Asbestos Week in Review: Schools, Bankruptcy, Verdicts, Aggressive Surgeries and Presidential Campaigns

Renovations, and even demolitions, of schools across America are being slowed or stopped by the high cost of the necessary asbestos abatement, a familiar refrain being heard this week at the Mesothelioma Center. That burden will continue for decades.

Lung cancer deaths are declining, the last asbestos mine in Canada declared bankruptcy, a Mississippi judge tossed out a $322 million asbestos verdict, and a mesothelioma patient hit the campaign trail in support of presidential candidate Rick Perry. Yes, it was another busy week in the asbestos/mesothelioma world. Some good news, and some not so good.

First on the schools:

Long Branch High School in New Jersey, built in 1924, is awaiting funding from the state for an estimated $2 million renovation, a good portion of it going toward asbestos removal.  Eisenhower High School in Yakima, Washington, can’t even be demolished until the asbestos is removed from the piping and flooring throughout the building.

Several older buildings throughout The Armstrong School District in Pennsylvania  have deteriorating boilers that need replacing because of asbestos, presenting a price tag that has become hard to swallow. In Texas, the Chireno School District has grown weary of frequent school closures that are required after the breaking of water lines, ones reinforced by asbestos cement. They are finally being replaced.

Even at the higher education level, the university level, the home of the University of Maryland president is awaiting asbestos removal before it can be razed to make room for a newer, more modern facility.

The debate over the use of the aggressive extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) – as opposed to less-aggressive lung-sparing surgery in treating mesothelioma received some new fuel by a study from Italy.

The study, which included two dozen patients, showed a significant improvement in quality of life after the EPP, a fact that some surgeons who prefer the less-radical Pleurectomy/Decortication (P/D) still debate.

Another study release this week by the American Cancer Society detailed the drop in lung cancer deaths throughout the last 20 years. The Cancer Statistics, 2012 report included a 23 percent drop in cancers deaths among men and a 15 percent drop in women.

The bad news was an increase in deaths for pancreatic, liver, thyroid and kidney cancers. It also detailed the disparity of cancer deaths among different ethnic groups, which included a 33 percent higher rate for African-American males as compared to white males.

A Mississippi appeals-court judge erased the largest single-plaintiff asbestos verdict in history after he deemed a conflict of interest with the judge who originally presided over the case.

A jury from Smith Count, Mississippi had awarded $300 million in punitive damages from Chevron Phillips Chemical and Union Carbide Corporation to plaintiff Thomas Brown. Circuit Court Judge Eddie Brown, who had the case, was a lawyer when his parents had sued Union Carbide many years before in an asbestos case.

In Canada, one of the last two asbestos mines that suspended operations in the fall declared bankruptcy. While making the announcement, president of the Lac d’Amiante mine, said the bankruptcy filing should enable the company to open the mine again.

Most of the asbestos mined there in the last 50 years was exported to Asia, India and North Africa, where it is used in construction, despite objections from various international health organizations.

In an uplifting story, mesothelioma patient Patrick Burke from Texas traveled to Iowa to help Rick Perry in the Republican primary. Although Perry did not fare well, Burke accomplished one of items in his “bucket list.”

Burke, 55, is an Air Force veteran who was diagnosed with mesothelioma two years ago, encouraging everyone to join in the political process.  He logged an estimated 500 miles helping Perry campaign across the state.

An award winning reporter and writer, Tim Povtak is a senior content writer for the Mesothelioma Center. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel and then at AOL. You can contact him directly tpovtak@asbestos.com with any story ideas or comments.

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