The US Supreme Court has decided to review a decision interpreting a 1986 Bankruptcy confirmation plan order. The order formed the basis of a settlement by Travelers Insurance Company to resolve claims against it for conspiracy in concealing information about the dangers of asbestos.
 

Asbestos exposure continues to have high rates of death in the US.

The Canadian delegation to the Rotterdam Convention was able to lobby effectively to prohibit a ban on asbestos for another two years. The Canadian mines will continue to churn out the killer fiber and ship it to unsuspecting countries as a result of an effective major lobbying effort of the Canadians to sway the votes of India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

 At a recent hearing of the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Senator Max Baucus presented a report revealing that the Federal government failed to take the appropriate action to declare Libby, Montana a public health emergency in 2002. The disregard of the federal government led to a lack of funding and manpower in cleaning up the asbestos contamination according to the Senator.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has established a resource on the Internet that provides a direct link to resources available concerning mesothelioma: treatment, prevention, genetics, causes, clinical trials, literature, statistics and research and related information.

The US Geological Survey has reported that NJ ranks 2nd highest in the number of naturally occurring asbestos sites (mines) in the Eastern US.

A new set of drugs has been reported responsive in treating mesothelioma, a tumor caused by exposure to asbestos fiber. The British Journal of Cancer has reported that cisplatin and vinorelbine effective in the treatment of mesothelioma.

Almost 45 years following the historic 1964 NY Academy of Medicine conference in New York experts continue to memorialize the history of asbestos related disease. Now enters, defense expert John E. Craighead, who has written his viewpoint on the subject.
 

W.R. Grace and Co. has announced that it will fund a trust for resolving all current and future asbestos-related personal-injury claims. The company entered bankruptcy 7 years ago with 135,000 asbestos claims pending.

Workers' compensation insurance companies have a long history of guarding themselves from liability from asbestos exposure issues. Recently the NJ courts have ruled that workers' compensation insurance companies are shielded from liability when the insurance company performs hygiene studies and does not take action to protect the employees that it has insured under the policy.

NJ JURY AWARD $30.3 MILLION - MESO TRIAL - FEB. 2008
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A jury has reached what is believed to be the highest
asbestos verdict ever in New Jersey, awarding $30.3 million to the surviving
family members of a former automotive worker.

Federal-Mogul Corp., auto parts manufacturer, won court approval of a reorganization plan that resolves potentionally $9.4 billion of dollars in asbestos claims that forced the company into bankruptcy six years ago.

Asbestos, a know cancer causing agent, has been found in toys still being sold in the US. The CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit and two brands of children's play clay along with many household products still in stores for sale have been reported by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO).

Dana Corp. won approval of the US Bankruptcy Court for the potential resolution of 150,000 asbestos claims against the auto parts manufacturer. The settlement will be paid from insurance proceeds.

The US EPA (Environmental; Protection Agency) has published an announcement to seek appointments to its Scientific Advisory Panel with asbestos experts in short course. In a notice published in the Federal Register on October 26, 2007 the US EPA announced a deadline of November 16, 2007.

The British House of Lords in a recent decision has take a step backward in time and has ruled that those who suffer pleural plaques (scarring of the lungs) as a result of asbestos exposure are unable to claim compensation. Parliament declared, " If the pleural plaques are not in themselves damage, do they become damage when aggregated with the risk which they evidence or the anxiety which that risk causes? In principle, neither the risk of future injury nor anxiety at the prospect of future injury is actionable. "

NYC CONNECTS AN EXPOSURE TO 911
For the First Time, the City Connects a Death to 9/11 Dust 
New York City’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, has for the first time directly linked a death to exposure to dust from the destruction of the World Trade Center. 

Bankruptcy Court Approves Owens Corning’s Plan of Reorganization. Toledo, Ohio – September 26, 2006 – Owens Corning (OWENQ.OB) today announced
that Judge Judith Fitzgerald of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of
Delaware approved the company’s Plan of Reorganization. The Bankruptcy Court’s
approval of the plan paves the way for Owens Corning to emerge from bankruptcy by
the end of October 2006.

 NJ GOVERNOR CLOSES WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURTS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO STATE BUDGETARY CRISIS Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed an Exec...

NJ WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS DECLINE
The NJ DWC reported a 5% decline in the filing of claims in 2005 (37,248) from 2004 (39,212). The statistic also represents a 31% decline from 1992 (54,164). This is consistent with the 25% decline in the number of indemnity claims paid in NJ from from 1992 to 2002 as reported by NJ CRIB. NJ Medical costs have soared 108% during the same period of time while indemnity has risen only 48%..