classrooms contained asbestos, and that “anything with asbestos material will be removed.”

The project should be completed prior to the first day of school next week.

A former tenant at the Hudson Hotel in Midtown, New York City has filed suit, claiming that he was “poisoned” by asbestos after the hotel improperly removed and disposed of asbestos.

The suit alleges that hotel workers removed asbestos from several apartments and disposed of it in an open box with a handmade sign that read “Danger Asbestos.” Plaintiff Thomas Pavese also stated that workers blew asbestos out of the windows and on to the street below with a hose. Pavese also recalled workers disposing of asbestos in hallway garbage cans belonging to hotel tenants.

Pavese is seeking over $50 million dollars in damages, citing health problems. He is also seeking restitution as a result of spent time in the hospital for a “chronic illness.”

The hotel stated that asbestos removal began in 1999 but would not comment further.

Contractors hired by the Archdiocese of Newark removed asbestos from the boiler room at the All Saints Catholic Academy in Bayonne last week.

Officials posted asbestos notices on the school building’s front entrance about two weeks ago. Notices were also posted at the school’s West 13th Street and Avenue C entrances. Only authorized personnel were permitted inside the building.

Parents were unaware of the presence of asbestos until they noticed the signs. Telephone calls and emails to school officials came pouring in, but there were no responses, as school officials were on vacation at the time of the abatement.

Archdiocese Spokesman Jim Goodness stated that the cleanup job had been scheduled for the summer months well in advance and that all appropriate permits had been obtained from the state department prior to beginning the abatement process. Officials claim that the project was scheduled as “preparation” for the upcoming school year.

Abatement was conducted by SGS Group and subsequent air testing was overseen by Omega Engineering. Officials stated that the job is now complete and will not delay the first day of school.

Parents, however, are still concerned about the safety of their children once they return to the building on September 3rd. No other school officials were able to be reached for comment.

A Department of Education report has revealed that Public School 265 in Rockaway, NY contains dangerous levels of asbestos. The school houses students with autism and other learning and emotional disorders.

Pictures posted on the Daily News website show crumbling walls, peeling paint and damaged floor and ceiling tiles, all of which contain asbestos. Parents say that they are “just discovering” the extent of disrepair inside their children’s school.

“It’s horrible, especially when you’re dealing with kids with disabilities,” said Parent Association President Albert Hiller, whose son, James Joel, attends School 265. “They’re always taking the back-door approach when it comes to us.”

Building teachers claim that officials inspected the school back in July and noted the dangerous conditions, but teachers and over 100 students still remained in the building for summer school, which ended last week.

According to teacher’s union president Randi Weingarten, the Department of Education purchased the school building recently despite interior conditions.

“I’m deeply disappointed that the DOE [Department of Education] missed all the warning signs that ought to be in place to stop the purchase of a building like this,” Weingarten stated.

In addition to asbestos exposure, which is the only known cause of pleural mesothelioma, officials are also concerned about the presence of lead within the school building.

Department of Education officials will hold a meeting on August 19th to assess the situation and determine their next course of action.

Homeowners who are upgrading their insulation to help save money as energy costs rise need to watch out for the presence of asbestos-containing vermiculite in their attics, notes an article in The New York Times.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), millions of homes in America contain attic insulation made with vermiculite. However, not all vermiculite contains asbestos, the agency explains.

The homes most likely to contain asbestos-tainted insulation were insulated between the 1920s and the early 1980s, the article states. During that time, the majority of vermiculite used in insulation products came from the contaminated mine in Libby, Mont., the same mine that has caused the death of more than 200 individuals and sickened thousands in the small Montana town.

While homeowners can usually distinguish between vermiculite and other types of insulation, it’s more difficult to determine whether or not the vermiculite contains asbestos, notes Ed Cahill, national director of asbestos services for EMSL Analytical of Westmont, NJ.

And when a homeowner is uncertain, the best thing to do is test, Cahill notes. Several testing methods are available, the most popular being the Cincinnati Method, which involves placing a sample of the insulation in a large beaker of water, Cahill explains. The vermiculite floats and any material containing asbestos sinks to the bottom.

While it’s not necessary to call an abatement professional if asbestos-tainted vermiculite is to remain undisturbed, a licensed company should be called if the homeowner wants to replace it or add more insulation.

Mesothelioma victim Marvin Penn, age 71, and his wife Josephine can breathe a bit easier now after winning a $16.25 million settlement in an asbestos suit against a dental supply company.

According to a press release published in Market Watch, Penn’s case is believed to be the first successful asbestos verdict against a dental supply company. Penn had come in contact with dental products manufactured by Kerr Corporation more than forty years ago. Kerr was the sole defendant in the case and the company to which the jury assigned 20 percent of the liability for Penn’s illness.

“The jury believed Mr. Penn and did not believe Kerr’s defense that the product it distributed did not release harmful asbestos dust, and that Kerr could not have known at the time that it was dangerous,” said Penn’s attorney.

Though Penn was employed as a mail carrier for more than thirty years, in the 1960s he attended dental technician school, considering a change in career. It was there that he was exposed to asbestos while making castings by carving wax replicas of teeth using asbestos-containing dental tape, the press release notes.

The jury also placed 20 percent liability on another dental supply company, Dentsply Corp, f/k/a Randsom & Randolf, which settled before the verdict. Another 20 percent liability went to Todd Shipyards, where Penn’s father was employed as a steamfitter and brought asbestos dust home on his clothes daily.

Penn also testified that he was employed in a postal facility across from the former location of the World Trade Center while it was being sprayed with asbestos. The jury decided the spray accounted for the other 40 percent liability.

Residents who live near the 120-year-old Ithaca (NY) Gun Factory were briefed on plans to clean up the site, which still contains large amounts of asbestos, lead, and chlorinated solvents, including trichloroethylene, despite previous cleanup efforts.

On Wednesday, the company charged with the demolition – Bianchi Industrial Services of Syracuse – told concerned citizens that they expect to start demolition by mid-September, notes an article in the Ithaca Journal. The demolition will make way for 33 high-end condominiums built by local developer Travis Frost.

The former factory, which first opened in 1880 and once manufactured shotguns and rifles, is contaminated with lead and asbestos. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) previously spent $4.8 million on a cleanup effort in several areas around the factory but some heavily contaminated areas still remain.

Friable — or easily crushable — asbestos will be removed first from buildings where it can be safely accessed, Dave Bianchi, president of the demolition company, said.

“Results of air monitoring will be e-mailed daily to the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Conservation, and there will be weekly reports to the city,” added Peter E. Grevelding, senior vice president of O’Brien and Gere of East Syracuse, the engineering firm being used for the project.

Runoff water, Bianchi said, will be tested on a regular basis as will piles of brick and concrete from the now-defunct factory to be sure asbestos and lead levels are acceptable.

A study currently being conducted by the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY may prove that high doses of Vitamin D can be helpful in treating and preventing certain types of cancer, including lung cancers and mesothelioma.

“Vitamin D can actually kill cancer cells grown in the lab, as well as in animal models, and it can prevent cells from dividing, growing, and spreading,” states Dr. Alex Adjei, who has been involved with the study at Roswell Park.

The Vitamin D study involves both heavy smokers as well as individuals who have been exposed to asbestos and have developed some sort of lung cancer. Treatment with the vitamin has, in many cases, slowed the progression of the cancer, which is important with lung cancer and meso patients as the diseases are often not diagnosed until they’ve reached stage 3 or 4.

“With an agent that’s shown as much activity as vitamin D, that, in this population, we have an opportunity to slow the progression of lung cancer and maybe reverse it” is promising news, stresses Dr. Mary Ellen Reid, who is also involved in the study.

Residents of Lower Manhattan have been concerned about an asbestos abatement project at Fiterman Hall, a building belonging to the City University of New York, ever since they saw workers in hazardous materials suits loading plastic-wrapped boxes from the building into a trailer parked on West Broadway marked: DANGER ASBESTOS.

Neighbors had been told all hazardous materials would be loaded inside the building. Airtek Environmental Corp., which is decontaminating Fiterman Hall, took responsibility for providing incorrect information, notes an article in Downtown Express, and told nearby residents that the sealed packages present no health hazards.

“It’s alarming to see people with their faces covered with…respirators,” said Paul Stein, health and safety chairperson of the New York State Public Employees Federation and also a nearby resident. “It’s a scary thing to see right on your street.”

Fiterman Hall was damaged seven years ago during the attacks on the World Trade Center. The asbestos is being removed to ready the building for demolition, the article states.

At public presentations offered to residents a few months ago, representatives of Airtek Environmental Corp. really stressed the importance of the internal dock and said it would provide “an extra layer of protection” to the public, Stein and his neighbors said.

“None of us remember any emphasis on contaminated materials being loaded out on the street,” said Kimberly Flynn, head of 9/11 Environmental Action. “We thought, ‘Oh, that’s really great, we don’t need to worry about any release happening out in the community,’” she added.

Part of the reason workers are using the exterior loading dock on West Broadway is that the internal one isn’t completed yet. Before it could be done, the building’s first floor had to be cleared of contaminated material, said Airtek’s vice president, Benn Lewis. It will open within several weeks, he added.

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that it will offer $30 million in grants over the next three years to assist in health assessments, diagnostic services, and treatments for those who lived or worked near the World Trade Center and were exposed to asbestos and other toxins during and after the attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

According to a Reuters article, the CDC says the grants are aimed at helping “people other than police, firefighters and other emergency responders to the attacks who were addressed in previous programs.”

Throughout the last seven years, myriad individuals have been diagnosed with and treated for a number of illnesses that could be attributed to the toxins that spread through the air after the Twin Towers were reduced to rubble. Those diseases include asbestos-related illnesses such as asbestosis. Some first responders have also been diagnosed with mesothelioma a serious form of cancer for which the only known cause is exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is usually not diagnosed for several decades but the levels of asbestos in the air after the attack may have caused the disease to surface quickly.

Dr. Christine Branche, acting director of the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, did not list specific medical conditions the CDC may have had in mind when they created the grant program and she was unable to speculate as to how many people may receive help as a result of the new program.

“There is no excuse for not addressing the very real needs of residents, students, and office workers experiencing adverse health impacts following the 9/11 attacks. Studies have clearly documented the illnesses experienced by community members in the aftermath of 9/11,” added Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The CDC encourages health and medical facilities to begin applying for the grants.