By Janice Pennington on October 28, 2009
The Public Library in Salem, Oregon is in critical need of asbestos abatement to eliminate the risk to its users and employees of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
According to the City, the asbestos materials to be removed are located mainly in areas used solely by employees and volunteers, rather than the public reader areas. For instance, the dangerous substance has been found in the Anderson Room kitchenette. Still, work to demolish and remove asbestos from ceilings in the building’s public Reading Hall will also be required. The lighting fixtures in that area are outdated and need to be replaced with new, energy efficient lighting. Before the lighting can be replaced, however, the ceilings, which are contaminated with encapsulated asbestos, must be rid of the toxic material. The Salem City Council has had to reallocate $165,000 just to cover the cost of the asbestos removal associated with replacement of the library’s lighting. (more…)
By Janice Pennington on October 22, 2009
Scientists at the Wake Forest School of Medicine and the FirstHealth of the Carolinas Clinical Trials Department have teamed up to study the way asbestos-related lung diseases develop and progress. The study’s principal investigator is Dr. Jill Ohar of Wake Forest University, who has been researching mesothelioma and its cause for more than 20 years. Dr. Ohar believes that the disease may run in families, especially those with a history of cancer, suggesting a genetic susceptibility to the asbestos related cancer. Dr. Ohar’s current study looks at the genetic markers and environmental factors of mesothelioma patients to identify how pollutants affect the body and determine which genetic factors may cause some families to be more likely than others to develop mesothelioma. (more…)
By Janice Pennington on October 12, 2009
Researchers with the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, Washington have recently published a study in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery finding that a new triple therapy may be used safely and effectively for many mesothelioma patients. The therapy is an aggressive treatment strategy that follows chemotherapy with surgery, and then finishes with radiation.
Mesothelioma, a fatal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, has not been successfully treated with just one type of the three traditional therapies used to combat cancer. Since the early 1990s, though, physicians like Dr. David Sugarbaker of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston began to report on the promising results seen when mesothelioma patients were treated with extensive surgery to remove the diseased lung along with the diaphragm and the tissue surrounding the heart and lung (called extrapleural pneumonectomy), followed by chemotherapy and then radiation. When researchers at the Swedish Cancer Institute tried the same treatment approach with their patients, however, the doctors found it difficult to administer chemotherapy after the extrapleural pneumonectomy. According to Eric Vallières, MD, FRCSC, Surgical Director of the Lung Cancer Program at the Institute, it is generally best to start chemotherapy within 60 days of the surgery, but with the invasive extrapleural pneumonectomy, patients cannot fully recover from surgery in time for the start of the chemotherapy. (more…)
By Janice Pennington on October 6, 2009
Able Contractors Inc., a Brush Prairie, Washington contractor, recently received a $30,409 fine from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for allegedly violating Oregon’s regulations concerning the removal of asbestos. Oregon’s DEQ has alleged that the company committed several violations during an asbestos abatement project at a retirement facility in Newberg, Oregon. The contractor failed to document the project properly and removed asbestos material prior to sampling air quality, according to the DEQ. Able Contractors has appealed the fine. (more…)
