Causes of Mesothelioma Archives | Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman LLP

Asbestos Awareness Week: The Facts

Posted on April 8, 2015August 20, 2024 by Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman

Today marks the last day of Asbestos Awareness Week. However, the effect educating oneself and sharing information with loved ones will have a lasting impact. Share these facts with your loved ones, friends, and community to bring awareness to the dangers of asbestos.

Question #1: What is asbestos?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring microscopic mineral that can be a health hazard when it becomes friable or brittle. When asbestos fibers are disturbed and become airborne, they can be very easily inhaled. When asbestos is inhaled, its sharp and rigid fibers stick in the soft tissue of the respiratory system and can lead to the development of mesothelioma and other forms of cancer.

Question #2: Where is asbestos found?

Asbestos is a common name for six naturally occurring silicate minerals. Because of its highly desirable commercial uses, asbestos was used in many schools, homes, commercial and industrial buildings, large manufacturing parts for ships and water sewage plants etc. With asbestos being used in more than 3,000 consumer products it is still frequently found in kitchen tiles, ceiling tiles, outside house siding, and piping.

Question #3: Who is at risk for exposure to asbestos?

Asbestos exposure is widely known to be a risk only to the workers on a job site where asbestos was once used or is currently being used, like construction sites, industrial buildings with ceiling and floor tiles, building shingles, as well as ships who used asbestos spare parts to change large gaskets. However, secondhand exposure can occur to anyone when workers who come into contact with asbestos carry the fibers home on their clothing. Military veterans, teachers working in older school buildings, people who renovate older homes, firefighters, people living near asbestos manufacturing facilities and many others are also at risk for exposure to asbestos.

Question #4: Diseases associated with exposure to asbestos fibers

Over a period of time, these fibers can accumulate and cause scarring and inflammation, which can affect breathing and lead to serious health problems such as:

Mesothelioma
Asbestosis
Lung cancer

If you believe you have been exposed to asbestos, you should inform your physician and ask if they would recommend any pulmonary function monitoring or further screening for asbestos disease.

The law firm of Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman honors the memory of the countless lives lost to asbestos disease. We are proud to represent clients with mesothelioma and their families. We fight hard to win compensation, justice, and accountability from the corporations that manufactured and sold this known carcinogen.

Asbestos Awareness Week: Senate Resolution honors Asbestos victims

Posted on April 6, 2015August 20, 2024 by Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman

A small community in Libby, Montana has been recognized by the U.S. Senate who passed a “Resolution” for the hundreds that have died from the rampant death and illness caused from asbestos related exposure at the W.R. Grace and Co. mine. The resolution highlights the need to call upon the surgeon general to “warn and educate people about the public health issue of asbestos exposure, which may be hazardous to their health.”

The W.R. Grace & Co. mine operated from 1963 and then shut down in 1990 after large quantities of asbestos fibers were found in vermiculite. Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined from raw ore deposits in a method very similar to asbestos mining. During operation the mine employed up to 200 people and produced up to 200,000 tons of vermiculite a year, however, more than 3,000 people were affected from asbestos exposure who lived nearby.

The Libby tragedy was originally uncovered when the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote a series of articles about Libby in 1999, titled “Uncivil Action: A Town Left to Die.” Following the release of the series, Libby received national attention to address the serious problem. A clean-up strategy began slowly identifying the sources of contamination as well as a thorough investigation of homes and businesses in the area. As of 2010, 1,460 businesses and residences have removed more than 900,000 cubic yards of contaminated material. The town has suffered from thousands of cases of asbestos and around 400 people have died from mesothelioma cancer to date. As for the town of Libby, even though the job is considered finished it will still remain contaminated for years.

It’s National Asbestos Awareness Week

Posted on April 1, 2015August 20, 2024 by Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman

President and co-founder Linda Reinstein and Doug Lark of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) started what was originally called National Asbestos Awareness Day in 2005 Soon after it was changed to National Asbestos Awareness Week. It begins today, April 1st and will run thru April 7th. It is a great opportunity to educate the public on how dangerous asbestos products are as well as teach the public proper asbestos safety precautions at home, in public, or at the workplace.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is the largest independent asbestos victims’ organization in the U.S. It was founded in 2004 to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a united voice, to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure and to work towards a global asbestos ban. ADAO is dedicated to preventing asbestos-caused diseases through national and international education, advocacy, and community initiatives

During the week, ADAO will highlight some of the following topics:

http://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/archives/31580

World Health Organization and Elimination of Asbestos-Related Disease
A personal asbestos-related story written and shared by Alan Reinstein
Dr. Celeste Monforton shares “Workers’ Memorial Day: 2 Million Related Deaths Last Year”

The law firm of Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman honors the memory of the countless lives lost to asbestos disease. We are proud to represent clients with mesothelioma and their families. We fight hard to win compensation, justice and accountability from the corporations that manufactured and sold this known carcinogen.

Mesothelioma and the Occult Exposure

Posted on August 14, 2012August 20, 2024 by Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman

In my thirty-three years as a mesothelioma lawyer, I have learned to investigate and identify those responsible for my clients’ asbestos exposure. Of all the exposures to asbestos, the occult – or unknown – is perhaps the most difficult to identify. Known as the Fifth Wave of exposure, it is one of the most prevalent stories told today by the newly diagnosed mesothelioma patient.

Uncovering Each Client’s History of Asbestos Exposure

Malignant mesothelioma is a “signal tumor” for asbestos exposure. Asbestos exposure is the main cause of malignant mesothelioma, and the vast majority of the cases can be linked to a known occupational exposure. However, in some cases, patients who have been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma cannot recall where they have been exposed to asbestos – or they do not know that they were exposed to asbestos at all.

There is a very good reason for these patients’ lack of awareness. Some exposures took place twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, and have been forgotten. Other exposures were so minimal or took place in such unique settings or unusual circumstances that the patient is totally unaware of them. Many of these exposures took place in childhood.

Asbestos Exposure Occurs in Many Different Settings

It is important for mesothelioma patients and their families to know that asbestos is found in many different products and exposures occur in many different settings. Some of these may be familiar to most people; others are not so well-known.

Gaskets; sprayed-on fireproofing; fire blankets; plastic fillers; asphalt and vinyl felts; papers and adhesives; flooring and roofing materials; filters; putties, caulks, and cements; acoustical and decorative plaster; joint compound; ceiling and floor tiles; drywall and paints; surfacing and reinforcement materials; textiles; electrical wiring; and water supply lines – all of these are examples of products that may contain asbestos.

Asbestos is also present in friction products. The asbestos in brake-linings and clutch pads is hazardous not only to mechanics working in garages, but also to the “weekend mechanic” who works on his or her own cars or trucks.

Other occupational exposures are not so well known: bakers, jewelers, rubber workers, paper mill workers, teachers, custodians, laborers, and maintenance workers.

The “Secondary Exposures”

In addition to posing a hazard to those who are working directly with asbestos products, asbestos is also a danger to those who are merely in the vicinity – to “bystanders” and others who often unknowingly come into contact with asbestos dust. These are sometimes called the “secondary exposures.” Asbestos fibers become airborne, and very small fibers can stay in the air for long periods. There are many reports in the literature of mesothelioma arising from neighborhood and residential exposures – those who live near mines, shipyard, construction sites or factories where asbestos is in use or where demolition activities are taking place.

There is also the matter of “asbestos in place.” Asbestos is most hazardous when it is friable. It is present in many older buildings and it is released during repair work and during demolition and renovation.

Entire families have been exposed when workers brought home dusty clothes. It is well known that women have contracted mesothelioma from washing their husband’s work clothes. However, it is not so well known that asbestos dust brought into the home can remain there in carpets, drapes, and furnishings, where family members live and children play.

It is the invisible dust that poses the most danger.

A Brief or Low Level Exposure Is Enough

Even a brief or low level of exposure to asbestos is enough to cause malignant mesothelioma. These types of exposure are very real, and they can have disastrous consequences. There is no known safe level of exposure to asbestos.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, but you cannot recall ever having been exposed to asbestos – do not be so certain. It is your attorney’s work to investigate all possibilities, and our team is prepared to do just that. Although this can be a frustrating and sometimes daunting part of our work, in most cases this is not an unsolvable mystery. In almost all cases of mesothelioma, there has been asbestos exposure in the patient’s past.

For more information on hidden asbestos exposures, please visit our Mesothelioma Knowledge Center.