Week In Review at Mesothelioma Center: Asbestos Activists Working, Libby Victims Getting Help

Anti-asbestos activists in Canada continued to flex their muscle, pressuring Roshi Chadha to resign this week from two more prestigious positions in the health care industry.

Chadha is the director of Seja Trade Ltd., an exporting company that has shipped asbestos for years to developing countries. She also is the wife of Baljit Chadha, who is trying to re-open a Canadian asbestos mine with the help of a government loan guarantee.

She resigned from her positions with the McGill University Board of Governors and St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation, less than a month after she was pressured into leaving the governing body of the Canadian Red Cross.

Activists lobbied those health care organizations for her removal, contending her business was contributing to serious health issues. Asbestos is the cause of mesothelioma, the deadly cancer.

The Mesothelioma Center had a busy news week, both at home and abroad.

Victims of asbestos exposure in Libby, Mont. received some good news – for a change – from bankruptcy-protected W. R. Grace and Company, which once owned the mining operation in town.

As part of the most recent bankruptcy settlement proposal, another $19.5 million will go into the Libby Medical Program, which has been used for more than a decade to help residents in need of health care stemming from asbestos exposure.

Residents also are eligible to receive distributions from the Asbestos Personal Injury Trust that soon will be established under the company’s reorganization plan. The mine has been closed since 1990, and the company has been under bankruptcy protection since 2001.

An estimated 400 people have died in Libby from the asbestos, many of whom never worked in the mines but just lived close enough to be affected. Thousands more have had health issues related to the toxic mineral.

A portion of the 1,128 people named in a $43 million settlement with the state of Montana also began receiving their share this week. Payment are expected to range from $600 to $60,000, depending upon the seriousness of the injuries.

The initial lawsuit against the state was filed in 2001, claiming it did not warn residents of the dangers that stemmed from the asbestos mine. The state finally settled the suit in September of 2011.

In Vermont, residents near the former Belvidere Mountain Asbestos Mine are debating the potential benefits of allowing the federal government to oversee the environmental cleanup by declaring it a Superfund site.

Residents have been split on the issue, and they will be voting March 6.

Supporters of the Superfund designation say it will lead to a new electric generation plant and considerable job growth in the area, in addition to all costs being covered.

Critics believe the Superfund designation will lead to a long disruption in the area, and considerable inconvenience to residents.

In the United Kingdom, one member of Parliament this week declared that the asbestos contamination in schools there is “a national scandal.”
More than 140 teachers across the country in the last decade have died from mesothelioma, the cancer caused by asbestos exposure, and the fear is that many more students will follow if something is not done soon. A recent study revealed that 75 percent of the schools in the United Kingdom still have significant asbestos.

In other governmental news, American health and safety advocates recently criticized the White House for dragging its feet on a new policy that could limit the amount of silica dust in the workplace.

The substance is used in construction materials and has been known to cause serious respiratory illnesses, including lung cancer. The criticisms was directed at the Office of Management and Budget, linking it to the former Bush Administration’s policy toward asbestos.

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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