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…)
By Janice Pennington on September 28, 2009
The historic Luzon Building in downtown Tacoma, Washington was demolished on Saturday. The 119-year-old structure was one of only two buildings remaining on the west coast that were designed by renowned Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Root. The six-story building’s internal metal structure represented the precursor to contemporary skyscraper construction methods. Over the years, the Luzon had been home to a bank, a Chinese restaurant, a Fun Circus arcade and other businesses.
Vacant since the 1980s, the Luzon was contaminated with asbestos. An inspector for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency reported that a survey had identified the dangerous substance in the sand surface texturing on four floors of the building, as well as on the roof and in a pipe fitting on the third floor. The contractor performing the demolition claimed that the asbestos could not be removed prior to demolition because of the Luzon’s unstable condition. The asbestos debris from the building was to be sealed and sent for landfill disposal in Graham, Washington.
The demolition crew reported more dust than they had anticipated because the brick and mortar were so soft from years of deterioration. Water was used during the process to wet down and control the dust. Asbestos monitors were used and air sample test results were expected to be available soon.
Special care must be taken when old asbestos products are dislodged during the remodeling or demolition of a building. When asbestos is disturbed, its needle-like fibers are released into the air and may be inhaled by those nearby. If the fibers become lodged in the lungs, they may cause asbestos related diseases to develop, including mesothelioma, a cancer that is virtually always linked to asbestos exposure and for which no cure is known.
For the full story, go to http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/895044.html and http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/892542.html.
By Janice Pennington on September 21, 2009
September 26 has been recognized in Seattle as Mesothelioma Awareness Day. The day is observed throughout the country with events to promote awareness of the disease and to raise funds for the treatment and care of those afflicted with the deadly cancer. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos; it is a tragic cancer for which the cure is not yet known. Approximately 3,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed each year in the United States, yet many people still know little about it. (more…)
By Janice Pennington on August 31, 2009
Tektoniks Corporation, based in Walla Walla, Washington, will pay a $2,400 fine for illegally removing asbestos containing vinyl flooring from two separate job sites in Oregon. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality levied the fine against Tektoniks after the company performed the asbestos removal without obtaining the proper state-issued license.
States require that a license be obtained to perform asbestos abatement work because the job can be dangerous, both to workers and to those in the area. Asbestos is hazardous when it is removed because the substance becomes friable, meaning that its fibers are released into the surrounding breathing space. Once airborne, the tiny asbestos fibers may be inhaled and permanently fixed in the lungs. Even relatively brief exposures to asbestos may cause mesothelioma, a painful cancer that is always fatal. (more…)
By Janice Pennington on August 24, 2009
Mesothelioma is an asbestos related cancer that is difficult to diagnose because it takes decades to develop and even then, its symptoms mimic those of diseases that are far more common and less serious. Once the disease has progressed to the point that doctors are able to diagnose it, the cancer is virtually impossible to treat. Given these difficulties, researchers are very encouraged by the recent discovery of a new test that may help to identify the disease earlier and with less invasive means. Scientists at Oxford University in England published their findings in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. (more…)
