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Posts by: Steven Kazan

Bringing Asbestos Home: The Dangers of Secondary Asbestos Exposure

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secondary asbestos exposureIn the Bible story, God mercifully allows Abraham to spare the life of his son Isaac.  But secondary asbestos exposure is not merciful.  Asbestos fibers accidentally brought into the home by industrial worker Johney Clemmons caused the death of his son Randy Brady Clemmons.  Sadly, Johney Clemmons himself died from the asbestos fibers choking his lungs decades before his son also succumbed to illness from secondary asbestos exposure.

The premature deaths of both father and son separated by time but united in cause and tragedy both became cases I handled at Kazan Law for the Clemmons family in turn. The recent publication of a new book by Debbie Clemmons, wife of Randy, about coping with his mesothelioma prompted me to want to discuss with you the dangers of secondary as well as primary asbestos exposure.

Johney Joseph Clemmons, had spent 30 years working at the Fibreboard Corporation’s Emeryville, California asbestos insulation manufacturing plant. Johney began to get sick in the early 1970s, and by 1975 had severe pulmonary asbestosis, a scarring of the lungs caused by asbestos fibers that restricted the lungs’ ability to provide enough oxygen to the body. He continued to work until 1977 when he could no longer manage, and at age 57 was forced to retire. Several years later, he developed lung cancer on top of his asbestosis and passed away on December 7, 1981.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States, an estimated 27 million workers were exposed to aerosolized asbestos fibers between 1940 and 1979.

Because of a lack of proper industrial hygiene, asbestos workers went home covered in asbestos dust. The workers’ families and other household contacts were then exposed via inhalation of asbestos dust

  • from workers’ skin, hair, and clothing, and
  • during laundering of contaminated work clothes.

A mortality study of 878 household members of asbestos workers revealed that 4 out of 115 total deaths were from pleural mesothelioma and that the rate of deaths from all types of cancer was doubled.

Randy was 26 years old when his father died as a result of asbestos exposure in 1981.  Randy died in 2009 at age 54 as a result of secondary asbestos exposure unknowingly brought home by his father.

Laurie Kazan-Allen Receives Award for Global Ban Asbestos Efforts

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global asbestos banSaturday, December 21, 2013 marks the second anniversary of the death of Rachel Lee Jung-Lim.  Rachel was a mesothelioma patient who died because of her asbestos-caused illness at age 39.  But this young South Korean woman also became in the brief time left to her, a strong voice in the global ban asbestos fight.

Rachel was supported in her campaign against asbestos by a leading international veteran in the global asbestos contamination struggle, my sister Laurie Kazan-Allen. I’ve just learned that Laurie has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Rachel Lee Jung-Lim Award.

Laurie became interested in asbestos issues long ago. Because she was living in England, I asked her to serve legal papers for Kazan Law on asbestos companies based there who we were suing in the US.

She also did some research for me on cases involving clients who had worked in the UK.  That’s how she initially got to meet victims groups. But Laurie deserves full credit for where she took it from there and for the level of integrity, dedication and passion she has brought to this cause.

But I fear I am biased. So I will simply quote from the letter announcing Laurie’s award:

  • Laurie Kazan-Allen has devoted herself to the campaign of global asbestos ban over 14 years with the establishment of International Ban Asbestos Secretariat in 2000. In doing so, she was one of the first to raise the issue of increased asbestos consumption in developing countries, particularly in Asia, whilst most western societies have banned or reduced.
  • As an activist, her soul has rested always with victims and through recognizing, organizing, and supporting victims, she has contributed a lot to the launching and strengthening of civil movements in many developed and developing countries.
  • Without her, it would have been impossible to launch Ban Asbestos Network Korea in 2008, Asia Ban Asbestos network in 2009, and Indonesia Ban Asbestos Network in 2010.
  • Her life has been a role model to many activists as well as experts. We do hope her dream of a global asbestos ban comes true not far from now as Rachel Lee Jung-Lim wished too.

The award is jointly presented by the following groups:

Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health
School of Public Health Seoul National University
Ban Asbestos Network Korea
Korean Association of Asbestos Victims and their Families
Asia Ban Asbestos Network
Ban Asbestos Network Japan
Asia Monitor Resource Center
RightOnCanada.ca

Kazan Law Client Publishes New Book on Daily Life With Mesothelioma

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The Randy Brady StoryEvery one of our mesothelioma clients is unforgettable to us at Kazan Law. Each client is unique with their own story to tell.  Even after many years of experience in asbestos litigation, we remember and cherish each of the lives that briefly touched ours before being cruelly extinguished by mesothelioma or other asbestos-related disease.  We also get to know their families as we help them through this sad and difficult time and always appreciate it when they stay in touch with us.

I was especially pleased when Kazan Law client Debbie Clemmons, the wife of mesothelioma victim Randy Brady Clemmons, approached me this past summer about writing a chapter for her new book about her family’s experience with mesothelioma.  Now I am proud to announce that her book has been published. “In His Grace, Grappling with Mesothelioma: The Randy Brady Story” is now out in paperback. It is available on Amazon where it also can be downloaded in a Kindle edition. And she kindly credits me as a co-author.

My first introduction to the Clemmons family came in 1982, when I helped Randy’s mother Juanita Clemmons win a settlement for the asbestos-caused death of Randy’s father Johney Clemmons in 1981. Randy’s father unknowingly worked with asbestos for 30 years in an Emeryville insulation factory. This exposure took his life as well as Randy’s who developed malignant mesothelioma from inhaling the fibers brought home on his father’s work clothes.  So I feel I have walked this journey with this brave family and was glad to participate in helping Debbie write this book.

At 264 pages, Debbie’s book covers the progression of Randy’s mesothelioma from the beginning of his treatment in 2007 to his death at age 54 in 2009.

“On the pages of this book is our story of how we grappled with mesothelioma. I have a day by day; play by play experience of what we went through. There is also a lot of information on pain management,” Debbie explains in her book jacket text.

The Clemmons family members are deeply religious Christians – Randy was the morning host on KFAX, a San Francisco-based Christian radio station.  He also hosted the Christian Fellowship days with the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s.   Debbie’s book also recounts how her family’s faith and spiritual beliefs helped them through this experience with grace and strength.

But it is also about how they were uplifted by the caring shown to them by other people. “When the terminal diagnosis was given to us, we were showered by the goodness of the people in the community.  Over two hundred people came to our rescue by acts of kindness, meals, financial help and prayer. True acts of love and grace,” she states.

As for my part, Debbie asked me to write the chapter in her book called “How to Choose an Asbestos Attorney.”  In it, I explain why choosing an asbestos attorney is the most important financial decision you will ever make, why you should not limit your choice of attorney to those with offices nearby and how to spot a fake asbestos attorney website. I hope you will take the opportunity to read it.

New Asbestos Report – Where It’s Mined, Where There’s Illness and What’s Being Done About It

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12.16.13.KLWhen it comes to asbestos exposure and its dire consequences, sadly it’s a small world after all.  Asbestos is still mined in many countries, exported across borders and incorporated into products that get shipped around the globe. Malignant mesothelioma resulting from asbestos exposure spares no one based on nationality or ethnicity.

That’s why I am sharing with you news of a landmark new report about asbestos just published in Europe and brought to my attention by a prominent anti-asbestos activist in England – my sister Laurie Kazan-Allen.

The report “Asbestos-Related Occupational Diseases in Central and East European Countries” provides as thorough as possible an overview – some countries keep no records – of the status of asbestos and asbestos-related illness throughout Europe.  Easy to read and available online for free, the report is packed with interesting information.

Consider this for example:  World production of asbestos was estimated to be 1.98 million tons in 2012. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS, 2013), Russia was the leading producer of asbestos, followed by China, Brazil, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Canada. These six countries accounted for 99% of world production in 2013.

Or this excellent historical synopsis:  Commercial exploitation (of asbestos), with little thought for environmental controls, increased over the 20th century, particularly in the period of strong economic growth after 1945. The unique technical properties led to a boom in consumption; asbestos was used in huge quantities in buildings or ships, and also for many smaller applications, such as cigarette filters. In the first substitution projects of the 1980s, alternatives for more than 3,000 technical applications had to be found.

Major topics covered include monitoring of asbestos-related diseases, recognition of occupational asbestos-related disease and the problem of underreporting.

This research report was commissioned and coordinated by the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and its project partners International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), with the financial support of the European Commission

The report was prepared by the Kooperationsstelle Hamburg. This research institute provides national and international services and studies in the field of occupational safety, health and environmental protection.

Veteran Science Writer Defends Asbestos Victims’ Rights in the New York Times

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asbestos industry rebuttalThe community of asbestos victims’ advocates although international in scope is a relatively small one.  Most asbestos victims’ advocates are family members of asbestos victims or those of us involved in meeting their legal or medical needs. As a result most of what is written about asbestos and asbestos victims appears in publications and/or websites that are offshoots of these groups.

That’s why it is worth noting when someone goes to bat for asbestos victims in an important major media outlet like the New York Times.  Especially when that someone is a national science writer on environmental health hazards who has focused on asbestos.

The New York Times recently published an important letter about asbestos written by Paul Brodeur, an investigative science writer and author.  It appeared both in the paper’s internet and print editions.

In the letter, Brodeur states, “An estimated 10,000 Americans are dying of asbestos disease each year; before the asbestos tragedy has run its course, an estimated 500,000 Americans will have died of the disease.”

Brodeur is a former staff writer for The New Yorker magazine where the zeal for fact-checking is legendary.  So it is reasonable to presume scientific accuracy in Brodeur’s work.  No friend of industries that risk people’s lives for profit, Brodeur  also exposed the dangers of household detergents, the depletion of the ozone layer and electromagnetic radiation from power lines when these issues emerged during the 1970s and 1980s.

But a major focus of his environmental hazard reporting has been on asbestos. Over a twenty-year period, he researched and wrote four books about asbestos:

  • Asbestos & Enzymes (1972)
  • Expendable Americans (1974)
  • The Asbestos Hazard (1980)
  • Outrageous Misconduct: The Asbestos Industry on Trial (1985)

So recently, when an asbestos industry supporter disparaged asbestos victims in a New York Times op ed, Brodeur felt compelled to write a rebuttal.

In his letter, he says the industry supporter “makes light of a claimant’s assertion that she was subjected to asbestos exposure because she lived in a house with relatives who worked with asbestos, but numerous studies link household exposure (often called “bystander exposure”) with asbestos disease.”

He further cites the investigation by Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, former director of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Environmental Sciences Laboratory, and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond, former vice president for epidemiology and statistics of the American Cancer Society, “… who showed that nonsmoking asbestos workers died of lung cancer seven times more often than people in the general population, and whose calculations suggested that asbestos workers who smoked had more than 90 times the risk of dying of lung cancer as men who neither worked with asbestos nor smoked.”

 

Kazan Law’s Foundation Helps Those Who Help the Homeless

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Kazan Law's foundationRecently, an item on the morning news caught my attention.  It actually riveted me and stopped me in mid-lift of my coffee cup in a way few news items ever do.  It was Pope Francis, the controversial new pope of the Catholic Church who is making news headlines by speaking out on behalf of the poor.  And this is what he was saying:

How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?

The Pope’s bold statement to the world hits home especially now here in Northern California.  Right now we are experiencing record-breaking cold temperatures. Sadly, four homeless people died of hypothermia in the San Francisco Bay Area since last week, highlighting the danger to people without shelter as the region is gripped by freezing temperatures.  Although these deaths did make the news, it does not make up for these the fact that these deaths were preventable.

That’s why I am proud that one of the organizations our firm’s foundation supports is the Dolores Street Community Services.  As their organization’s own tag line says so well, what they do is to provide “neighborhood answers to homelessness.”

Dolores Street Community Services operates the only shelters for men in the Mission District and the only shelters in San Francisco specialized in serving Latino working poor men. The Dolores Shelter Program began in 1982 as a sanctuary for refugees. Today, it provides support and emergency housing for up to 100 working homeless men every night.  Dolores Street Community Services also provides other needed services to the community, including those living with AIDS.

But as the saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. Businesses spend money on things like advertising and promotional events to attract customers and make more money.  But nonprofit organizations often can’t afford do that.  They may not have money to spare to promote themselves and attract donations.  That’s where our firm’s foundation was able to help Dolores Street Community Services.  We helped underwrite their recent fundraiser and were glad to do it.

 

Mesothelioma Treatment and Medicare

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mesothelioma treatmentBecause it may take decades for symptoms of malignant mesothelioma to develop to the point that it can be diagnosed, it is highly likely that a person suffering from mesothelioma could be over 65.  And if a mesothelioma patient is over 65, it is possible that he or she is on Medicare.  But you could be eligible for Medicare benefits if you require mesothelioma treatment even if you are under 65.

Medicare is the federal government’s healthcare program intended primarily for older Americans. It covers qualifying individuals age 65 or older. But it also covers people under age 65 who are disabled and suffering from serious illnesses like mesothelioma.

When a worker who has paid a sufficient amount into the Social Security system becomes unable to hold a job for at least 12 months, he or she is eligible for Social Security disability (SSD) benefits. If you meet the criteria for disability, you could begin receiving Medicare two years after being approved for SSD.

But if you receive a personal injury legal settlement, you may have to use part of it to repay Medicare for your mesothelioma treatment. Medicare refers to their reimbursement right as a “reimbursement claim” but it is basically the same as a healthcare lien. Federal law requires all parties to “consider Medicare’s interests” in third party settlements where Medicare has made what are called “conditional payments” for injury-related care.

The term “conditional payments” describes the injury-related healthcare payments Medicare made for your mesothelioma treatment, although another party caused – and is legally responsible for – your injury. Medicare pays for your care on the condition that the responsible party’s funds will be used to pay the program back for your treatment.

A federal law called The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 requires you and your attorney to inform Medicare that they made a “conditional payment.” Your attorney should request a conditional payment summary, then analyze, review and resolve Medicare’s claims for reimbursement. At Kazan Law, we work hard for our clients and part of that is making sure that you do not get stuck using your settlement to pay medical bills that have been inflated in anticipation of a settlement claim.  When we obtain large settlements for our clients, we also see to it that they get to keep as much of it as possible by carefully examining insurance and Medicare itemized claims and medical bills, and negotiating appropriate deductions for the value of our efforts in collecting the funds so that typically our clients end up paying less than half the claimed amount.

New Tool Invented To Detect Airborne Asbestos Exposure

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asbestos exposureWhen it comes to asbestos exposure, a little bit goes a long way in a very bad way.  It takes only a tiny spec of asbestos fiber too small to be seen by the human eye to cause a lethal amount of asbestos exposure if regularly inhaled into the lungs over time.  Then it takes decades for symptoms of mesothelioma, the fatal lung disease caused by asbestos exposure, to emerge.  And by the time it is diagnosed, it is usually too late.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful then to have a way to instantly test an environment for the presence of asbestos before any harmful asbestos exposure takes place?  It could potentially save the lives of thousands of construction workers, firefighters, factory employees, home repair contractors and DIY home renovators. And maybe eventually decrease the number of new mesothelioma cases diagnosed in the United States each year from its current 3000 to a much lower rate.

Maybe this will be possible with a new tool invented in a university laboratory in England that promises to detect minute asbestos particles in an indoor environment.

As reported in a Canadian business journal, researchers at the University of Hertfordshire have developed a new tool to detect airborne asbestos on any worksite without the need to send air samples to a laboratory for testing.

The sensor, which uses lasers and magnets to identify asbestos particles, reportedly will be commercially available next year under the trade name Asbestos Alert.

Research on the project began over 20 years ago as an effort to identify airborne biological particles such as spores and fungi. Someone suggested to the researchers that they try using the device to test for asbestos fibers in the air as well.

The Hertfordshire team produced a half-dozen working prototypes that were sent to various construction sites for real world testing by companies specializing in asbestos removal. The final working design will be small enough to be portable to any site.

“When the machine alerts the user with an audible or visual signal, it’s 99 per cent certain that the air around you contains asbestos,” said researcher Paul Kaye, a professor at the Center for Atmospheric and Instrumentation Research at the University of Hertfordshire, “At that point, the worker can choose to either put on a mask or pack up the tools and leave the work area. I know which one I’d do.”

9/11 Clean-up Workers Exposed to Asbestos Contamination Fear Losing Health Benefits

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asbestos exposureThe dangers of asbestos contamination were well-documented long before terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001.

But immediately afterward, a number of federal and state safeguards for cleaning up hazardous materials were waived because of the state of emergency, according to a new article just published in the suburban New York newspaper Newsday.

After the Twin Towers fell, more than 2,300 clean-up workers were called in to remove debris including the toxic dust blown into surrounding buildings. Many now have developed health problems. Interviews with almost 2,000 out of the 2,332 known Ground Zero asbestos workers have revealed that hundreds weren’t properly equipped.

During that chaotic time, under pressure to work swiftly, safety shortcuts were taken exposing workers to asbestos contamination, the article states.

“People initially were using asbestos masks, but they got clogged so fast,” one worker told a reporter.

Former workers further told Newsday that they were assured it was safe to remove their masks. They ate food donated by local restaurants unaware of settling dust causing asbestos contamination to their meals.  They also changed into their street clothes unaware that they were also contaminated.

Unlike emergency responders, some clean-up crews spent years working in the area and the longer exposure intensified the asbestos contamination health risks.

And while Ground Zero asbestos-removal crews are now at risk of developing mesothelioma and other cancers, there’s no guarantee they’ll have their future medical bills covered.

Mesothelioma, usually diagnosed decades after asbestos contamination, could emerge long after the free, federally funded World Trade Center health program runs out of money in 2016.

Two years ago, the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund was reactivated to help cover economic losses and out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred by workers, survivors and victims’ relatives. But that fund must pay out all of nearly $2.8 billion by 2017, officials said. After then, it’s uncertain whether Congress will renew funding for either program.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the lead agency overseeing worker safety at Ground Zero, denies that asbestos workers were ignored.

“OSHA disputes any characterization that it neglected any group of workers, including non-English-speaking workers, during 9/11 recovery operations or at any other time,” Edmund Fitzgerald, an OSHA spokesman, said in a statement.

We at Kazan Law salute these loyal patriotic workers who were put in harm’s way to do work so crucial to the nation’s recovery from that horrific day.  The least we as a country can do is to make sure they have continued medical monitoring for asbestos and other work-related disease for the rest of their lives, and that provision be made to further compensate those who are unfortunate enough to develop disabling or fatal diseases, no matter how long from now that might occur.

New Evidence Reveals That Scientists Were Paid by Chrysotile Industry to Write Pro-Asbestos Article

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asbestos industryWhen is a grant not a grant?  When it is really a consulting fee, according to a group of angry asbestos activists, including several physicians. The asbestos activists recently wrote a scathing letter to the editor of a medical journal to protest an article it published that was favorable to asbestos. In their letter, which is posted on the Asian Ban Asbestos Network’s Facebook page, the asbestos activists cite new evidence that the scientists who authored the article received consulting fees – not an unrestricted grant – from the International Chrysotile Association (ICA), as stated in the article.

They further note that the medical journal’s editor Roger McClellan, to whom the letter is addressed, is a personal friend of the article’s lead author David Bernstein PhD. and that McClellan himself also at one time received payment to testify on behalf of an asbestos company.

“We believe the article violates ethical standards of disclosure that all scientists and scientific publications are expected to uphold,” the asbestos activists state in the letter protesting the article “Health Risks of Chrysotile Revisited,” published in the journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology.

Chrysotile, a white asbestos, is the most widely used form of asbestos, making up about 95% of the asbestos in the United States and a similar level in other countries.  It has been included along with other forms of asbestos as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Epidemiologists and other scientists have published peer reviewed scientific papers establishing chrysotile as a leading cause of mesothelioma.

Chrysotile has been recommended for inclusion in the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent, an international treaty restricting global trade in hazardous materials. If listed, exports of chrysotile would be allowed only to countries that explicitly consent to importing it. Canada, a major chrysotile producer, has been criticized by the Canadian Medical Association for opposing including chrysotile in the Convention.

The letter to McClellan is signed by Canadian asbestos activist Kathleen Ruff and four physicians, three Canadian and one Korean, who specialize in public health and preventive medicine.

The asbestos activists’ letter objects to the fact that undisclosed financial interests of scientists who claim to be impartial may have influenced them to conclude that chrysotile may not be so bad after all.  The article in question concludes, “The importance of the present and other similar reviews is that the studies they report show that low exposures to chrysotile do not present a detectable risk to health.”

The letter writers state that a key ICA official has confirmed that Bernstein invoiced ICA a total of $200,000 to write those words and that he has in the past been paid by asbestos producer Georgia Pacific to write similar articles.  “A New York court has ruled that such conduct by Dr. Bernstein constitutes potential crime-fraud,” the letter says.

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