Why did meat become carcinogenic?

According to a report published today by the British newspaper «The Daily Mail», the World Health Organization (WHO) listed bacon, burgers, sausages and other meat products among potentially cancer-causing substances. Raw meat is also likely to be included in the «encyclopedia of carcinogens». According to the expert opinion, it is only «slightly less dangerous than preserved products». Other meat products, according to doctors, are not any less dangerous than such poisons as arsenic and nicotine.

Equating everyday products with substances unlikely to be eaten by anyone, is a reflection of the WHO’s dubious approach to substance risk and danger assessment.

Thus, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the WHO, researches causes of the emergence of carcinogenic substances in the human body. It’s not a secret that sources of such influence are ubiquitous and the IARC’s list already comprises over 90 substances and factors.

The problem is that the IARC persistently uses the term «risk» in its statements, while admitting that it does not assess the actual risk.

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Ulterior motives

Sharp-tongued campaigner Laurie Kazan Allen clearly has no qualms about besmirching the good name of those who disagree with her.

Having expected the Thai government to simply roll over and approve a ban on chrysotile, she didn’t take kindly when a minister questioned whether the move made any sense.

The Thai Cabinet has rejected the proposed ban citing the lack of evidence of asbestos-related disease in Thailand.

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Unreliable expert

A senior US judge accused Dr Barry Castleman, who charges thousands of dollars for his expert testimony in highly lucrative asbestos claims, of being “unreliable” and “inflammatory”.

Ruling his evidence inadmissible and ordering a retrial in a multi-million dollar case, a US appeals judge dismissed Castleman’s evidence as “hearsay”.

Castleman had accused the defendants of being “liars” and of “buying senators” without any evidence.

The judge said: “Dr. Castleman’s statement about (the defendant) engaging in bribery is especially egregious and requires a new trial.”

California dreams

steven kazan house

Attorney Steven Kazan whose Californian law firm earned $13 million last year — much of it from asbestos claims — has been using some of his hard won litigation fees to fund President Barack Obama.

Obama has rejected calls for greater regulation of the asbestos claims industry, and over the last few years Kazan, and his wife Judy, have thanked the President with political donations.

Mr and Mrs Kazan have sent more than US $700,000 to boost local and national Democrats, both from the offices of his burgeoning law firm, and from their charming Piedmont Italian-style villa (see picture).

Mr Kazan and his sister, Laurie Kazan-Allen, who runs London-based pressure group the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), have done more than anyone to keep the money coming in for the asbestos claim industry.

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The billion-dollar man

Kazan

Steven Kazan is a busy man.

An independent investigation into the opaque “operating procedures and activities” of the trusts providing compensation to asbestos claimants showed his firm was the biggest player in the market.

The trusts were set up to manage the assets of businesses bankrupted by asbestos claims, and Mr Kazan law firm represents more than half of them, controlling US$ 11.6 billion worth of assets.

His firm also receives hefty fees from clients’ multi-million dollar compensation awards – typically 25 per cent of each payout.

Jetsetter

perth beach

Despite living in a State-subsidised council house, leading asbestos campaigner Laurie Kazan-Allen certainly gets around.

So far this year, British-based Ms Kazan-Allen, whose American attorney brother has earned millions from compensation claims, has been on trips to Cape Town, Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin and Perth in western Australia.

How does she do it?

Smoker dies of lung cancer, family wins $12.5M after blaming asbestos

The family of a man who claimed his lung-cancer death was caused by asbestos exposure was awarded $12.5 million by a Manhattan jury — despite the fact that he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.

The case, handled by the former law firm of disgraced ex-state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, involved New Jersey resident George Cooney.

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President Trump Expected to Support the Asbestos Fact Act

According to an article, President Donald Trump will likely support the Asbestos FACT Act. The bill, which was introduced by U. S. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R. Texas) in February of 2017, was approved by a House Judiciary Committee as the Fairness in Class Action Legislation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2017. It repeatedly had been stalled in the legislature with a promised veto from President Barack Obama.

According to Linda Reinstein, President of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, who opposes the legislation, the Act would make it more difficult for asbestos victims to be compensated. Under the bill, for claimants to receive compensation the asbestos trusts would disclose their private information to the public. This information would include things such as their names, social security numbers, exposure history, and reason for compensation. Furthermore, the bill functions retroactively.

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Eternit Maintains Focus on Its Investment Plan in Q3 of 2014

Nov. 6 — Brazil-based Eternit issued the following news release:

Eternit S.A. (BM&FBOVESPA;:ETER3;OTC:ETNTY) announces its results for the 3Q14.

Demand for construction materials increased slightly in the third quarter compared to previous quarters, according to data from the Brazilian Association of Construction Materials Industry (ABRAMAT) which, however, was not sufficient to recover from the sharp decline in sales in the first half of the year. Eternit significantly outperformed the construction materials sector, with its chrysotile mining segment operating at full capacity, while in the finished products line, production of fiber-cement and concrete tiles kept pace with demand.

Chrysotile mineral volume sold in 3Q14 was 71,600 tons, practically stable (down 1.0%) compared to 3Q13. In the same period, fiber-cement sales, including construction solutions, reached 232,800 tons, increasing 7.5% from 3Q13, whereas concrete roofing tile sales decreased 10.9%, mainly due to the lower demand in the high-end roofing segment, especially in the B2C (business-to-consumer) and building companies segments.

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Appeals Court Scuttles Rare $8M Asbestos Verdict Against R.J. Reynolds, Crane Co.

West Palm Beach — A Florida appeals court has overturned a rare $8 million verdict in an asbestos-related mesothelioma lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Crane Co., finding that a trial court shouldn’t have allowed jurors to hear testimony from an expert whose opinions lacked sufficient factual basis.

In an en banc opinion issued November 9, the Fourth District Court of Appeal declined to reconsider a September decision scuttling the 2013 award in favor of Richard Delisle, who claims he developed mesothelioma from smoking Kent cigarettes with asbestos-containing filters in the 1950’s. Delisle, who worked as a pipe fitter in the 1960’s, also partially attributed his asbestos exposure to gaskets manufactured by Crane Co.

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‘Travesty': Lawyer, Filmmaker Not Allowed To View Testimony Of Famed Asbestos Attorney

A Texas judge’s refusal to unseal testimony given by renowned plaintiffs attorney Russell Budd on the “Terrell memo” was a “travesty,” says the lawyer who filed the motion to unseal it on behalf of a documentary filmmaker.

Late last year, Christine Biederman, a Dallas lawyer and freelance journalist working on behalf of a documentary filmmaker, intervened in a 24-year old asbestos suit filed in Travis County, seeking to unearth the deposition of Budd, the current president of Baron & Budd — a Dallas-based law firm specializing in toxic torts.

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Russian asbestos poses no health threat – Russian VMH

The Vice Minister of Health (VMH) of the Russian Federation, Sergey A. Krayevoy yesterday (27) emphasised that the Russian produced asbestos posed no threat of cancer. Responding to questions from the Media regarding the controversy of asbestos and its carcinogenic features, Krayevoy said that what should be questioned was as to which type of asbestos fibre caused cancer.

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Asbestosis Lawsuit Plaintiff Hopes for a New Day with New Trial

West Palm Beach, FLAn asbestosis lawsuit that originally found for the plaintiff but was overturned on appeal, has seen the appellate ruling upheld after the Fourth District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida refused to revisit its ruling.

Asbestosis Lawsuit Plaintiff Hopes for a New Day with New TrialThus, any hope for asbestosis compensation for the plaintiff will hinge on the outcome of a new trial ordered for defendant R. J. Reynolds. A co-defendant, Crane Co. was granted a verdict’s entry.

The original asbestosis claim was filed by plaintiff Richard DeLisle, a laborer diagnosed with asbestos mesothelioma, a form of asbestosis disease. The plaintiff charged that his adverse health problems hinged on two scenarios: working with gaskets manufactured by Crane and alleged to contain asbestos, and a smoking habit involving Kent cigarettes, a brand manufactured by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The allegation was that Kent cigarettes were manufactured with filters that contained asbestos. DeLisle claimed in his asbestosis lawsuit that he smoked Kent brand cigarettes through the early, to mid-1950s.

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The World’s Would-Be Regulator

When it comes to the selective use of scientific data to come up with unscientific policies, Europe is a world leader. A growing danger for the global economy is that the EU is trying to get the world to follow its lead on important regulatory matters.

The latest case concerns asbestos. Amphibole asbestos, one of the two broad types of the naturally occurring substance, has been generally regarded as a carcinogen and widely banned for three decades now. But only the European Union and a dozen or so other countries have banned the other type of asbestos, chrysotile. Also known as white asbestos,chrysotile remains a $600 million-a-year industry that thrives especially in Russia, China, Canada and Brazil.

That could change soon. At a five-day conference beginning tomorrow in Lyon, the U.N.’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) will review a study of various synthetic chrysotile substitutes to determine whether they are safer than the real thing. In making such a comparison, one might expect the new information on the synthetics to be weighed alongside the most up-to-date data available on chrysotile itself. Yet under IARC’s mandate for the study, handed down by the World Health Organization, no new analysis of chrysotile was ordered.

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‘Asbestos removal often a waste of money, carried out in a panic’

Removing asbestos from buildings is often an unnecessary expense and done in a panic, according to a document published on Thursday by Alkmaar’s mayor, two housing corporations and a university professor.

Removing asbestos on a major scale is expensive but does not generate much in terms of improved health, the writers say in their pamphlet. ‘If tenants could choose, they would rather have their home made more energy efficient or go for a new bathroom or kitchen than have asbestos removed,’ the pamphlet states.

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Missouri House Passes Bill Aimed at Limiting Asbestos Lawsuit Awards

The Missouri House has passed legislation to change the rules for lawsuits over asbestos exposure, an effort praised by supporters as a way to stop plaintiffs from being overcompensated but criticized by others as limiting access to justice for those with illnesses such as mesothelioma.

The measure, approved 96-48, would require plaintiffs alleging harm from asbestos to file claims against every potentially liable company or bankrupt company’s trust fund at once. Currently, those injured from the carcinogen could win compensation from one company and then, at a later time pursue another claim against a different defendant.

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Advocates praise asbestos trust bill; critics decry ‘double-dipping’ claim

A bill that would revise disclosure requirements in the nation’s asbestos-related personal injury trust fund system is being hailed by its supporters for bringing much-needed transparency to the process, while opponents charge it will needlessly expose asbestos victims’ vital information.

On March 9 on a 220-201 vote, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 985, The Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2017, or FACT, which seeks, in part, to end so-called “double dipping,” where the bill’s supporters say an individual makes multiple claims against multiple asbestos trusts that were established to compensate asbestos victims.

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Asbestos judgment fuels bogus claims

Like numerous other businesses across the country, a small, long-established Hertfordshire building firm has been threatened with bankruptcy over events which allegedly took place 50 years ago – all because of a controversial judgment by the Supreme Court in 2011 which, as I warned at the time, was based on a disastrous scientific error. Based on no scientific evidence, the judges ruled in effect that all cases of mesothelioma, a nasty form of cancer, are caused by exposure to “asbestos”.
Had the judges heard any proper scientific evidence, they would firstly have known that up to 25 per cent of mesotheliomas occur naturally. But they would also have learnt the vital distinction between two very different minerals which are both loosely and unscientifically known as “asbestos”.

The “blue” and “brown” forms, fibrous iron silicates, can cause potentially lethal lung damage. But 90 per cent of “asbestos products” consist of cement bonded with “white asbestos”, a magnesium silicate, the soft fibres of which soon dissolve in the lungs and cannot cause mesothelioma.

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Asbestos Firm Facing Racketeering Lawsuit Drops Case Against Accuser

A Dallas asbestos firm facing a racketeering lawsuit has given up on its own case against John Crane Inc., with a California federal judge dismissing the firm’s suit in an order last week.

Judge Consuelo B. Marshall for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, in her two-page order Thursday, said the plaintiff, Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett PC, failed to file an amended complaint.

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International Alliance of Trade Union Organizations «Chrysotile» Highlights Study into Causes of the Grenfell Tower Fire

International Alliance of Trade Union Organizations «Chrysotile» has drawn attention to the results of the research conducted by John A. Hoskins and published on 15 December 2018 in «Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology». The scientist wanted to understand the reasons behind the Grenfell Tower fire, which took place in a London tower block and killed 71 people, and aimed to find out how it could have been avoided.

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Evidence-Manipulation Claims Dog Asbestos Lawyer

PHILADELPHIA (CN) – Describing a far-reaching conspiracy in asbestos litigation, an Illinois manufacturer brought a federal complaint against a Pennsylvania law firm that brags about the number of multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements it has won for mesothelioma clients.

Shein Law Center and its principal, Benjamin Shein, are described in the May 15 complaint as having focused on asbestos cases since the firm’s founding in 1994, representing 15 to 20 personal-injury plaintiffs a year.

Shein has not returned a request for comment about the federal complaint filed against him in Philadelphia by one of his former court adversaries, John Crane Inc.

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Report urges asbestos trust transparency in Illinois; ‘Disconnect’ between asbestos trusts and asbestos litigation leads to ‘double dipping’

asbestos_07A lack of transparency between the asbestos bankruptcy trust system and the courts can lead to inflated recoveries for claimants and their lawyers, a problem that’s not only unfair to solvent companies but to future claimants as well, according to a report released today by the Illinois Civil Justice League (ICJL).

Legislation requiring reasonable disclosure of claimants’ exposure between the two systems is necessary, the report concludes.

“In recent years, a growing national debate over ‘trust transparency’ has risen to the forefront of asbestos litigation and is currently a prominent issue facing the Illinois judiciary and legislature,” it states. “The debate centers on the emergence of asbestos trusts as a substantial, alternative compensation system for asbestos claimants, and the failure of the tort and trust systems to integrate.”

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U.S. House Panel Approves Asbestos ‘Double-Dipping,’ Litigation Reform Bills

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that targets the country’s current asbestos injury compensation system and another that aims to weed out unmeritorious class action claims.

Early Wednesday, the committee passed the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency, or FACT, Act of 2017 by a vote of 19-11.

The panel, in a vote later in the day, passed the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017, 19-12.

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., praised the FACT Act’s approval.

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Asbestos Fraud Sunshine: a judge plans to open up evidence in the Garlock case

Garlock

Federal bankruptcy Judge George Hodges in February took a bold step against asbestos litigation fraud, and the good deeds continue. The North Carolina jurist has decided to unseal all the evidence in his high-profile asbestos case.

Asbestos claims drove gasket-maker Garlock Sealing Technologies into bankruptcy in 2010, and the tort bar demanded the company hand over $1.3 billion. Judge Hodges allowed for discovery into some of the claims and issued an opinion skewering the plaintiffs’ lawyers for a “startling pattern of misrepresentation.” He detailed how the tort bar was essentially double-dipping—filing claims with outside asbestos trusts in which they blamed non-Garlock products for their diseases, even as they blamed Garlock in court.

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À propos du retour de l’amiante…

OPINION – L’édition du 23 mai du Journal de Québec et du Journal de Montréal nous informait de l’inquiétude des médecins devant le retour de l’amiante au Québec. Cet article reprenait les demi-vérités et les projections sans véritables fondements qui foisonnent dans le dossier de l’amiante pour ameuter la population à la suite du développement de quatre projets impliquant l’exploitation de rejets miniers serpentiniques à Asbestos et Thetford Mines.

Je crois que cette charge, digne de Don Quichotte, demande un rappel de certaines notions de base en ce qui concerne l’amiante, notions qui pourront mettre les choses dans leur vraie perspective.

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Conspiracy Of Vultures: How Unethical Asbestos Lawyers Feed On Human Misery

A showdown in an Austin courtroom Tuesday may unseal the 20 year old deposition of renowned plaintiff’s attorney Russell Budd that might help lead to the exposure of the illegitimacy of thousands of asbestos lawsuits. We have all seen the ads from the most high-profile and politically connected law firms in America seeking mesothelioma plaintiffs – but now it is coming to light how these attorneys may have been engaged in corrupt conspiracies

Tort reform has always seemed a solution that can cause worse problems than it solves. True, plaintiffs’ lawyers are often predatory characters, yet they provide legal services, and some measure of purported justice, to clients of limited means. If we take away their highly lucrative contingency fees, or hurl endless obstacles to curb their avid marketing schemes, millions of Americans will simply be deprived of access to effective representation.

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Former New Jersey Lawyer Gets 2 Years for Falsifying Asbestos Suits

A former New Jersey lawyer has been sentenced to serve two years in federal prison after admitting he fraudulently added defendants to more than 100 asbestos lawsuits in New York.

Federal prosecutors say Arobert Tonagbanua deleted the names of actual defendants from copies of legitimately filed asbestos complaints and added the names of clients from his Haddonfield, New Jersey, firm. Prosecutors say he then sent the doctored complaints to those clients, their representatives and insurance companies.

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Class action, asbestos cases hurt S.C. businesses

South Carolinians deserve protection from frivolous class actions and asbestos lawsuits that are clogging the courts with often meritless claims. Unfortunately, the trial bar isn’t interested in reform; this type of litigation is simply too lucrative for them.

That’s why I support H.R. 985, a bill that combines the Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency acts to eliminate many of the questionable tactics plaintiffs’ lawyers use to pursue class action lawsuits. Many of these dubious suits are based upon flimsy evidence, designed mainly to generate a settlement and a fee, where lawyers are flooding the system with advertising-driven claims that deprive legitimate victims of the funding due them.

H.R. 985 passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March — thanks in part to the leadership efforts of reform-minded members like Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-Greenville — and is awaiting action in the Senate. In fact, the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is a member, just held a hearing on this issue recently.

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TSCA Reform Casualties Likely Start with Asbestos

With the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform passed into law, environmental activists are developing lists of chemicals they want banned in short order. Asbestos are near the top of the list, as easy targets. After all, it seems logical to get rid of such obvious carcinogens, but it isn’t that simple. In fact, some bans could actually undermine public health and safety.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) attempted to ban all asbestos back in 1991, but a federal court overruled the agency’s proposal. That failure became a driving force for passing TSCA “reform.” Activist groups maintained that if the EPA couldn’t ban such dangerous chemicals, the law must be too weak.

Asbestos were once widely used because they have heat insulating and flame retarding effects and were beneficial in a host of building materials—including roofing, siding, insulation, and tiles—as well as machinery, from cars to spacecraft. Yet, many types have been phased out because of serious health risks. And in 1991 the EPA proposed a rule designed to ban the rest.

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Positive Statistics: There Are No Occupational Diseases at the Uralasbest Plant

The official study by the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) based on the data of 2018 has not revealed any cases of occupational diseases at the Uralasbest plant, which is confirmed by an official study document recently published on the Rosportrebnadzor website.

Rospotrebnadzor experts have reviewed the statistics of all enterprises of the Sverdlovsk region for 9 months of 2019, and have concluded that the level of occupational diseases in the region is steadily decreasing. Manufacturing industry enterprises have the highest number of occupational disease cases. “The smelting industry takes the first place in the number of occupational diseases (65.2%); the second place is divided between production of other non-metallic products, repair and installation of machinery and equipment, production of other vehicles and equipment (8.6% each); production of finished metal products and manufacturing of machinery and equipment hold the third place (4.3% each).”

The document does not mention the asbestos mining industry, for a good reason. The Uralasbest integrated plant is an industrial giant located near the monocity of Asbest. The plant continuously introduces modern technologies to ensure the safety of its employees in the workplace as part of its policy of controlled use of chrysotile. Workers who come into contact with the mineral in some form are provided with personal protective equipment. The workplaces are equipped with powerful purification systems and the plant ensures regular full medical examinations for its employees. No cases of occupational diseases were recorded at the plant in 2018.

The similar situation is observed with asbestos-related diseases, that is, no such diseases were detected among the residents of Asbest and its vicinity. This point needs to be especially emphasised, considering the massive campaign that has been running for the past time, aiming to discredit and subsequently ban the use of the chrysotile. The main argument of the opponents is their blanket accusation of the chrysotile industry of high occupational disease rate and environmental pollution.

The study conducted by Rospotrebnadzor experts mentions that the main causes of occupational diseases are the use of outdated equipment and negligence in the workplace. At Uralasbest, the zero occupational disease statistics is due to the high professionalism of its workers. Uralasbest imposes the same strict standards of quality and safety both on the manufactured products and on disposal of industrial waste.

Woman guilty in Staunton asbestos scare

STAUNTON — Why did a Staunton woman falsify a lab report in 2015 that indicated there was asbestos in the downtown building that houses the Staunton Circuit Court, forcing its closure and ultimately costing her former employer $116,000?

In court Thursday, Melissa S. Hart, 52, offered no answers but did plead guilty to felony charges of commercial fraud against the government, and forgery.

In July 2015, ceiling tiles on the third floor of the Cochran Judicial Center collapsed, prompting testing. A sample from the ceiling debris tested positive for asbestos, the city said at the time.

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Thames Water reassures Cranleigh residents asbestos cement water pipes pose NO health risk

Authorities have sought to reassure Cranleigh residents their drinking water remains safe despite concerns about asbestos cement water pipes.

Cranleigh Civic Society (CCS) says 29% of the village’s drinking water is supplied by pipes comprised of old asbestos cement pipes and held a public meeting to discuss the matter last month.

Both the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) and Thames Water say there is no reason for concern.

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Alabama joins dozen states in asbestos bankruptcy trust investigations

Alabama’s Attorney General is joining colleagues from 12 other states in investigating asbestos bankruptcy trusts’ failure to pay out Medicaid payments as federal law requires.

Lawsuits have sent more than 60 manufacturers of asbestos or asbestos-containing products into bankruptcy and have paid out more than $17 billion since 2008.

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Eurasian Economic Commission Supports Chrysotile Asbestos

International Alliance of Trade Union Organizations «Chrysotile» supports the decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the regulatory body of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), to recommend that member countries (EEU unites Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia) develop a unified position on international trade and the use of chrysotile asbestos.

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How the Asbestos Hysteria Led to the Grenfell Tragedy

fumento062217There was no single cause of the tragic 24-story Grenfell Tower conflagration in London. The British newspaper The Telegraph lists eight factors, including lack of dual staircases, lack of sprinklers both outside and inside, and sub-standard fire doors—none of which at this time appear to have violated the law. But nothing contributed more to the sheer speed of the spread, blocking both exits and preventing rescues, and hence the horrific death toll, than what’s called “cladding.” That’s a covering or coating on the structure.

According to The Telegraph, fire safety experts warned as much as 18 years ago that the cladding used on buildings such as Grenfell Tower—used to improve both energy efficiency and aesthetics—posed a deadly threat because it essentially turns a high-rise into a chimney, funneling the heat upwards. Why? Partly it’s “breathing space” between cladding panels allowing oxygen to enter and partly because the cladding was made of aluminum and . . . polyethylene. “Ethyl” means a petroleum byproduct. And while petroleum byproducts may be good for heating and cooling insulation, petroleum burns.

For fire protection nothing beats asbestos

One expert described Grenfell’s cladding as a candle which is sandwiched between two sheets of metal. “To see a material in 50 minutes across an entire building take flame like this and allow the flame to move so quickly—well this material is quite dangerous and clearly doesn’t perform,” said another. Eyewitnesses reported the cladding actually wafting down in flames and striking people. There is polyethylene cladding more heat resistant than Grenfell’s, but it would have been slightly more expensive (by $2.55 per square meter) and hence bypassed in favor of the cheaper materials.

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The battle for fiber

Behind the scenes: how Russia and Europe are fighting for asbestos

Trade wars are an ancient and glorious tradition. When Caesar set off to conquer Egypt, he first of all intended to block the flow of grain from the largest Mediterranean granary with one blow, thereby seriously shaking the position of his rivals in the Eternal City, which at that time was critically dependent on food supplies. The ability to impose sanctions, gain control over trade and production chains provides no less reliable victory than the clang of swords or the crash of guns. During the Livonian War, Ivan the Terrible had to skillfully conduct diplomatic and trade policies so that Western merchants wanted to risk their heads in spite of the prohibitions of the «enlightened» states and brought weapons, bronze and other supplies necessary for military affairs to Russia. In modernity, nothing has changed, however, it has acquired slightly different forms.

For example, since the 1970-ies between the collegial West, expressed by the countries of the European Union and part of the US power circles, and Russia (then the USSR) and the countries of the Pacific region, there has been a protracted struggle for the industrial use of a mineral called asbestos. Western countries are attempting to limit the use of «mountain flax» (as they used to call asbestos in ancient times for its fibrous structure), and Russia, the countries of the CIS and the Asia-Pacific region defend the right to use it. In the fight against the use of asbestos, representatives of transnational corporations and activists resort to a variety of methods — from lobbying for interests to direct pressure on the leadership of entire countries. For the most part, this «trade war» is waged secretly, and the layman is assigned the role of an involuntary soldier, because they try to manipulate his opinion in order to provoke indignation and induce him to vote for certain actions of the authorities. However, first things first.

Asbestos is the collective name of a number of minerals from the group of silicates, which consist of the finest fibers. It differs not only by its unique natural properties (it does not burn, does not melt and is extremely durable), but also has a convenient structure — asbestos fibers can be used to make fabric, as if from wool or linen, only much more durable, reinforced with mineral fibers. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, asbestos was considered a “miracle mineral” that was used almost everywhere — from shipbuilding to housing and the production of hats. And all was well until, in the 1970’s, asbestos mining companies in the USA and Western Europe became victims of anti-asbestos hysteria. A reasonable question arises — why? Where did all these scandalous stories with injured people come from? The answer is simple: asbestos, asbestos is different.

Asbestos is the collective name for a number of minerals. In the West, amphibole asbestos was mainly used, and most of the proven cases of the disease are associated with him or his “immediate family”. In Russia, chrysotile asbestos is traditionally mined, which has other properties — in particular, due to the short fiber length (less than 0,5 microns), it is completely excreted from the body in 15 days and cannot harm the human body (according to Exploration Biopersistance of Chrysotile Fibers by David M. Bernstein, Rick Rogers and Paul Smith). Another study on the effect of using brake pads with chrysotile asbestos linings, notesthat work with chrysotile-containing materials is completely safe while observing the standards for protecting workers. As for the World Health Organization, then in 2007, WHO опубликовала the brochure “Workers’ Health: A Global Plan of Action for 2008-2017”, in the 10 paragraph of which indicates that the control of asbestos-related diseases will take into account “A differentiated approach to regulating its various forms, relevant international legal documents and the latest evidence for effective activities”. De facto, this means that WHO not only recognizes the differences between amphibole and chrysotile asbestos, but also undertakes to take into account all the scientific studies published on this topic.

But why, then, lobby groups in the US and the European Union are trying to push through the ban on the use of all types of asbestos? The answer is simple. After the 1970’s, manufacturers of synthetic asbestos analogues appeared on the horse and did not want to share the market with chrysotile, which is both cheaper and better than their products. Western companies cannot win in fair competition, but try to impose their will by force — as much as you like. As a result, heartbreaking stories about the dangers of asbestos, high-profile statements by politicians, and many other tricks designed to discredit the mineral regularly appear in the media.

However, in Russia, Kazakhstan and a number of other countries, the production of chrysotile asbestos not only continues, but also develops. According to the official position of the Russian Federation regarding asbestos, the controlled use of the mineral is not hazardous to health, including slate, since the cement matrix excludes the possibility of release of free asbestos fibers into the atmosphere.

The global market for the use of the mineral is expanding; new products are created on its basis. Products based on chrysotile asbestos are used by countries whose population exceeds 2 / 3 of the world’s population. For these countries, chrysotile asbestos is a source of affordable drinking water, the ability to provide millions of families with a reliable and, most importantly, affordable roof over their heads is a real way to improve the quality of life of people.

However, the trade war continues. The fate of thousands of people depends on its outcome. Only in Russia, two cities with a population of several tens of thousands of people live thanks to the chrysotile industry (the monocities of Yasny and Asbest, located next to mining plants), not to mention the numerous factories, processing shops and other enterprises. In total, more than 50 thousand people are engaged in mineral processing in Russia.

Chrysotile asbestos is no less important for importers — it is in many ways the only source of cheap and high-quality building materials. Mineral-based products can improve the quality of life of the population in the countries of Southeast Asia and Africa. The damage caused by the prohibition of chrysotile can cause a huge blow to the social life of people, who make up two-thirds of the world’s population. However, who cares when a lot of money is at stake?

West Haven Man Falsely Certified Undercover FBI Agent for Asbestos Abatement Supervisor Course: Feds

WEST HAVEN, CT — A 64-year-old West Haven man faces up to five years in prison after authorities say he falsely certified an undercover FBI agent for an asbestos abatement supervisor course even though the agent didn’t attend any classes, received no training and didn’t take any exams.

Guido A. Cortes-Rodriguez pleaded guilty in Hartford federal court this week to one count of making a false statement to the federal government, U.S. States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced in a press release.

Cortes-Rodriguez accepted $1,260 cash in payment from the agent for the course certification, according to the press release.

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Thai producers seek to boost asbestos import from Russia

According to the head of Oranit, one of the largest companies in the industry, Uran Kleosakul, now imports from Russia range from 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes per year
Thai manufacturers of building materials containing chrysotile asbestos are interested in expanding the import of raw materials from Russia, the head of Oranit, one of the largest companies in the industry, Uran Kleosakul told TASS.

According to him, now imports from Russia range from 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes per year, but these volumes can be increased. «Thailand used to be one of the largest consumers of chrysotile asbestos in the world, so there is an opportunity to increase import to 200,000 tonnes per year,» he said. «In the future, 40,000 tonnes per year may not be enough.» At the same time, he added that about 3,000 people are already employed in the industry and «this number may grow to 5,000 in the future.»

Industry issues

The only serious obstacle to the implementation of these plans may be a proposal periodically submitted to the Thai government on banning the use of chrysotile-containing building materials. A number of public organizations, which are seeking restrictions on the use of chrysotile from local authorities, do not take into account the scientific studies conducted in the country on the safety of chrysotile at work and at home.

«Russia is the world’s largest producer of chrysotile asbestos and has more than 100 years of experience in this area. Russian scientific research confirms our data on the safe use of chrysotile,» Uran said. «Thailand has been using asbestos for over 80 years to produce cheap and highly sought-after building materials such as roof tiles, wall panels, ceiling and floor tiles, and pipes.» «All these materials are in great demand, especially in the farming sector, in housing construction, laying sewers and for irrigation,» he said. «The latter is very important for the country, since asbestos pipes are the cheapest alternative for delivering water.»

In addition, the businessman confirmed that there is currently no evidence of health hazards of chrysotile asbestos, for example, for people living in houses with roofs containing this natural mineral. The head of Oranit explained that asbestos is a very durable and strong mineral, which is extremely unprofitable for manufacturing companies working with other materials, the production costs of which are higher and consumer properties are lower.

As a result, market players advocating a ban on the use of asbestos are misleading consumers. «The problem is that some building product manufacturers have already switched to using alternative materials,» he continued. «As soon as they did it, they began to oppose the use of chrysotile asbestos, sometimes seeking the support of government agencies, including the Ministry of Health, to completely ban chrysotile in Thailand.»

Cooperation with Russia

«We want to continue importing Russian chrysotile as the supply of chrysotile is important to support trade relations and allows us to continue business in Asia, as Thailand exports some products to Cambodia and other countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),» Uran said. He also agreed with the idea that Thailand could become a kind of regional hub for the production of chrysotile products in Southeast Asia. «Currently, we are exporting finished products from chrysotile to neighboring countries,» he added.

The businessman believes that the ban on the use of asbestos in Thailand will not only affect people employed in the industrial sector, who may lose their jobs, but will also lead to large expenses for the authorities, for example, to dismantle and dispose materials throughout the country. Independent estimates put the cost of replacing the existing chrysotile roof tiles at 365 billion baht ($9.98 billion). “If asbestos is banned in Thailand, then factories will be closed,” he explained. “Meanwhile, millions of ordinary people in our country will lose the opportunity to have affordable, reliable and durable housing, and prices for other materials will rise due to the lack of a competitive alternative.”

“For example, roofing materials containing chrysotile have the best value for money,” Uran noted. “The ban will affect many farms, and this will lead to additional costs for business owners and, as a result, to rising prices for their own products.”

Use of chrysotile in everyday life

The head of a Thai village, Prayong Liengyu, in an interview with a TASS correspondent, said that such a ban would negatively affect the well-being of residents of houses with roofs made of chrysotile-containing building materials, since most households use them. “Our family has been living here for about 50 years and during this time we have had no problems with the roof, which is made of such materials,” he noted. “About 150 out of 200 houses in our village are built using this technology, but some owners have decided to make a new roof, changing the materials, and now they have to occasionally repair or paint them.» He explained that chrysotile-containing roofs are not only cheaper than metal ones, but also much stronger and more durable, which is extremely important for low-income households.

«If the government decides to ban the use of chrysotile-containing building materials, this will affect the financial condition of our village’s inhabitants,» he continued. «About 80% of the roofs will have to be covered with other materials, which is a costly procedure for many.» He stressed that his village is part of an area that has about 1,000 houses, 80% of which may face the same problem, and there are thousands of such communities throughout the kingdom.

According to studies reviewed by the TASS correspondent, in 2010 there were more than 21.6 million private houses throughout the country. About 17.3 million buildings, or 80%, had roofs made of materials containing chrysotile. The cost of replacing them is estimated at 450.9 billion baht ($8.1 billion). For all buildings (private houses, pig farms, schools, hospitals) that use this material, the total damage from the chrysotile ban could exceed 464.1 billion baht ($12.69 billion).

Increasing trade with Russia

Russia’s Trade Representation in the Kingdom of Thailand confirmed interest in increasing the export of chrysotile asbestos. «This is an important article of our bilateral trade, especially now, when the leadership of Russia and Thailand has set the task of increasing mutual trade to $10 billion,» the source said. «At the same time, Russia is assisting the Thai partners in the safe use of chrysotile asbestos.» «It’s not the first year that a bilateral working group has been operating, where we exchange experience and provide necessary information materials,» he added.

Chrysotile asbestos is the basis for the production of more than 300 types of industrial products. Among them are roofing materials, facade slabs, pressure and non-pressure pipes for water supply, irrigation and sewage systems, brake linings, additives to strengthen the roadway and much more. Due to their reliability, durability and market availability, chrysotile fiber products are an important part of the growth of Thailand’s dynamic economy.

Such products make it possible to implement campaigns for the construction of affordable housing for the population, the provision of remote settlements with drinking water and sewerage, and the repair of the current housing stock. The average life of a chrysotile roof or plumbing is about 30 years. With proper operation, this life span can be extended by three times in any climate. Russia currently has the largest factories for the extraction and processing of fiber, as well as a developed system for its processing. This allows to build a prospect for a stable increase in the supply of chrysotile to Thailand in the near future.

International Alliance of Trade Union Organisations «Chrysotile»: Chrysotile is safe under controlled use

The issue of a possible ban on the industrial use of chrysotile fibre was raised again during the 2022 Rotterdam Convention meeting of the Parties. For several decades, various anti-asbestos activists, organisations and national governments have been united against mountain flax. Their arguments are largely repetitive, without adding new convincing facts to support their position. Based on studies mixing two radically different minerals, amphibole and chrysotile asbestos, they argue that any form of asbestos should be completely banned.

At the same time, the International Alliance of Trade Union Organisations «Chrysotile» insists that chrysotile and amphibole asbestos are fundamentally different in their properties and the nature of their effects on humans. There are numerous scientific studies that convincingly prove the safety of chrysotile fibres when used in a controlled manner. This is proved by more than a century of experience in the use of chrysotile asbestos in Russian industry, on the basis of which extensive statistics have been compiled on the effects of the mineral on the human body. At the same time, amphibole asbestos is indeed dangerous to human life and the International Alliance of Trade Union Organisations «Chrysotile» supports its ban and removal from circulation.

In addition to the above, the International Alliance of Trade Union Organisations «Chrysotile» points out that chrysotile asbestos is an important part of the global economy. It is used in more than 300 types of industrial products: slate, façade boards, siding, pipes, brake pad linings, fire-resistant cardboard, thermal insulation materials, protective gear for hot-shop and firefighters, additives for roadway reinforcement and much more. Chrysotile fibre is valued for its unique properties — it does not catch fire, does not melt, does not emit harmful fumes when heated, does not conduct electricity, is stronger than many steel grades in tensile test and is resistant to mechanical damage. Chrysotile-based building materials are classed as «FR» (flame-resistant), i.e. they cannot catch fire at all temperatures. The mineral is mined in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, China and Brazil and is used in many countries around the world: the countries of Southeast Asia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, the USA and others. Construction materials based on chrysotile asbestos make it possible to realise complex and sophisticated tasks. They are more affordable than their synthetic counterparts on the market, have a longer service life (cement slate serves more than 30 years, pipes — 20 years or more) and can be used in any climate zone from the Arctic to the tropics. Due to the reliability and availability of chrysotile cement materials, they are widely used in infrastructure projects that are the basis for economic development and improving the lives of millions of people.

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Chrysotile Workers From All Over the World Gathered in Moscow

A ceremonial meeting of the International Alliance of Trade Union Organizations «Chrysotile» was held on the premises of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, Moscow. The representatives of countries — members of the alliance (trade union leaders, scientists and medical professionals) took part in the event.

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AIA Applauds House Committee Passage of the FACT Act

The American Insurance Association (AIA) applauded the House Judiciary Committee’s passage of H.R. 906, the Furthering Asbestos Claims Transparency (FACT) Act. The FACT Act aims to bring needed transparency to our nation’s asbestos-related personal injury trust fund system. Sponsored, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX), the FACT Act was approved by the Judiciary Committee today on a vote of 19-11.

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International Alliance «Chrysotile» Applauds the Decision Of the 8th Conference of Parties to the Rotterdam Convention

The participants of the 8th Conference of Parties to the Rotterdam Convention did not reach consensus on inclusion of chrysotile asbestos in Annex III which is the list of dangerous substances. International Alliance of Trade Union Organizations «Chrysotile» is welcoming this decision and supporting the positions of Russian Federation, Zimbabwe, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Syria and Belarus that opposed listing of chrysotile asbestos and insists on providing convincing results of scientific studies.

International Alliance of Trade Union Organizations «Chrysotile» represents the interests of hundreds of thousands of workers and local communities around the world and insists that the safe use of the chrysotile is possible and justified by existing practice and scientific data.

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Russian Workers Are Ready to Defend Chrysotile Industry

— Residents of Asbest and the International Trade Unions Movement «For Chrysotile» organized an event to draw attention to the problems of the chrysotile industry
— Members of the construction workers trade union also joined the flash mob

One hundred bright green balloons with the words «We’re for Chrysotile!» added color to the cloudless sky accompanied by the sound of «industrial fireworks,» or explosions in the quarry of the world’s largest Bazhenovsky field of chrysotile asbestos.

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Asbestos litigation documentary shines light on abuses; Film depicts business owner’s struggle to get out of meritless suit

A documentary set to premiere this week scrutinizes the cottage industry of asbestos litigation.

The National Press Club will hold an in-progress showing of “Unsettled: Inside the Strange World of Asbestos Lawsuits” on Dec. 14 in Washington D.C.

The film by Paul Johnson follows a California car dealership sued for asbestos exposure. Because the dealership had never used asbestos, the defense attorney assumed the matter would be resolved quickly, but he was wrong.

“He soon found out that facts don’t always matter in the strange and secretive world of American asbestos lawsuits,” according to a promotion for the film. “In these lawsuits, it’s not always clear who is really sick, how they became sick, or if it even matters.”

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Despite Garlock Settlement, Asbestos Lawyers Can’t Shake Racketeering Claims Yet

A company that frequently finds itself targeted by asbestos attorneys is taking the reins on racketeering claims that allege those lawyers manipulated the system to unfairly drive up the costs of settlements and verdicts.

On Monday, John Crane Inc. filed lawsuits against at least two asbestos firms under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The basis of the claims is evidence uncovered by Garlock Sealing Technologies three years ago during its bankruptcy proceeding.

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Asbestos ‘Everywhere,’ But Risk is Minimal, Administrators Say

As Harvard continues to renew the College’s undergraduate Houses, “several” of these decades-old buildings on campus contain asbestos, a potentially carcinogenic chemical that was once regularly used for construction.

Presence of asbestos in the Houses, though, is not a concern to administrators, who say that it is unlikely the chemical will pose any sort of health risks to students.

Last year, then-Winthrop resident Matthew W.G. Walker ’16 returned to his dorm room to find it covered in asbestos-laced dust that had fallen from the ceiling of his room. Though the discovery of asbestos kicked off a flurry of discussion about asbestos at Winthrop, many of Harvard’s older buildings contain asbestos, according to administrators.

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Second Company Accuses Asbestos Lawyers Of Racketeering

A second company has accused plaintiff lawyers of using fraudulent tactics to win asbestos lawsuits, citing evidence uncovered after a federal judge opened records obtained in the bankruptcy of Garlock Sealing Technologies.

John Crane Inc., which like Garlock made industrial gaskets containing asbestos fibers, has asked a judge to allow it to join Garlock’s racketeering case against the Simon Greenstone law firm in Dallas and the Shein Law Center in Philadelphia.

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The asbestos problem beneath our feet

ABC News reported on 27 March that Australia’s water consumers –just about every one of us – face an $8 billion bill to replace some 40,000kms of water pipes made with asbestos cement that are nearing the end of their useful life.

That was hardly news, as a quick Google search would have revealed; the problem has been known of years. However, as the ABC article said, these ageing pipes don’t represent a health hazard. The Foundation for Water Research reported back in 2002 that the World Health Organisation had looked at the problem in 1993, and concluded there was nothing to worry about.

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2018: Trump-era Justice Asked to Turn The Tables in Asbestos Litigation

As 2018 gains full speed, it’s time for my annual look at trends in the nation’s longest-running personal injury litigation – asbestos. You may have peripheral awareness of it due to those “if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma” ads, but its reach is beyond those sound bites playing on loop.

Actually, asbestos lawsuits are the nation’s longest-running personal injury litigation and have driven nearly 100 companies into a special form of banktruptcy, where trust funds are set up to pay future liabilities. Those funds have become controversial and, in 2017, more than a dozen state attorneys general launched an investigation into whether asbestos trusts were skipping required payments to Medicaid or other agencies providing health care to asbestos victims. (When victims receive compensation for asbestos injuries, some of the money may be owed to repay agencies that provided health care, like Medicaid and veteran’s hospitals.)

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New York’s never-ending asbestos racket

A year after his corruption conviction, ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s influence is still harming our courts.

The American Tort Reform Foundation now ranks New York City’s Asbestos Litigation court as its No. 3 “Judicial Hellhole,” after St. Louis and the state of California.

The ATRF report notes that the court favors plaintiffs even more than it did before Silver’s fall. Defendants continue to face liability beyond their level of responsibility.

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Leading Asbestos Attorneys, Blasting A Film, Voice Support for ‘Asbestos Trust Transparency’

With hundreds of attorneys gathered in San Francisco this week for the annual Perrin Conference “asbestos summit,” it seems a good time to note that a new documentary featuring alleged fraud with asbestos litigation earned a heated reception in Texas last week.

For trend spotters, the raucous film debate coupled with comments from the summit may hint at a softening in victims’ lawyers’ opposition to controversial efforts to increase transparency in asbestos trust funds holding billions of dollars for people who will become sick or die.

In the state that some call Ground Zero for the start of the asbestos litigation, Canadian journalist Paul Johnson offered a work-in-progress screening of his “UnSettled: Inside the Strange World of Asbestos Lawsuits” at The University of North Texas College of Law/Dallas on September 20. The after-movie discussion panel included nationally prominent asbestos trial attorneys Jeffrey Simon and Charles Siegel.

In a startling exchange, at least by asbestos-community standards, both Simon and Siegel discounted impacts of a hotly-debated recent Texas law increasing transparency for asbestos trust funds. The issue is controversial in many states and is being debated in the U.S. Congress.

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The sun is shining, and it’s a dark day for asbestos plaintiff lawyers

Asbestos attorneys are feeling the earth move under their feet, they’re feeling the sky tumbling down, a-tumbling down, and they can’t get that Carole King tune out of their heads.

Next in the never-ending, ever-unsettling subconscious queue: the Fifth Dimension and the Beatles.

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Sheldon Silver left legacy of high awards in asbestos suits against city

sheldon-silverNew York has cut a worm out of the Big Apple with the conviction of corrupt former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, but its courts are still rotten to the core when it comes to asbestos litigation, according to a new report.

The American Tort Reform Association’s 2016 “Judicial Hellholes” report ranks New York City’s special asbestos-litigation division as the third most friendly to plaintiffs in the nation.

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Cleaning Up The Asbestos Litigation Mess: A Role For The Department Of Justice?

Asbestos — the heat-resistant, naturally occurring silicate mineral — disappeared from the manufacturing marketplace over 40 years ago. In those four decades, litigation involving asbestos has been as impervious to resolution as the mineral itself is to high temperatures. When we’ve asked mass-tort litigators «what’s the next asbestos?» some have answered — not entirely in jest — «asbestos».

The reasons for asbestos litigation’s endurance are many, but defendants, judges, and public officials have started to spotlight the role of bankruptcy trusts and plaintiffs’ lawyers’ use of them as both shield and sword. Numerous voices, including state attorneys general and Members of Congress, have called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate misconduct and potential fraud. DOJ has a number of potent oversight and enforcement options at its disposal, some of which are discussed below.

Distrust of the Trusts

Forty years of litigation drove companies that mined and sold asbestos for industrial and other uses out of business. Over 60 bankrupt businesses set up trusts meant to compensate individuals who contracted mesothelioma or other diseases from asbestos exposure. Lawyers who represent asbestos plaintiffs dominate the advisory committees of these trusts. Litigation-reform proponents justifiably complain that the trusts dole out payments on minimal proof of exposure and fail to police inconsistent claims that are made to multiple trusts.

Bankruptcy trusts operate parallel to, but independent from, the civil justice system. Plaintiffs’ lawyers can thus file claims with the trusts and also sue solvent defendants that manufactured products or component parts that contained asbestos (e.g. gaskets, brakes). In civil asbestos litigation, the source of a plaintiff’s asbestos exposure often determines the outcome. The plaintiffs’ lawyers know if their clients had additional or different exposures, but the defendants are routinely left in the dark because the lawyer-run bankruptcy trusts block access to claims information.

The «ah ha» moment for litigation-reform proponents and solvent defendants occurred during the 2013 creation of an asbestos bankruptcy trust for Garlock Sealing Technologies. Plaintiffs’ lawyers demanded the trust provide $1.3 billion to cover injury claims, but the presiding federal bankruptcy judge was skeptical. He allowed Garlock to conduct discovery on 15 settlements into which it had entered. Discovery revealed that the plaintiffs had withheld exposure evidence in all 15 settlements and also delayed filing claims with bankruptcy trusts until after resolving suits against Garlock.

The bankruptcy court released a breathtaking opinion on the Garlock matter in early 2014 that documented a «startling pattern of misrepresentation.» It concluded that Garlock’s «last ten years of its participation in the tort system was infected by the manipulation of exposure evidence by plaintiffs and their lawyers.” The court decided that Garlock should contribute $125 million, not $1.3 billion to the trust.

In re Garlock emboldened  common asbestos-litigation defendants and civil-justice reformers, and its impact continues to reverberate to this day.

Possible Federal Action

In each session since 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation requiring asbestos bankruptcy trust reporting. The Senate has never passed its version of the bill. The lack of a viable legislative solution has inspired serious discussion about DOJ action.

Civil RICO.  One option would be for the U.S. to investigate and bring civil racketeering charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) against lawyers and law firms that have committed fraud in their conduct of asbestos litigation. Prior to filing an action, prosecutors could do extensive discovery through civil investigative demands (CID). RICO accords federal prosecutors nationwide service of process, as well as powerful financial and equitable remedies such as forfeiture, restitution, and disgorgement.

Several victims of the misconduct unveiled in In re Garlock have filed private RICO actions. Just prior to the January 2014 bankruptcy court’s ruling, Garlock filed a civil RICO action against some of the firms involved in the 15 settled liability actions. That suit survived a motion to dismiss in September 2015, with the court ruling that Garlock «successfully alleges that Defendants engaged in a wide-ranging, systematic, and well-concealed fraud designed to suppress evidence and inflate settlement values for mesothelioma claims.» Garlock settled the suit for $358 million, and the complaints as well as Garlock’s evidence have since been unsealed.

In June 2016, John Crane filed civil RICO actions citing evidence of a scheme to commit fraud and obstruct justice gained from the Garlock actions. A federal trial judge held that John Crane lacked jurisdiction to file the claims, a decision that the plaintiff has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Federal False Claims Act. A November 6, 2017 letter from 6 state attorneys general to Attorney General Jeff Sessions urged DOJ to consider pursuing action under the False Claims Act (FCA) «to put an end to asbestos trusts’ pattern of obstructionism.» The letter explained that Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes had issued CIDs to several asbestos trusts seeking information that might support a state false claims action for failing to reimburse Medicaid. The trusts refused to comply and General Reyes asked a state court to enforce the CIDs. The court held the state lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the complaint. Utah has appealed that ruling.

In a confirmation hearing and in follow-up written questions, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Civil Division Assistant Attorney General-Designee Chad Readler about the FCA and asbestos litigation. Mr. Readler acknowledged the issues and the possible use of the FCA, stating that fraud in asbestos trusts was «one of the areas I want to focus on.» As with a possible RICO action, DOJ could first investigate possible FCA violations by issuing CIDs.

Failure of the trusts to reimburse Medicare for its payment of medical care for an asbestos claimant’s alleged injuries could give rise to FCA liability. As with the RICO claims discussed above, a private legal action might show the way. Several Medicare Advantage plans, relying upon information from the Garlock matter, have filed suit under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act seeking reimbursement from law firms that secured trust disbursements for clients. Humana, United Healthcare, and Aetna assert that they covered medical expenses for those who received asbestos trust money.

The U.S. Trustee Program. As discussed in a December 2017 WLF Legal Opinion Letter, the Justice Department houses the U.S. Trustee Program, an office that protects the integrity of the U.S. bankruptcy system. In their letter to the Attorney General, the 6 state attorneys general suggested that the U.S. Trustee «could immediately move to require disclosures from the trusts.» WLF’s paper supported that conclusion.

The U.S. Trustee acknowledged to the House Judiciary Committee that without an «independent policeman,» there are «risks for abuse» in asbestos trusts. The office’s director, however, stated that the U.S. Trustee lacks «significant jurisdiction [over such trusts] post-confirmation.» Perhaps motivated by this belief, three Senators have introduced legislation that in part confirms the U.S. Trustee’s authority.

If the U.S. Trustee is hesitant to examine asbestos bankruptcy trusts in the abstract, a recent court decision may create an opportunity for a targeted action. The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has affirmed a federal bankruptcy judge’s decision to deny Ford and Honeywell unlimited access to exhibits from nine asbestos bankruptcy matters. If the companies appeal that outcome to the Third Circuit, the U.S. Trustee could contemplate a role in the case.

Action in the Public Interest

Asbestos litigation has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. Though the plaintiffs’ bar clamors for oversight of every other successful American industry, it wants a hands-off approach to asbestos litigation. The reason is obvious: they’re the only ones that really profit. Americans as consumers, employees, shareholders, and pensioners lose when companies spend millions to defend themselves or go out of business. Even the asbestos litigation industry’s supposed beneficiaries—asbestos-exposure sufferers—lose when uninjured parties siphon off funds from the bankruptcy trusts.

This DOJ has been rightfully circumspect in using its broad authority. After fulling assessing the situation and its options, we’re confident that the leadership will see the public interest in its taking action.

Trump Admin Makes Use Of Medicare Law In Blunt Warning To Asbestos Lawyers

In the Trump administration, at least, the government will no longer look the other way as asbestos lawyers negotiate lenient terms that make it easy for their current clients to get money at the expense of future claimants and federal entitlement programs.

The Justice Department last week used a law guaranteeing repayment of Medicare and Medicaid expenses to lay down a far more expansive marker in front of the lawyers who negotiate asbestos bankruptcy trusts, which are created for companies that would not be able to survive asbestos liability in civil courts.

The government’s unusually blunt statement of interest in the Kaiser Gypsum bankruptcy, long before any plan of reorganization has been approved, warns lawyers against including terms that make it hard to ferret out fraud and abuse, including confidentiality requirements that make it impossible to determine how much claimants have been paid and the basis for their claims.

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International Trade Union Movement For Chrysotile Will Continue the Struggle for the Future of Chrysotile

The meetings of the conferences of the parties of Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions regulating the transportation and disposal of hazardous waste, the trade of hazardous chemical substances and pesticides, and the use of persistent organic pollutants are carried out in Geneva (Switzerland) in the period April 24 — May 5.

The regulation on the turnover of chemical substances and waste is the main topic.

The use of chrysotile asbestos in construction and industry is expected to be discussed at the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention. The anti-asbestos lobby, with the purpose of self-promotion, operating with anti-scientific facts, and the engaged environmental organizations and asbestos litigation law firms, basing their arguments on falsified data, will try to convince member states to include chrysotile asbestos into the list of severely restricted and banned chemicals and pesticides.

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Ban Asbestos Efforts Kick Into Overdrive As Trump Victory Draws Future Of EPA Into Question

We made a landmark step forward in June when reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) empowered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finally regulate the most dangerous chemicals used in our nation. Since then, the primary goal of asbestos advocates was to ensure the EPA prioritized asbestos as a top ten high-risk chemical for evaluation and regulatory action.

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With Obama’s veto threat gone, asbestos ‘double-dipping’ bill reintroduced

WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — A bill that targets the country’s current asbestos injury compensation system has been quietly reintroduced by a Texas federal lawmaker who is hoping President Trump is more receptive than his predecessor.

U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Republican who serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, re-submitted the GOP-backed bill last week. Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Tom Marino, R-Pa., are listed as cosponsors.

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The Asbestos Scam

In May, Carolyn McCarthy, a nine-term congresswoman from Long Island, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Her treatment began almost immediately, causing her to take a lengthy absence from her office while she fought the disease. At the same time, McCarthy, 69, ended a pack-a-day cigarette habit that she’d had for most of her life, presumably because she understood the link between cigarette-smoking and lung cancer. Scientists estimate that smoking plays a role in 90 percent of lung cancer deaths.

“Since my diagnosis with lung cancer,” she wrote in a recent legal filing, “I have had mental and emotional distress and inconvenience. I am fearful of death.” She added, “My asbestos-related condition has disrupted my life, limiting me in my everyday activities and interfering with living a normal life.”

Asbestos-related?

Yes, that’s right. It’s hard these days for smokers to sue tobacco companies because everyone knows the dangers of cigarettes. Instead, McCarthy has become part of a growing trend: lung cancer victims who are suing companies that once used asbestos.

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Quid pro quo? Doctor testifies about ‘relationship’ with lawmaker who got millions in referral fees

Was it a quid quo pro? A physician testifying this week in the trial of a former New York legislative leader accused of misusing his office to get millions in law firm referral fees didn’t expressly say so.

But Dr. Robert Taub did tell the jury that he hoped by referring asbestos patients to a law firm for which the defendant, former state Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, was counsel to strengthen a “relationship” with Silver and “incentivize” him to fund asbestos research, reports Newsday (sub. req.). An earlier Newsday (sub. req.) story provides additional details.

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Asbestos in dozens of schools poses ‘no risk’ insist councils

ASBESTOS present in almost every school in Clydebank poses no risk to children or staff, insist council bosses.

Hundreds of older buildings throughout the country had asbestos in foundations or walls, but remain safe provided the substance is not disturbed.

A list emerged last month of 10 schools and nurseries across Clydebank and 16 in north-west Glasgow – effectively all older buildings – that still have the potentially deadly substance in them.

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Florida Appellate Court Reverses Verdict Against Valve Manufacturer in Asbestos Case

HIGHLIGHTS:

— Manufacturers of products that contained chrysotile asbestos won a major victory in Crane Co. v. DeLisle in September, when Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a verdict entered against a gasket manufacturer on grounds that the trial court had abused its discretion by admitting an expert’s testimony.

— The appellate court ordered that a verdict be directed for the defendant, where the only proof of causation was expert testimony that was not supported by scientific data and therefore should not have been admitted.

— An «expert opinion is inadmissible when the only connection between the conclusion and the existing data is the expert’s own assertions.»

— The appellate court’s detailed opinion confirmed the scrutiny that judges must apply before admitting expert testimony, and it largely discredited opinions that exposure to chrysotile causes disease in humans.

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In Silver Case, U.S. Cites Link to Litigation Tied to Asbestos

By Dionne Searcey, Anemona Hartocollis, Russ Buettner And David W. Chen

In the criminal complaint against Sheldon Silver, he is identified simply as “Doctor­1.”

But Dr. Robert N. Taub, who headed a Columbia University center dedicated to curing a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos, is no ordinary doctor.

With a reputation as a devoted clinician intent on trying out innovative therapies, Dr. Taub is something of a hero in the world of mesothelioma, a devastating cancer that is nearly always fatal. Specializing in abdominal cases, a particularly horrific form of the disease, Dr. Taub, 78, attracted last­chance patients from across the country and the world.

The balding, bow­tied oncologist would then seem to be the unlikeliest of candidates to become caught up in a criminal scheme that may lead to the downfall of Mr. Silver, the longtime speaker of the New York State Assembly and one of the state’s most powerful politicians.

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Asbestos pipes: Do they pose a public health risk?

The carcinogenic substance is in 10% of piping, but no evidence this piping is dangerous

Asbestos can be found in approximately 6,300km of Ireland’s water mains, but there is no evidence to show that the use of this type of piping is dangerous, according to Irish Water.

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Appeals court decides not to consider rehearing on $8M asbestos settlement overturn

WEST PALM BEACH – On Nov. 9, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal refused to reconsider its Sept. 14 decision to overturn a 2013 $8 million award to Richard DeLisle, who sued multiple companies, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Crane Co., for his mesothelioma diagnosis.

«(Delisle claimed) he developed mesothelioma from smoking Kent cigarettes with asbestos-containing filters in the 1950s,” a Nov. 17 article from CVN said. “DeLisle, who worked as a pipe fitter in the 1960s, also partially attributed his asbestos exposure to gaskets manufactured by Crane Co.»

After the 2013 decision to award DeLisle one of the largest suits against a tobacco company and cigarette manufacturer with regards to an asbestos claim from smoking, R.J. Reynolds and Crane both submitted appeals, claiming that expert evidence provided in the 2013 trial was not valid.

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Donald Trump And The Art Of Asbestos

New York, NY USA - July 16, 2016: Donald Trump speaks during introduction Governor Mike Pence as running for vice president at Hilton hotel Midtown ManhattanAccording to the Republican presidential nominee, the anti-asbestos movement is a conspiracy rigged by the mob. Yes, the mob.

For nearly five months, people around the country have been campaigning for or against Donald Trump. As one of the most polarizing presidential candidates of the century, we’ve watched debate after debate, commercial after commercial and repeatedly said, “Wow.”

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Johnson & Johnson wins California lawsuit claiming asbestos in talc caused cancer

A California jury on Thursday ruled in favor of Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by a woman who said she developed the cancer mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos in the company’s talc-based products including J&J’s Baby Powder.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury’s verdict came in the first trial centering on claims that J&J’s talc products contained asbestos. J&J is separately battling thousands of cases claiming those products can also cause ovarian cancer.

The verdict came in a lawsuit by Tina Herford, who said she developed mesothelioma after using J&J talcum powder products that her lawyers claimed contained asbestos.

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Busting the Asbestos Racket: A federal judge finds evidence of deliberate legal deception

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The worst public scandals are often those that travel in plain sight, and a prime example is the asbestos litigation racket. We’ve been writing about it for years, and now a judge in North Carolina has issued a remarkable opinion exposing just how rotten it is.

The case involves Garlock Sealing Technologies, a gasket maker forced into bankruptcy in 2010 by a flood of bogus claims. Plaintiffs lawyers were insisting that Garlock set aside $1.3 billion for victims of the deadly asbestos-related disease, mesothelioma. Last month federal bankruptcy judge George Hodges instead accepted Garlock’s liability estimate of $125 million and roasted the plaintiffs bar for dishonesty.

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The Great Asbestos Hysteria: How one man claims the BBC, profiteering firms and politicians have exaggerated the dangers

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Yesterday saw the launch of yet another scare campaign.

As so often before championed by the BBC, it warned us again of the deadly dangers posed by asbestos — this time in Britain’s schools.

In the past 30 years, it was claimed on Radio 4’s Today programme, 178 teachers have died of asbestos-related diseases — and their numbers are rising all the time.

Steps must be taken to protect pupils and teachers from asbestos in schools, a new study has warned.

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An Asbestos Silver Lining

Could Sheldon Silver’s arrest help clean up the New York tort racket?

The corruption charges against former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have exposed the rotten links between politicians and trial lawyers, and that attention is bearing fruit. Witness the clarifying drama in New York’s asbestos court.

Manhattan Administrative Justice Peter Moulton recently held an unprecedented “town hall meeting” to hear complaints from dozens of defense attorneys who say New York’s asbestos docket has been rigged to favor one tort firm: Weitz & Luxenberg, the same powerhouse asbestos firm that benefited from an association with Mr. Silver.

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A Life-long Job: A Veteran of Uralasbest Celebrated Her 90th Birthday

MOSCOW, Dec. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The chrysotile industry in Russia is 300 years old, and dates back to the time of Peter the Great. Obviously, now there are no witnesses to the industry’s first steps in the XVIII century, but those who participated in the events of the 1960s, when the active construction of the production lines of the Uralasbest mining complex began, are still with us. On November 29, 2019, employees of the Railway Transport Directorate of the complex congratulated labour veteran Minnekhasiba Gilvanova on her 90th birthday.

For Uralasbest, Ms Gilvanova’s story is the rule rather than the exception. In 2018, the plant published the book «80+. A Generation of Winners», which talks about the oldest veterans of the chrysotile industry, who worked for the benefit of future generations. For example, Viktor Stepanov worked at the complex for 25 years. Like many of his colleagues, he is a member of the Uralasbest Veterans’ Council, whose members are more than 6,000 retired employees of the complex. More than 300 of them helped defend their Motherland from Fascism by fighting during the Great Patriotic War or as home front workers, and 124 veterans are older than 90.

It’s no secret that people these days like to talk about the harm caused by asbestos, without distinguishing between the amphibole group and chrysotile. But there is a key difference: chrysotile when safe controlled use rule applied is safe, and the best proof of this is the life and health of the industry’s veterans. The retirees participate in demonstrations, are an example for young people, and actively participate in the life of their hometown and of the plant where they used to work. They know that, when handling chrysotile, compliance with labour discipline, a correct organisation of workplace safety, and measures aimed at protecting employee health create a safe work environment, in both the XX and the XXI centuries. Upon compliance with the production technology, chrysotile is safe for consumers as well.

This is why veterans of the chrysotile industry defend the complex and the domestic industry as a whole: they built it with their own hands, and know more than anyone else about it. After all, their lives are one of the most convincing arguments in favour of using asbestos: it gave them a meaningful job, a dignified old age and respect.

The asbestos bonanza

Trial lawyers and Democrats team up share big bucks

Mesothelioma. For most of us, the name of this asbestos-caused lung cancer is synonymous with bad late-night TV commercials imploring those afflicted to sue for contracting the disease. And with good cause. For roughly 3,000 Americans each year, it is a death sentence.

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Installation of asbestos ridden parts in IDF tanks continues

Before leaving office, former Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon wrote to outgoing Minister Environmental Protection Avi Gabai that IDF cannot afford to halt installation of asbestos replacement parts in tanks and APCs, saying no alternative exists.

Despite the danger of being exposed to carcinogens, the former Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon permitted the IDF to continue to install new parts made of asbestos in tanks and armored personnel carriers (APC). Ya’alon insisted on their installation even though outgoing Minister of Environmental Protection Avi Gabai and his staff repeatedly warned that the parts can threaten the health of soldiers and their installation is illegal.

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TSCA and Asbestos — a New Approach or One That Reveals the Same Old Problems?

On November 29, EPA announced that it will review the hazard and exposure risks caused by asbestos. Asbestos will be one of the first ten substances to be evaluated under the TSCA amendments commonly referred to as the Lautenberg Act. As we have discussed elsewhere, TSCA now requires EPA to produce a risk evaluation work plan for these substances by June 2017 and complete its evaluation within three years following. If EPA determines any of these substances pose unreasonable risks, then EPA must take further action to mitigate any risks.

Asbestos is different from the other substances on EPA’s list and poses different challenges from the others, which all are more traditional industrial chemicals. In contrast to the other chemicals, “asbestos” is not really manufactured itself even when it’s used in products because in raw form it exists in nature; has been the focus of massive product liability litigation for a generation; and presents a different set of compliance challenges for industry.

Certain types of “asbestos” — usually defined as a group of silicate minerals with fibrous properties—have historically been component parts of many industrial products because asbestos functions as an insulator. Litigation over asbestos-containing products has driven more than 100 companies bankrupt. Plaintiffs in these cases argue that asbestos in commercial products causes chronic health conditions like asbestosis and mesothelioma.

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Bill would stop asbestos fraud: letter

Asbestos trust funds set up to provide financial support for people suffering from asbestos-related illnesses are being sapped by bogus claims and frivolous lawsuits. The same shady cash grabs that are taking money from deserving asbestos victims are also threatening businesses like mine.

Ambulance-chasing lawyers are teaming up with people who may or may not have had contact with asbestos to drain the trust funds dry.

These trusts are largely financed by companies driven to bankruptcy by asbestos litigation. One day, as a result of the increasing number of phony claims, the trust funds will no longer have money to pay legitimate claimants battling mesothelioma and other asbestos-related ailments.

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Asbestos ‘double-dipping’ bill could get a vote this week

WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — Legislation that targets the country’s current asbestos injury compensation system, requiring asbestos trust funds to disclose information on their claims, may be up for a vote this week.

According to the U.S. House of Representatives website, the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency, or FACT, Act is among a handful of legal reform bills that may be considered by the House this week.

U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican who serves as vice-chairman of the Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Subcommittee, reintroduced the FACT Act last month. His office could not comment on when, specifically, the legislation would see a vote.

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The Double-Dipping Legal Scam

House Speaker John Boehner says asbestos legal reform is a priority in the New Year, and it can’t come soon enough. Based on the details emerging from federal bankruptcy court, asbestos litigation fraud has reached new heights.

Garlock Sealing Technologies is a maker of gaskets that since its bankruptcy in 2010 has become a symbol of the corrupt practices of the plaintiffs bar. Lawyers demanded $1.3 billion in payouts from Garlock for mesothelioma patients until federal Judge George Hodges reviewed evidence showing that many of the claims were a sham. The judge in January slashed the company’s liability to $125 million and slammed the trial bar for «misrepresenting» the facts.

Then in October he moved to unseal that evidence, and now we’re getting a glimpse of what has become a widespread tort-bar con. Court documents show the ugly specifics of «double-dipping» — in which lawyers sue a company and claim its products caused their clients’ disease, even as they file claims with asbestos trusts blaming other products for the harm. This lets them get double or multiple payouts for a single illness, with a huge cut for the lawyers each time.

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State AGs Probe Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts To Recover Medicare Payments

The Attorney General of Utah has sued four of the largest asbestos bankruptcy trusts to try and force them to comply with civil investigative demands more than a dozen states have sent to the trusts, seeking information on whether they are squandering money and failing to reimburse states for Medicare and Medicaid expenditures.

Attorneys general from 13 Republican-leaning states including Utah, Michigan, Wisconsin and Kansas sent demand letters to the Armstrong World Industries, Babcock & Wilcox, DII and Owens Corning/Fibreboard bankruptcy trusts on Dec. 12. So far none have responded, Utah says in the complaint filed March 7 in state court in Salt Lake City.

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The Year Ahead: Will Trump Tackle Asbestos Litigation Scandals?

We have all seen those commercials for victims of mesothelioma, the lethal cancer linked to asbestos exposure, proclaiming the billions set aside for liability and urging calls to law firms. The litigation has been around for some 40 years, and the running joke is that “the future of asbestos litigation is reform, and always will be!” But is this self-propelled feedback mechanism about to end its loop?

That joke seems to apply to much of 2016. For example, 2015 ended with the headline-grabbing conviction of New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was found corrupt in schemes that involved getting millions of dollars in payments from an asbestos-focused law firm as he steered mesothelioma victims their way. Their physician then received state funding backed by the Speaker.

More than a year later, Silver is still free pending appeal – a notable case in point for the concept of the wheels of justice grinding so very slowly.

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Armstrong asbestos trust target of lawsuit

Utah’s attorney general is suing four asbestos-related trusts, including the Armstrong World Industries Inc. Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust, in search of information about whether the trusts are doing enough to prevent fraudulent claims.

The Armstrong trust was established in 2006 as Lancaster County-based Armstrong World Industries Inc. emerged from six years of bankruptcy protection, prompted by lawsuits filed by people suffering from asbestos-related illnesses.

Officials in Utah argue that abuse of the claims process is draining away trust money intended to reimburse states for asbestos-related Medicare and Medicaid expenditures.

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WHO Exposed for Propaganda

Institutions within the World Health Organization are engaged in the creation and distribution of biased, propaganda films that seek to directly discredit what the WHO deems “undesirable materials”, often in contravention of WHA policies.

Recently, journalists got access to a job advertisement posted on un.org in mid-2015. The message read: “Cameraman wanted to shoot a video about asbestos.” The vacancy contained a detailed technical specification for making a propaganda film with the express intention of discrediting chrysotile asbestos, notwithstanding what science says or the majority of safe-use policies around the world. At the time of writing, the job posting in question has been removed from the website, but the editorial team saved screenshots.

In particular, the very wording of the task says it all: “Creating and processing high-quality video images of actors and scenes associated with the use of asbestos in Vietnam, in order to gather evidence for supporting campaign activities to ban the use of chrysotile asbestos in Vietnam.” That is, an independent international body which is supposed to impartially assess the healthcare situation in a given country, has openly declared its intention to fund the making of a propaganda video to promote a ban.  So much respecting a sovereign country’s right to make its own laws…

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Australia is on the wrong track

It seems that Australia has clearly lost its way in its all-out attacks against the use of asbestos fibers around the world, especially when it voluntarily and indiscriminately includes the chrysotile fiber, the only one currently commercialized, in its denunciations. The position taken by its Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency (ASEA), as summarized in a Fact Sheet, is not new and was determinedly denounced by the International Chrysotile Association (ICA) in 2019. For the past two years it has nevertheless persevered in its omissions and scientific errors, including the shocking dissimulation of the historic reality of Australia’s own amphibole production.

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Top WHO adviser says membership of Ban Lobby group is not corrupt

Any doubt about the end of supposed independence of the World Health Organisation was dispelled at the latest UN workshop on chrysotile.

Rather than the respected forum for careful consideration and scientific rigour of the past, the organisation’s apparatchiks have, sadly, succeeded in turning it into an international lobbying group who are now a law unto themselves.

Descending on Geneva at the end of March, the WHO, launched its latest, barely disguised, attempt to brow beat countries that use chrysotile into submission.

Launching an outright dismissal of the approach ordered by their political masters on the World Health Assembly (WHA) – to distinguish between chrysotile and other more dangerous forms of asbestos – the WHO introduced new – taxpayer funded -ways to call for a worldwide ban on the substance.

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Uncivil servant

Maria Neira is an international civil servant. She is supposed to work for you and me.
As a leading figure at the World Health Organisation (WHO), her role is to implement decisions taken by international governments.

Sworn oath

She is meant to be neutral and impartial and has even sworn an oath to “exercise in all loyalty, discretion, and conscience” in her duties and “regulate (her) conduct with the interests of the World Health Organisation only in view…”
And yet Dr Neira, head of the WHO’s public health and environment department, seems to think she knows better than the democratically elected officials.

On the issue of asbestos Dr Neira seems to believe she has the right to ignore carefully thought through policies thrashed out by health ministers from global governments at the World Health Assembly (WHA), which directs the WHO’s work.

Differentiated approach

Those elected officials, after much careful deliberation, decided that the best way to eliminate the terrible blight of asbestos related diseases was “a differentiated approach to regulating its various forms – in line with the relevant international legal instruments and the latest evidence for effective interventions”.
With much care, they acknowledged, that dealing with asbestos-related disease needed to reflect the different forms of asbestos; on the one hand, deadly blue and brown amphiboles, and on the other, white chrysotile, which is safely used in the majority of countries around the world.
But despite this careful reflection and well thought through orders, Dr Neira has decided she knows better – mirroring the clarion call of lobbyists and lawyers making millions from asbestos lawsuits – even going so far as to post her views on YouTube, she is backing a global ban on asbestos, including chysotile.
Spaniard Dr Neira, who earns more than US$100,000-a-year funded by taxpayers, said: “WHO considers that it will be feasible to go for the elimination of asbestos-related diseases, and obviously the most efficient way to do that will be to eliminate the cause of asbestos-related diseases, so stop the use of asbestos, all types of asbestos.”

Not differentiated forms of asbestos

But what about the WHA’s order to take a “differentiated approach”?
According to Dr Neira, “there is a sentence that says ‘with a differentiated approach’ but this is related to the legal instruments you want to use at country level, but it is certainly not referring to any differentiated forms of asbestos. For us, all forms of asbestos including obviously chrysotile are carcinogenic”.
Really? So what did the WHA – “the supreme body for our policy recommendations”, as she calls it – mean when it referred to “various forms”?
Apparently, she, like her friends in the asbestos ban lobby, has simply chosen to ignore what the WHA clearly acknowledged, that there are different sorts of asbestos and the risks associated with them are also different.

Dr Neira says: “We have a resolution where all member states request the WHO to develop a Global Plan of Action on Workers Health and part of that resolution asks us to go to for a global campaign on elimination of asbestos-related diseases. So we have a very solid basis for conducting our work, plus the fact that people have been suffering from asbestos-related diseases for years now and the evidence now is overwhelming.”
So she has evidence that chrysotile, as well as blue and brown asbestos, is responsible for the spread of disease?

No evidence

Well, actually, no, as she says: “The evidence is there, I mean there is extremely solid evidence. It’s true that asbestos cancer, asbestos-induced cancer, will take 20 years to appear so it will be difficult to differentiate lung cancer caused by asbestos and by other causes like tobacco for example in countries where you don’t have these epidemiological studies linking exposure in the working environment to asbestos to a type of cancer. In developing countries, in many of them we don’t even have cancer registries. There are no reasons to think that in Africa it will not happen the same or in Asia. Therefore for us the evidence is there. We know that cancer is happening. And we don’t want to wait 20 years until we start to count the number of deaths and to look at the increase in the number of cancers.”

So what is going on? The participants at the WHA specifically inserted the language about a differentiated approach to reflect the fact there are different types of asbestos and different risks associated with them.

Supreme body

But Dr Neira, has unilaterally chosen to completely ignore this, directly contradicting the orders of the WHA, the “supreme body”, as she calls it.
Dr Neira has become a global anti-asbestos activist, repeatedly saying: “The most efficient way (to eliminate asbestos related diseases)…will be to stop the use of all forms of asbestos….”

How has this happened? How has a legitimate health issue, the very toxic affects of amphiboles, morphed into an ugly business filled with fraud and undue pressure on developing countries?

The WHO, led by Dr Neira, seems to have been completely taken in and is deliberately misinterpreting its mandate. It is ignoring its democratically elected leadership – and enacting a set of policies that are odds with formal and official policy.

Has the WHO gone rogue? Is it in the pocket of the powerful anti-asbestos lobby – fuelled and funded by those who make millions from lawsuits or by supplying substitutes? Dr Neira would appear to have many questions to answer.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics: When 107,000 deaths are not 107,000 deaths.

“We know as well that there is an estimation of more than 100,000 deaths that can be attributable to exposure to asbestos, all types of asbestos,” says the WHO’s Dr Maria Neira.

“Each year around 107,000 people die from asbestos related cancers, mesothelioma and asbestosis (fibrosis of the lung) as a result of exposure to asbestos,” says leading anti-asbestos lobbyist Karen Kazan Allen.

“There are 107,000 asbestos-related deaths worldwide every year,” says attorney Steven Kazan, the brother of Karen Kazan Allen, who has earned millions of dollars from asbestos-related lawsuits.

The frightening death toll is cited as “evidence” of the need for a total ban on all forms of asbestos.

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What is really happening in Thailand?

The tainted cavalry arrives

A self-appointed cavalry rode into Thailand recently.

Greeted by loyal local acolytes and feted by the media – the global champions of the international ban asbestos lobby camped out in a 4-star hotel in Bangkok.

People like Dr Barry Castleman who a senior US judge labeled “unreliable” and his evidence “inflammatory” and “hearsay”.

Dr Ken Takahashi who appears confused, and perhaps conflicted, on whether he is an anti-asbestos activist from the Global Ban Asbestos Network (GBAN) or a director at the supposedly independent World Health Organisation.

The pair have been racking up the air miles alongside fellow frequent fliers like Asian Ban Network “General” Sugio Furuya.

These modern crusaders descended on the Thai capital en masse to – they hoped – herald in the prohibition of chrysotile cement.

For 70 years chrysotile has provided Thailand with a cheap and durable material to build high quality, low cost housing – tried and tested products to protect homes and buildings from the country’s heat, humidity and heavy rains.

But this highly motivated lobby talks darkly about the danger posed by chrysotile, and is urging Thailand, its government and its people to act “before it is too late” – whatever the cost.

Chrysotile is asbestos, they say, and all forms of asbestos are carcinogenic and therefore must be banned (although so are wood shavings, salted fish and silica – but there are no calls for a prohibition on these!).

These scaremongers point to health crisis in other parts of the world, places where different, more dangerous, forms of asbestos were widely used without regulation, and claim that it is only a matter of time before Thais start dying.

But in Thailand, this same well-funded group cannot point to a single case of someone who has developed cancer or illness because they lived under a chrysotile roof, drank from a chrysotile water pipe or worked in a factory that uses chrysotile.

While people are dying in their thousands from diabetes, HIV-AIDS and smoking and alcohol-related diseases, this noisy, special-interest, international lobby accuses Thai doctors of being badly trained and simply not good enough to spot an epidemic of
asbestos deaths and that 70-years is too short a timeframe for the problem to surface.

They deliberately ignore the fact that the unarguably serious health problems elsewhere are caused by other forms of asbestos, amphiboles, like blue and brown asbestos, which are highly dangerous.

And fail to acknowledge that chrysotile is a vastly different material, which, when encased in cement, is proven to be safe, and that the Thai experience only goes to underline this.

Profit motive

With perfect timing, the ban lobbyists took up residence in Bangkok just as their wealthy friends at local conglomerate, The Siam Cement Group (SCG), turned the screw on their buddies in the government to back a ban on chrysotile.

Once one of leading chrysotile cement product suppliers in Thailand, SCG gambled on other more expensive and less effective alternatives — losing it money and market share.

Now, with the noisy lobby for company SCG hopes the new rulers will ban its competitors’ products – probably forcing them into bankruptcy — and simply hand the firm a countrywide monopoly.

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