Living near asbestos products factories creates cancer risk -- new study

1: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 Sep 15;178(6):624-9. Epub 2008 Jun 12.
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Comment in:
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 Sep 15;178(6):556-7.
Mapping the risk of mesothelioma due to neighborhood asbestos exposure.
Kurumatani N, Kumagai S.
Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Nara Medical University School of Medicine, 840 Shijyocho, Kashihara, Nara 634-8521, Japan. knorio@naramed-u.ac.jp
RATIONALE: Little is known about neighborhood exposure to asbestos and mesothelioma risk among residents around an industrial source of asbestos. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the magnitude of the risk among residents by asbestos exposure levels and to determine the range of the area affected by asbestos. METHODS: We calculated standardized mortality ratios of mesothelioma from 1995 to 2006 among the estimated population at risk that lived around a former large asbestos cement pipe plant in Amagasaki City, Japan, between 1957 and 1975, the time when the plant had used crocidolite and chrysotile. The distance between the plant and homes and relative asbestos concentrations obtained by diffusion equations involving meteorological conditions were used to determine asbestos exposure levels among residents. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We identified 73 mesothelioma deaths of 35 men and 38 women who had no occupational exposure to asbestos. Among persons who had lived within a 300-m radius of the plant, the standardized mortality ratio of mesothelioma was 13.9 (95% confidence interval, 5.6-28.7) for men and 41.1 (95% confidence interval, 15.2-90.1) for women. When the study area was divided into five regions by relative asbestos concentration, standardized mortality ratios of mesothelioma declined, for both sexes, in a linear dose-dependent manner with concentration. The regions with a significantly elevated standardized mortality ratio reached 2,200 m from the plant in the same direction in which the wind predominantly blew. CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood exposure to asbestos can pose a serious risk to residents across a wide area.
PMID: 18556631 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


Living Near Asbestos Plant Raises Cancer Risk
NEW YORK SEPT 25, 2008 (Reuters Health) - People who have ever lived a short distance from an asbestos-manufacturing plant may have an elevated risk of a rare form of cancer, a new study suggests.
Asbestos is a heat-resistant fibrous material that was once widely used in insulation, fireproofing, tiles and a host of other building materials. Breathing in airborne asbestos fibers can contribute to lung cancer, as well as mesothelioma -- a rare cancer of the membrane surrounding internal organs. It most often affects the tissue that lines the chest cavity and protects the lungs.
People who have ever had on-the-job exposure to asbestos -- in industries like construction and insulation manufacturing -- are at greatest risk of mesothelioma.
The new findings now suggest that people who've ever lived near an asbestos manufacturing plant are also at risk of developing the disease, several decades later.
In the study, Japanese researchers found higher-than-expected death rates from mesothelioma among people who'd lived near a now-closed asbestos cement pipe plant between 1957 and 1975.
The risk steadily declined as residents' distance from the plant increased, with elevated mesothelioma rates seen among people living up to roughly 1.5 miles downwind of the plant.
Residents who died of mesothelioma developed symptoms of the disease an average of 43 years after their first year living near the plant, according to Drs. Norio Kurumatani and Shinji Kumagal. The findings are published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The researchers based their findings on 35 men and 38 women who had lived near the asbestos pipe plant between 1957 and 1975 and died of mesothelioma sometime between 1995 and 2006. None had had any occupational exposure to asbestos.
The mesothelioma death rate for these residents was four times what would be expected. And the greatest risk was seen among men and women living within 300 meters of the plant; the death rate among women was 41 times the expected rate, while the rate among men was 14 times the expected figure.
The findings strongly support exposure to the asbestos plant as the cause of these mesothelioma cases, according to Kurumatani and Kumagal.
In 2006, the researchers note, the Kubota Corporation, which ran the plant before it closed, established a compensation fund for people who developed asbestos-related diseases after having lived within kilometer -- or 1.6 miles -- of the site during the time it used asbestos.
Kurumatani is at the Nara Medical University School of Medicine in Kashihara, and Kumagal is affiliated with the Osaka Prefecture Institute of Public Health in Osaka.
SOURCE:
· American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, September 15, 2008.

EPA was influenced by Bush Administration to delay warning to Montana Town

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/epa_scuttled_libby_emergency_declaration/5732/

Secretary Chao’s favorite excuse: “the deliberative process”

Secretary Chao’s favorite excuse: “the deliberative process”

August 12, 2008 in Confined Space @ TPH, Mining, Occupational Health & Safety, Politics, Regulation, Uncategorized by Celeste Monforton

Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, her Solicitor and other political operatives in DOL continue to dismiss requests from Cong. George Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) for documents related to the development of her draft risk assessment proposal. The latest non-response, dated Aug 5, refers five times to the almighty “deliberative process” as a reason for refusing to disclose information related to the outside contractors who were involved in its development. That’s just plain hogwash.

If you look closely at Congress’ request for records, they ask for:
a list of all meetings concerning the development of this proposed regulation at which anyone not employed by the Department attended, including the dates of any such meetings, the names of those attending the meetings, and the agenda and minutes of those meetings.
A list of all oral communications, telephonic, electronic, in-person or otherwise, with external parties relating to the development of this proposed regulation, including the date of each such communications and the names of the individuals involved.

If Secretary of Labor Chao, Asst. Secretary Sequeira, and Solicitor of Labor Gregory F. Jacob were audacious enough to exclude career DOL health scientists from their master plan to downgrade workers’ health risks, they should NOT be allowed to shield themselves with claims of “Executive Branch privilege,” “separation of power” liberties, or “deliberative process” license.
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For more details on Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao’s draft proposal on occupational health risk assessment, see this page on the SKAPP website.

Mesothelioma hurts

The pain that a family affected by mesothelioma feels runs deep. Carolin K. Shining, Esq. of Paul & Hanley, LLP has been fighting for the rights of families and individuals impacted by asbestos and mesothelioma for over a decade. Please call 510-559-9980 to speak with someone who can tell you your legal rights, and get you the help you deserve.