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Posts by: Steven Kazan

National Asbestos Awareness Week Highlights the Serious Threat of Asbestos Exposure

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asbestos exposureSince the 1970s, public health experts have been spreading the word about the dangers of asbestos exposure. As a result, everyday consumers became more wary of insulation materials in older homes and responsible industries in the U.S. curbed any new use of the mineral.

With this kind of progress, it can be easy to make the mistake of thinking that asbestos is a problem of the past and that there is no reason to be worried. That is not the case – mines continue to operate in countries around the world, asbestos can still be used in the manufacturing of some American products in which it had always been included and people in the U.S. can still come into contact with the mineral in aging buildings.

Considering the first week of April is National Asbestos Awareness Week, I personally can’t think of a better occasion to review strategies to protect yourself from this mineral.

Asbestos is a ‘special concern’ for tradespeople
To kick off the occasion, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin released a statement in which she warned the public that asbestos can lead to a host of potentially fatal medical complications, including malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. Here’s what she said:

“Anyone who disturbs asbestos is at risk. However, it is of special concern for construction, insulation, and demolition workers, pipe-fitters, boilermakers and others who might disturb asbestos found in old buildings or equipment as part of their work. The hazard is also very real to home handymen, first-responders, and community volunteers.”

Benjamin’s warning was prompted by the U.S. Senate, which passed a resolution dedicating the first week of April to asbestos awareness. In the bill, they acknowledged several important points about this mineral:

  • Asbestos fibers are invisible. They have no taste or odor.
  • Asbestos-related diseases can take 10 to 50 years to show any symptoms.
  • The average survival time following a diagnosis of mesothelioma is between 6 and 24 months.
  • Although asbestos consumption in the U.S. is lower than it was in previous years, it’s still pretty significant at 1,100 metric tons a year.

Asbestos is also a problem in older homes
The use of asbestos peaked in the U.S. during the mid-1970s. In the 1980s, the practice of including asbestos in the construction of homes and buildings began to drop sharply because of the growing awareness of the medical problems it caused. If you live in a structure that was built before 1980, it’s likely that asbestos is in your home.

However, you’re not in any danger as long as the asbestos is left intact and undisturbed. If you discover asbestos, try to inspect it for damage without touching it. If it’s damaged, leave it alone and try to limit your children’s and pets’ access to the area around it.

In case the material is severely deteriorated, or you ‘re planning on making major renovations to the house, you should consult a trained professional to handle asbestos abatement or repairs. This sometimes involves covering the asbestos with some type of material that can prevent the release of airborne fibers.

Before hiring a professional, you should ask him or her to provide proof of accreditation to work with asbestos. Once a job has been completed, this individual also should give you a checklist that ensures he or she complied with safety regulations and that all appropriate tests have been done to confirm there is no remaining asbestos in the environment.

How to Safely Clean Asbestos Ceilings

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asbestos exposureWhether you’re cleaning your home for yourself or in preparation of a sale, you need to be careful if the house was built before 1980. In such cases, asbestos exposure can be a real hazard because the mineral appeared in a wide range of products, such as insulation and fireproofing materials.

Recently, I read the Home and Garden column of The Telegraph, a newspaper in Georgia. In a Q&A, a reader asked the columnist about the best way to clean the cobwebs off a popcorn textured ceiling.

Wear protective gear and proceed carefully
In response to the reader’s question, columnist Gene Austin noted that asbestos was a common component of popcorn textured ceilings in homes that were built during the 1960s and 1970s. Austin advised the reader that, before doing any major cleaning, it’s important to first test the ceiling for the presence of asbestos. Although there are do-it-yourself kits that provide the tools to collect samples to send to a laboratory, this work can also be performed by certified professionals.

If these tests show that the ceiling is made with asbestos, there is only the threat of danger if the material is disturbed. This is why it’s important to approach asbestos using only the utmost level of caution. Austin advised readers to mist the area, as damp popcorn is less likely to flake, and very gently remove the cobweb with a paintbrush. He also recommended not touching the ceiling at all.

I’d also like to take this advice even further and recommend that while performing this work, you should always wear respirator facial masks, eye protection and head covering. Once the job is done, your clothes need to be disposed of. And, if at any point the popcorn begins to flake or break off, work needs to stop immediately.

A ceiling that contains asbestos may be a drawback in any efforts to sell a house because you need to disclose the fact that asbestos is present. There are several ways to handle this. If the asbestos is in tact, the best thing to do is leave it alone. Otherwise, you should hire a professional to remove it.

When it comes to popcorn-textured ceilings, the best way to cover them is by using suspended ceiling tiles, which provides more protection than drywall. Still, the presence of the asbestos needs to be disclosed.

Make sure the professionals are qualified
Remember – asbestos was present in as many as 3,000 consumer and industrial products by the mid-1970s. This is responsible for the trends we are now seeing in the incidence of diseases like malignant mesothelioma.

If you decide to work with a professional to solve your home’s asbestos problem, remember that there are no federal laws requiring these individuals to be specially trained in handling asbestos. These regulations often fall under state and local laws, which you should consult in order to ensure that you are working with someone who is knowledgeable. Once a job is complete, make sure the people you hire provide you with written assurance that they followed all safety measures.

Community Outraged Over Plan to Cap Landfill with Asbestos Containing Material

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asbestos_exposureWhenever people become aware of the presence of asbestos, their natural reaction is to want to get as far away from the hazardous material as possible. This sometimes involves sending waste products to a landfill, which can potentially anger nearby residents about their own risk of asbestos exposure.

At Kazan Law, we keep track of disputes like this across the country. Recently, I read about the town of Dartmouth in Massachusetts, where members of the Town’s governing Select Board became enraged when they found out about a proposal to cap a nearby landfill with waste material from Boston, as reported by The Chronicle, a local news source. About 10 percent of this waste would be made up of heavy metals and asbestos.

‘A disaster for our neighborhood’
Up until the 1980s, the 23-acre Cecil Smith landfill served as a dump for demolition and construction materials that were used for urban renewal projects. Despite the fact that the landfill has been closed for about 30 years, the Boston Environmental Corp. submitted a plan to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection that proposes to excavate material from the wetlands, reshape unlined sections and cover everything with plastic membranes, soil and plants.

The 1.1 million cubic yards of soil would be mostly coal, ash or road sweepings. However, 10 percent of it would be made of heavy metals and asbestos.

“People should be outraged, and should be disappointed [with the Department of Environmental Protection’s handling of the site],” Selectman Michael Watson, a town official and science teacher, told the news source.

Other members of Dartmouth’s Select Board are voicing their concerns to the state legislators. Residents are also outraged about assertions from the Department of Environmental Protection that their children are not in danger.

“These materials should not be in our neighborhood,” resident Jean Couto told The Chronicle. “This whole project is going to be a disaster for our neighborhood.”

A town forum to discuss the matter further is scheduled for March 28, 2013.

What should happen to asbestos waste?
During the latter half of the 20th century, public health experts have become more aware of the link between asbestos and diseases such as malignant pleural mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. To help protect everyday consumers like you, these experts have said that any product that contains asbestos should be left alone because there is really no health risk unless the material is disturbed.

This leaves some people wondering: What do we do with these products when it’s time to throw them away?

All asbestos should be handled only by a trained professional. Once the material is properly contained, it can be sent to a landfill that is permitted to accept asbestos waste. However, this is currently a problem in Massachusetts because there are no such landfills in the state.

Waste material from construction or the remodeling of buildings that contain asbestos is just one way that material can contaminate soil. This can also happen if the asbestos is present in naturally occurring rocks.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has several tips for people who are worried about being exposed to asbestos through the soil around their houses:

  • Let children play only in areas with ground covering, such as wood chips, mulch, sand, asphalt or rubber.
  • When hiking or biking, stick only to paved trails.
  • Pave over any roadways if you think the soil may contain asbestos.
  • Keep windows or doors closed on windy days if there is a contaminated site nearby.
  • Prevent pets from entering the home with dusty feet.
  • Remove shoes before entering the home.
  • Use doormats to wipe your feet.

New Surgical Procedures for Cancer Patients Limit the Danger of Complications

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mesothelioma treatmentRecently, I noticed an article published by Cure Magazine that talked about the different innovations that are allowing cancer surgery patients to recover more quickly with fewer complications.

What are the standard surgical procedures?
Before I get into highlights of the article, I think it’s important to delve into the types of surgery that doctors may use to treat non-small cell lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute lists the following four types:

1. Wedge resection removes the tumor, as well as some of the healthy tissue that surrounds it.
2. Lobectomy cuts out an entire section of the affected lung.
3. Pneumonectomy gets rid of an entire lung.
4. A sleeve resection removes part of the bronchus, which is the airway that connects the windpipe to the lung.

Surgery for small cell lung cancer may be more complicated because this form of the disease often affects both lungs at the same time. The lymph nodes may be abnormal, as well. In either case, patients may need to undergo additional treatments with radiation or chemotherapy.

Regardless of the type of surgery that doctors use, there are always risks for post-operative complications. These include pain, blood clots, nerve damage and infections. However, scientists are trying to improve surgical procedures to curb the danger.

New tools are helping doctors
Traditionally, doctors operate on cancer through open surgery, which means that they make incisions that are large enough to provide visual and physical access to the tumor. The risks associated with open surgery can be reduced if the incisions are smaller.

To that end, doctors can use a variety of tools to reach malignant tissues while causing minimal damage to the healthy areas. These may include laparascopes, which are tiny telescopic cameras that let doctors see inside patients, and surgical robots that doctors can control remotely. Also, a procedure known as natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery, or NOTES, allows clinicians to insert tools through a patient’s body via flexible endoscope, which is a tube that creates a passageway when it goes through the mouth.

“Minimally invasive procedures now represent about half of all cancer surgeries we do,” Eric Grogan, M.D., told Cure Magazine. “Ten years ago, 95 percent would have been traditional open surgeries. The minimally invasive approaches have changed the risks-benefits ratio a bit because it has slightly reduced the risk of the operation.”

Although these innovations reduce tissue damage, they still carry the risk of blood clots and infection. In order to tackle the former, more doctors are prescribing blood-thinners to be taken after surgery.

Infection control is a little bit more complicated and requires more work. This includes the prescription of antibiotics, blood glucose monitoring, controlled-warming of a patient’s body after surgery and careful administration of anesthesia during an operation, which is important for the prevention of pneumonia.

Asbestos exposure is a real public health threat. Every year, asbestos-induced lung cancer claims the lives of about 4,800 individuals in the U.S., as estimated by the Environmental Working Group. That number is expected to increase over the next 10 years or so.

Fortunately, it looks like surgical options are becoming safer for patients. However, let’s not let that diminish the importance of curbing asbestos use and production.

Vitamin-Drug Combo May Help Treat Mesothelioma

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mesothelioma treatmentRecently, I learned about a team of researchers in Italy who are working on a new combination treatment that brings together vitamin C, the chemotherapy agent gemcitabine and EGCG, which is an antioxidant found in green tea.

On the surface of it, this may sound like a strange approach to treating mesothelioma. However, the paper, which was published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests researchers found promising results.

Looking at the individual components
Before we get into the details of what the scientists did in the laboratory, it may help first to understand what components they were working with.

First, there’s the use of antioxidants. These are nutrients that help stabilize the destructive forces of free radicals, which are molecules that degrade the cells in your body, drive the aging process and increase the risk of cancer. Free radicals come from all over the environment: air pollution, ultraviolet radiation, unhealthy food – even the simple act of food metabolism in the body creates free radicals. However, antioxidants help neutralize the effects of free radicals.

Vitamin C, which is also known as ascorbate or ascorbic acid, is a popular example of an antioxidant. You consume this nutrient every time you eat any of a large variety of fruits and vegetables.

Green tea also has antioxidants, including EGCG, which belongs to a class of plant molecules known as polyphenols.

Usually, in the context of cancer care, antioxidants are discussed as a preventive measure. However, previous studies convinced the scientists from Italy that vitamin C and EGCG may actually be able to act directly against tumor cells. For their study, the researchers combined these two antioxidants with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine. This medication interferes with cancer cells’ ability to replicate the DNA that they need to reproduce and grow, thereby curbing the growth of malignancies. Currently, doctors prescribe gemcitabine for diseases such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.

Researchers test-drive their drug-antioxidant combo
The researchers’ goal for this study was to find a possible new treatment for mesothelioma, a disease that currently has no cure. In the laboratory, they combined vitamin C, EGCG and gemcitabine. They referred to this mixture as Active Nutrients/Drug, or AND. In order to test the effects of AND, the scientists created both cell models and rodent models of mesothelioma.

In the cell model, they observed that the individual components of AND seemed to work in a synergistic manner, with each active ingredient enhancing the effects of the others, causing the diseased cells to die.

In the mouse model, the researchers found that AND reduced the size of the animals’ tumors, decreased the number and size of metastases, and prevented abdominal bleeding.

“Here we show that a triple combined treatment based on EGCG, ascorbate and gemcitabine (AND therapy) reduces mesothelioma growth and metastasization,” the researchers wrote in PLOS ONE. “Due to the lack of side effects, we propose that this combined therapy should be evaluated in other preclinical and clinical models.”

Because this experiment was conducted using cell and animal models, it may be years before scientists evaluate the performance of AND in human clinical trials. Still, this study is important because it provides the foundation for a potential new way to tackle mesothelioma.

We at Kazan Law look forward to the future direction of this work.

Motivational Leader Loses Dreams to Mesothelioma

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When leadership trainer James Hellam learned from his doctor that the mesothelioma diagnosis he was given in 2011 was a result of exposure to asbestos dust, he called on Kazan Law to bring justice to those who caused his deadly disease. A San Jose, California police officer for 13 years prior to becoming a global motivational speaker, Mr. Hellam’s exposure to asbestos occurred over five summers when he began working for his grandfather’s one man operation, Monterey Boiler Service, at the age of 15.

Before his diagnosis, Mr. Hellam was an extremely active and healthy 65 year old Hall of Fame softball player with a very active professional and personal life. He had planned to continue his leadership training for another decade, and to share his active leisure time with his grown sons, step daughters and the grandchildren he hoped to coach on the baseball field. Those plans, unfortunately, were all taken away from him when he became ill and was put on a journey in which he would endure one of the most difficult surgeries a human being could undergo.

Neither Mr. Hellam nor his grandfather were warned that the products purchased from Crane Co’s “Crane Supply” wholesale outlet in Salinas, California for the process of refurbishing boilers contained asbestos and were a health hazard. Yet our firm presented evidence showing that Crane Co corporate officers knew or should have known as early as the 1930s that asbestos causes diseases that kill.

Unfortunately, this story is just one of many that our firm has been involved with for coming up on 40 years. It’s why we continue to fight hard for justice for our clients and for those who will receive a mesothelioma diagnosis in the future.

Mesothelioma can Cause Heart Complications

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mesothelioma treatmentAt Kazan Law, we know that the effects of mesothelioma on the body can be far-reaching. I recently came across a report in the Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology, which published a case report detailing a mesothelioma patient who developed atrial fibrillation, or AF. The Japanese doctors who treated him theorized that the heart complication was a result of physical crowding caused by tumors in his chest.

Growths in the chest can interfere with health
The authors of the study noted that advanced cases of pleural mesothelioma can lead to the growth of mediastinal masses or tumors. Doctors from MedStar Washington Hospital Center describe the mediastinum as the area of the chest that is between the lungs. Small masses may not cause any symptoms, but sometimes, mediastinal tumors can cause chest pain, persistent cough, difficulty swallowing, trouble breathing, fever, night sweats or unexplained weight loss.

Doctors can diagnose the presence of a mediastinal tumor by conducting a chest x-ray, CT scan or biopsy. They may also perform a mediastinoscopy, which inserts a super-thin camera into the chest cavity for a visual inspection.

Usually, a mediastinal growth can be controlled with the help of surgery.

What is AF?
A danger associated with any tumor is the possibility that the abnormal tissue growth can disrupt the function of any surrounding organs. In the case of a mediastinal tumor, the heart can be affected.

The authors of the case study found that, in one patient, a mediastinal tumor that grew out of mesothelioma may have caused AF.

Here’s what you need to know about AF: The American Heart Association describes it as a condition in which the normal rhythm of the heart is disrupted, and the top two chambers of the organ do not beat effectively. As a result, blood can pool in these chambers and form clots. These clots can cause a stroke if they block the circulation of blood to important areas of the body.

Furthermore, AF can lead to heart fatigue, chronic fatigue, poor circulation and other problems.

People who have AF sometimes describe feeling a fluttering sensation in their chest, but one of the dangers of this condition is that symptoms are not always obvious, and patients may not be properly diagnosed for some time.

Doctors find a possible new cause of AF
It turns out there was another interesting case that caught my attention – in Japan, doctors treated a 70-year-old man who was diagnosed with mesothelioma at the age of 66. When he was admitted to the hospital for the last time, he showed evidence of a mediastinal tumor, AF and other problems. He eventually died 29 days later.

The medical exam that followed his death revealed that several of his organs and major blood vessels were impacted by the mediastinal tumor and other growths. AF was a likely result of this interference.

“AF due to a mediastinal tumor can be cured by surgical excision of the tumor,” the doctors wrote. “Although the treatment of advanced mesothelioma is difficult, chemotherapy using pemetrexed and cisplatin, antibody-based therapies targeting epidermal growth factor receptor, and immunotherapy have been attempted recently. Advanced mesothelioma can cause AF, and the reduction in the tumor size using such therapies may prevent AF. It is important to diagnose mesothelioma at an early stage.”

This is just one more reason why global efforts to ban the use and production of asbestos are important, and why we at Kazan Law believe so much in what we do.

Kazan Law Partner Joe Satterley Speaks on $6.8 Million Asbestos Verdict against Ford Motor Company

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Kazan Law partners Joe Satterley and Justin Bosl fought a battle against Ford Motor Company late last year that resulted in a $6,825,000 victory in favor of our clients Patrick and Sharon Scott. The Hayward, California jury found Ford Motor Company guilty of designing defective products, failure to warn of these product defects, and negligence, all related to motor vehicle braking systems.

Mr. Scott had spent his career as an auto mechanic, and owned three separate service stations during his years in the San Francisco Bay Area and Napa Valley. Sadly, like most of our clients who call on us for help, his career came to an abrupt halt at the age of 68 when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos. Mr. Scott was unaware that he was exposed to the deadly toxic material, but the evidence Joe Satterley and Justin Bosl presented at trial, proved that Ford well knew that the asbestos in its automotive parts and vehicles could kill as early as 1948.

While no amount of money could replace what the Scott family has lost, I am pleased that our mesothelioma law firm was able to bring them justice. Watch as Joe Satterley shares his perspective on the case against Ford Motor Company and the jury trial which lasted for three months.

Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Oberman, Satterley & Bosl Foundation Grant to be Honored at 10th Annual Meso Foundation Symposium

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mesothelioma treatmentThe 10th annual Meso Foundation Symposium is taking place today and tomorrow, March 7th and 8th at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.  In addition to top experts in mesothelioma presenting the latest medical information, the Symposium addresses topics and issues relevant to patients, caregivers and those who have lost loved ones to this disease.

Kazan Law Partner Gordon Greenwood will be attending the Symposium’s culminating event, the Celebration of Hope Gala Dinner on Friday March 8th, where the Bankhead Family Fund of the Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Oberman, Satterley & Bosl Foundation Grant will be honored. The grant was given to Dr. Il-Jin Kim at The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco for “Fusion genes as therapeutic targets in malignant pleural mesothelioma”.

The Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Oberman, Satterley & Bosl Foundation, Inc, was formed in 1994.  We are proud to have had the opportunity over the years to contribute over $20 million in grants to a wide array of community and civic organizations, including $6 million for mesothelioma research. We heartily support the theme of the Meso Foundation 2013 Symposium—“All In” for a cure!

Urinary Tumors May Be Linked to Occupational Asbestos Exposure

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A recent Italian study has discussed links between occupational asbestos exposure and the increasing prevalence of urinary tumors, particularly in the kidney and bladder. Researchers from the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center at the Ramazzini Institute, along with support from the Bentivoglio Hospital and University of Bologna, published their report titled, “Urinary apparatus tumors and asbestos: The Ramazzini Institute caseload” in the journal Archivio Italiano di Urologia e Andrologia.

Asbestos and urinary tumors
The team of investigators began their work by expanding on previous studies that examined the relationship between occupational asbestos exposure and urinary tumors. Past evidence has suggested that after workers have been exposed to industrial agents, these products can linger and transform in the body for some time – eventually being expelled via the urinary tract. The Ramazzini Institute examined 23 cases of patients with urinary tumors who were also exposed to asbestos in the workplace.

The study notes that the body primarily flushes out toxic and carcinogenic agents through the renal system. As a result, the kidney and bladder can be exposed to carcinogenic products such as asbestos, which can cause tumors to develop over time. In fact, asbestos fibers have been found in the urine of many at-risk populations – such as factory workers and miners – reinforcing the notion that urinary apparatus tumors can be caused by this hazardous material.

How asbestos enters the renal system
Asbestos can enter the renal system in a number of ways. Urine found with traces of this carcinogen can be traced back to the transfer of asbestos fibers from the gastrointestinal wall and into the circulatory system, transporting them to the urinary tract. People who may have consumed water contaminated with asbestos fibers are also at risk of developing tumors.

The inhalation of asbestos may also lead to urinary tumors. Scientists have suggested that asbestos in the lungs can pass eventually reach the bloodstream. Once in the blood, these asbestos particles can work their way toward the kidneys and liver.

It is plausible that asbestos exposure may play a role in the development of bladder, bile duct, renal cancers and other malignancies, and the research is continuing. However, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), at present there is sufficient medical evidence to state that asbestos caused cancers include only mesothelioma, lung cancer, cancer of the larynx and the ovaries. Therefore, we do not currently recommend litigation in the U.S. for bladder cancers, but constantly review our position as new evidence emerges.

Statistics on asbestos exposure
According to the World Health Organization, asbestos is comprised a group of mineral fibers that can be mined from the ground. While they’ve been used in a variety of industrial products due to their strength and heat resistance – particularly in building insulation and brake pads – asbestos can easily cause cancerous conditions in humans. The most common asbestos-related diseases include mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural plaques.

Approximately 125 million people around the globe have been exposed to asbestos through their occupations. The WHO estimates that more than 107,000 people die every year from lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis as a result. Additionally, one-third of cases of occupational cancer can be linked to asbestos exposure in some form.

While more than 50 countries have completely banned the use of asbestos in order to protect workers, the U.S. is one of the few nations that has decided to tightly regulate this material instead. By completely banning the use of asbestos in occupational environments, the U.S. can join international efforts to reduce the harmful impact of exposure to this material.

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