Study Warns US Faces Asbestos Disease Crisis

[barbaraann]

By JoAnne Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ten-thousand Americans die each year from asbestos-related diseases and the number appears to be increasing in a growing public health crisis, according to a report by an environmental research group released on Thursday.

The analysis by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group also projects that more than 100,000 people in the United States will die of four asbestos-related diseases -- mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and gastrointestinal cancer -- over the next ten years.
...
The EWG's Wiles criticized as "grossly insufficient" legislation under consideration in the U.S. Senate that aims to end asbestos lawsuits.

"This is not an issue of bankruptcy (for asbestos firms). This is a public health issue and they need to address it on those terms," Wiles said.
...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=6&u=/nm/20040304/ts_nm/health_asbestos_dc


This is so very, very tragic and it looks like the Republican Senate is going to make it even more tragic.

[KissMyAsscroft]

1. And guess who happens to have huge asbestos lawsuit problems??

Halliburton!!!!

And Bush is pushing Tort reform!!! What a fucking coin ki dink!

[I AM SPARTACUS]

3. UPDATE - Frist to bring up asbestos bill by April (reuters link)

UPDATE - Frist to bring up asbestos bill by April
Friday February 27, 6:56 pm ET
By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist said on Friday that "good progress" had been made on a bill to reform the asbestos litigation system, and he planned to bring legislation to the Senate floor by the end of March or the first week of April.

<more...>
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/040227/congress_asbestos_2.html

[Oilwellian]

2. Bush quashed a national emergency health warning

that Christie Todd Whitman wanted to issue to Americans that deadly asbestos could be in as many as 30 million homes. Just google W R Grace & EPA. I'm sure you'll find quite a bit written on the issue.

[barbaraann]

4. I have to admit I can't bear to look.

Is it the "popcorn" ceilings?

[lfairban]

6. It could be . . .

. . . , but the best way to tell is to get it tested. The lab cost is reasonable if you can take a sample yourself.

Asbestos was in a lot of manufactured products. There are cases where it was included in plaster or paint by the contractor. That is why you can't tell until you test.

Many people think asbestos in building products was banned a few years ago, but such is not the case. It was overturned in a court case to make a long story short. I bough some roofing patch material a few weeks ago, and found Chrysotile, a form of asbestos, listed as one of the ingredients.



For more on asbestos, check out my asbestos links:
http://home.columbus.rr.com/lfairban/Pages/Asbestos%20Thin.htm

[Joanne98]

5. Thanks Halliburton

and Dick Cheney.

[DemOverseas]

7. Mesothelioma

My Dad died of this disease 15 years ago. It took 40+ years to show up after he had been working with asbestos packing, around hot water pipes in a paper factory as a young man. He had been given wet rags to wear around his nose and mouth as a protection. It was a painful way to die.
Demoverseas