A controversy is brewing regarding the health effects of new high-tech carbon nanotubes. These products are already in use in industries as wide ranging as high-end bicycle frame construction to electronics to medical applications.

According to studies by the Centers for Disease Control and US EPA, the answer may be yes. While this is a hot area of research and corporate growth, preventing another massive, quiet epidemic of cancer is worth the wait.

See also:

1. Centers for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/blog/nsb052008_nano.html

2. Nanotech Firms Fear New EPA Regs:

http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/nanotech-firms-fear-new-epa-regs.html

Outside dust can be dangerous

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120252957

This excellent short piece summarizes a little know serious health risk -- dust from toxic release can follow persons into their home and remain for decades.

Here is the link to the abstract on Dr. Beamer's recent article on this factor:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es9003735

and more links to this issue.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=107488
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/age-old-mystery-of-household-dust-solved_100267067.html

Flavored Cigarette Ban: A Move in the Right Direction

Obama's administration has finally banned flavored cigarettes and is on target for more restrictions on cigarette smoking. Each of the new restrictions is designed to reduce the impact of smoking on children and teenagers, including stopping sports marketing and increasing warnings on packs.

For more, read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/health/policy/23fda.html

http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/FlavoredTobacco/default.htm

Anti-Asbestos Rally in Washington, DC July 1, 2009

Friends,
Please join your colleagues in the labor and public health community in front of the Canadian Embassy on July 1 (Canada Day) at 12:00 NOON in Washington, DC for a rally to shame the Canada government for exporting asbestos to the developing world. (See the recent CBC report 'Canada's Ugly Secret' profiling asbestos disease among workers in Gujarat, India. http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/healtheducation/canadas_ugly_secret.html )
The Canadian government is particularly sensitive to US media coverage and it would be GREAT to get a substantial group of us rallying in front of their embassy. We are working to get Mellissa Fung, the CBC journalist who did the above piece, to cover the rally. We intentionally set the time at 12:00 Noon in hopes you can work this into your lunch time break. The Canadian Embassy is on Constitution Ave NW near 6th Street (very close to the DOL building.)
Please share this message with your labor and public health colleagues, and try to work this event into your schedule on Wed, July 1st.
Celeste Monforton, MPH, DrPH
APHA OHS Section Chair
Celeste Monforton, MPH, DrPHAssistant Research ProfessorDept of Environ & Occup HealthSchool of Public Health & Health Services The George Washington University 2100 M Street NW, Ste 203Washington, DC 20037202-994-0774 (phone)202-994-2102 (fax)celeste.monforton@gwumc.eduwww.DefendingScience.orgBlog: The Pump Handle

New asbestos symposium stirs the pot, but offers no solutions

The Southwestern Law School recently sponsored a symposium on asbestos litigation. Unfortunately, most of the articles published are a screed for a handful of insurance carriers and defense litigators seeking to end the litigation and keep the victims of asbestos poisoning from getting their day in court. Here is the link, but caveat emptor. Note: One particularly misleading set of articles was funded by the "Coalition for Litigation Justices, Inc." This is a group funded by the tobacco industry and asbestos defense lobbyists and their concept of "justice" means that injured people cannot sue them for wrongdoing:

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2009/02/the-southwester.html

Widow beats Phillip Morris in landmark tobacco verdict

Friday the 13th was not a lucky day for Phillip Morris -- widow Ellen Hess won a landmark verdict in the first of 8000 test cases brought against Phillip Morris for tobacco-caused lung cancer. Mrs. Hess proved that her husband was addicted to smoking and could not quit, and jurors held Phillip Morris responsible for causing his addiction.

This case is a landmark victory because Phillip Morris won an earlier appeal throwing out a class action verdict in favor of dead and dying smokers. In that case, the Florida Supreme Court found that each and every single smoker must sue Phillip Morris and prove their case individually. Sadly, this will mean each person who has had a loved one die must endure a trial against Phillip Morris, who refuses to pay any verdict without appealing to every possible court, a process that has taken decades.

For more, go to:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a8as_Yq4AY3U&refer=us

Chemical Company held liable in mesothelioma workers' injury case

The team of Carolin Shining of Paul and Hanley LLP and Simona Farise of the Farise Law Firm were successful in obtaining a verdict in excess of $9 million against Union Carbide Corporation. The case involved a terminal and incurable asbestos cancer suffered by a lifetime plumber who was present when drywall muds containing Union Carbide's Calidria fiber were sanded and released into the air. The award included a first-ever finding of punitive damages against Union Carbide of $6 million dollars.

See the following link for more information:

http://www.farriselaw.com/Verdicts-112508.html