• Published Date: 12 May 2009 VICTIMS of an asbestos-related condition have won the right to be represented in the legal battle over the right to compensation, it was announced today..
• Some of the UK's biggest names in insurance are fighting a new law in Scotland which gives victims of pleural plaques – a symptomless thickening of lung membranes – the right to seek damages.
• "We successfully argued on behalf of around a dozen of our pleural plaques clients that they have a right to be party to this very unusual action," he said.
• "I found it quite strange that the insurance companies who are raising the action – because they say it will cost them a lot of money if they have to pay out on pleural plaques claims – objected to the victims being involved despite the fact that our clients will be the very ones who will end up having no rights if they succeed."The legal challenge to the new law was raised by Axa, Norwich Union, Royal & Sun Alliance, and Zurich Insurance after legislation was passed by MSPs in March.
• The law overturned in Scotland a landmark House of Lords ruling that people with pleural plaques could not seek compensation.
• Pleural plaques indicate past exposure to asbestos but does not in itself cause or develop into a more serious condition.

Source From : Scottish asbestos victims win legal battle

• Grace and several former executives are on trial in Missoula, accused of knowingly allowing human exposure to asbestos in Libby, where the company operated a vermiculite mine until 1990.
• Lawyers for some Libby residents blame asbestos, which was in the vermiculite, for about 2,000 cases of illness and about 225 deaths in and around the community.

Source From : Montana asbestos trial in the jury's hands

• Grace and several former executives are on trial in Missoula (Montana), accused of knowingly allowing human exposure to asbestos in Libby, where the company operated a vermiculite mine until 1990.
• Lawyers for some Libby residents blame asbestos, which was in the vermiculite, for about 2,000 cases of illness and about 225 deaths in and around the community.

Source From : Grace asbestos trial now in the hands of jury

• Closing arguments heard in Grace asbestos trial.
• Grace and several former executives are accused of knowingly allowing human exposure to asbestos in Libby, where the company operated a vermiculite mine until 1990.
• Lawyers for some Libby residents blame asbestos, which was in the vermiculite, for about 2,000 cases of illness and about 225 deaths in and around the community.
• Human memories fade, McLean said, but the information on paper reveals some of what the company knew about asbestos hazards.
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Source From : Closing arguments heard in Grace asbestos trial

• Mr Stansfield said: "Pleural plaques are basically a marker that someone has been affected by asbestos.
• "There is no perfect option for dealing with this issue, but pleural plaques are a serious condition and doing nothing is simply not an option." Mr Stansfield said: "People are still getting diagnosed with this and are being told they have an asbestos-related condition.
• His duties included getting in between pipes to remove old asbestos lagging but he was given no protection or ventilation.
• Sufferers of conditions such as mesothelioma are able to apply for compensation but in many cases become seriously ill before they get a chance.
• "I have met people who used to work in major industry and there is a good chance they used to work next to someone who has died of mesothelioma.

Source From : Hope for workers scarred by asbestos

• People must know that wearing a face mask is no protection against asbestos fibres.
• Startlingly, asbestos is present in the majority of houses and buildings across the borough, it was so widely used.
• For Tameside Council to then claim that asbestos poses 'little or no risk' to students and staff means that Tameside council must have complete confidence in asbestos management in every school – of any type and ownership - and in every nursery school.
• If undisturbed asbestos poses little risk, but campaigners say that even sticking drawing-pins into walls can release deadly fibres into the air.
• In addition the HSE identified that hidden asbestos packed around metal girders and in walls in many schools was releasing asbestos fibres which spurt out round doors, skirting boards etc when disturbed by, for instance, doors being slammed, children running, walls being banged etc.
• It requires Councillors to critically examine asbestos management methods in practise and carefully respond to asbestos issues with facts that encourage alertness and proper asbestos management rather than encourage complacent acceptance that all is perfect.
• Councillors and Director of Children’s Services might also consider carefully the opinions of the Teachers Unions, the all party parliamentary asbestos sub committee, specialist scientists, specialist doctors, and the asbestos consultants association that asbestos is not perfectly managed in schools.

Source From : Schools asbestos is'no cause for alarm'

• The remains of thousands of destroyed homes emit toxic asbestos, while dilapidated infrastructure dumps raw sewage into the Mediterranean Sea.
• The piles of rubble that continue to mark Gaza's landscape are said to contain large quantities of asbestos, a carcinogenic mineral fibre used commonly in construction.
• "The demolition waste created by the latest hostilities potentially contain hazardous materials such as asbestos," a representative of the UNEP's Post- Conflict and Disaster Management branch told IPS on telephone from Geneva.
• "High levels of exposure to asbestos have been linked to lung cancer."Over 20,000 buildings and 5,000 homes were destroyed, according to local authorities.
• Cast asbestos and cast phosphorus dust particles into the air, cast contaminated sewage into the water.

Source From : Environment Emerges as a Major Casualty in Gaza

• David Jennings, 57, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in August and within a few months he was dead.
• He was scared and he couldn't bear to be touched." Mesothelioma attacks the protective linings covering the body's major organs and is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos.
• Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure.
• While working there, he was involved in the manufacture of fire doors, which used asbestos in their construction.
• Dr Andrew Hitchcock, a consultant pathologist at Derby City General Hospital, said he believed asbestos caused the illness which later claimed Mr Jennings's life.
• He told the court: "The cause of death was malignant mesothelioma.
• I have no difficulty in attributing this to asbestos exposure." He added: "In my career as a pathologist, I have never seen anybody survive mesothelioma.
• His brother said: "He began to have trouble with his breathing and soon he could barely do anything physical at all." South Derbyshire Coroner Dr Robert Hunter recorded a verdict of death by an industrial disease and said the disease was the result of exposure to asbestos.
• He said: "As an apprentice joiner, Mr Jennings helped make fire doors and was exposed to asbestos.

Source From : Joiner died of cancer after working with asbestos

• Design and construction of the memorial is running about USD 450,000, with most of the money raised from unions and a large donation from Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, a lawyer who has represented workers injured by exposure to asbestos.

Source From : New memorial honours workplace deaths

• "There's a good possibility that I will suffer some long term effects from being exposed to asbestos," Statum said.
• They show white asbestos covering pipes as insulation in basement areas of the hospital.
• "I think this gives us an opportunity to improve." Investigative reporter Ben Hall asked, "Why wouldn't you notify employees about the location and presence of asbestos?" Beard replied, "Our employees were aware, I think, there is asbestos here.
• Airborne asbestos causes cancer.
• He says any employee going into certain basements will wear protective clothing and respirators until air quality tests show no dangerous asbestos levels.
• The VA stresses patients at the hospital were never in areas with asbestos.

Source From : Employees Exposed To Asbestos At VA Hospital