On June 14, 2012, at the age of 63, entertainer Donna Summers lost her life to lung cancer. It is has been widely reported that prior to her death, Donna Summers believed that the cancer that eventually took her life was caused by her exposure to asbestos and other toxins contained in the dust generated from the World Trade Center terrorist attack of 9/11. Donna Summers was a resident of New York City in September of 2001, when the World Trade Towers fell, scattering debris and asbestos containing dust plumes throughout ground zero and the rest of the City. Analysis of the dust clouds revealed they contained the following materials: gypsum, cement, calcium carbonate, asbestos, lead, glass fibers and other metal particles.
Asbestos is a mineral fiber that due to it’s cost, light weight, and heart resistant properties, was integrated into many construction materials and insulation products throughout the great majority of the 20th century. The use of the asbestos occurred despite the asbestos industry’s knowledge that the substance was harmful to human health; causing asbestosis, lung cancer, and malignant pleural mesothelioma – an incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs that has only one known cause, asbestos exposure. There are thousands of asbestos caused lung cancers that are diagnosed in patients every year in the United States. Many of these patients seek compensation for their health bills and for the benefit of their families in the U.S. Court system, and from bankruptcy trusts were hundreds of millions of dollars have been set aside to compensate asbestos victims. Attorney Michael Mandelbrot, founder of the Asbestos Legal Center in San Francisco, doesn’t see this trend ending soon. “The sad reality is that asbestos is contained in the structures all around us, because the asbestos industry chose to either suppress or ignore information that the use of asbestos posed a danger to the public. As these structures degrade, more and more of the population will be exposed to the fiber, leading to more deaths. It is my firm’s commitment to fight for justice of behalf of those suffering from asbestos caused diseases.”
Torch, hoping to gain notoriety and respect from the criminal underworld. His arsenal of weapons included and net he would throw at the Human Torch, that would covert heat to explosive charges. His criminal master plot was very similar to Asbestos Lady: he robbed banks after creating infernos surrounding them. In their first encounter Asbestos Man actually defeated the Human Torch, but he was eventually captured when The Human Torch created a fire so large, that all of the oxygen in a bank disappeared, making it impossible for Asbestos Man to breathe.
Every weekend in San Diego County, California, throngs of United States residents travel south across the border to Mexico, looking for bargains in Tijuana shopping malls. As the weekend ends, the line of cars coming back into the United States extends for miles. In 2005, 50 million people, and 17 million vehicles, traveled from Mexico, across the U.S. Border, into San Ysidro, California. There, U.S. Customs agents are tasked with trying to organize the mass exodus while at the same time protecting America from illicit drugs, human trafficking and terror threats. But recent reports from Mexico highlight a growing concern among public health and consumer safety advocates, that there is one menace that U.S. Customs agents are ill equipped to control. Consumers may be returning home to United States with products purchased in Mexico, that unbeknownst to them, contain a destructive poison indistinguishable to the naked eye, asbestos.
However, in the past non-profit organizations have found asbestos contaminating common consumer products such as children fingerprint dusting kits, in talcum powders, toy clays kits, hair rollers, hot plates, hair dryers and decorative floor tiles. Moreover, asbestos contaminated vermiculite, sometimes used as a packing material for products, is also a public health concern.
attorneys representing various states have battled with the Obama Administration over Obamacare, the universal healthcare bill touted to provide insurance coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. The law also would make it illegal for insurance companies to decline to provide health insurance to individuals who were already ill with pre-existing conditions. The full effect of the bill is not slated to go into effect until 2014.
clinical trials. As mesothelioma is classified as a rare disease, often times hospitals and physicians conducting mesothelioma clinical trials have difficulty finding mesothelioma patients to participate in clinical trials. As a result, the clinical trial will actually pay for the cost of travel for the mesothelioma patient to the treating facility, as well as the costs for the medical care. Uninsured mesothelioma patients should discuss this treatment option with their medical provider. All clinical trials carry risks. Many mesothelioma clinical trials have been recruiting patients for year, and as a result have data that mesothelioma patients can review and consider prior to participating.
