Archive for the ‘Asbestos Testing’ Category

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it plans to hold a public meeting to discuss the method of assessing asbestos-related carcinogenic risks as outlined by the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER).

The EPA Science Advisory Board Asbestos Committee provides consultative advice for OWSER on issues relating to asbestos exposure. At the meeting participants will discuss and review OSWER’s approach for estimating specific toxicity factors relating to inhalation of asbestos fibers.

The EPA hopes that information gained and discussed at the meeting will help the agency improve its methods for estimating asbestos-related risks at Superfund sites. The EPA plans to use this information as part of an overall effort to improve and update its methods of assessing asbestos-related exposure risks.

Similarly, OSWER will use the information, together with consultative advice from the EPA Science Advisory Board, to review and update its approach to estimating inhalation risks in relation to asbestos exposure.

Currently the EPA uses methodology developed in the 1980s for assessing and quantifying asbestos exposure risks. The current methodology is based on phase contrast microscopy as a measure of numbers of asbestos particles in samples of air, soil, and other media. This method was developed using existing data from cohorts of workers previously exposed to asbestos in various industrial settings.

However, the EPA methodology currently in use does not account for differences between different types of asbestos, and varying sizes and shapes of asbestos fibers. OSWER is proposing that an interim method be developed which accounts for these and other factors when assessing asbestos exposure risks.

A number of asbestos and asbestos disease experts will be speaking at the meeting, as well as figures such as Richard A. Lemen, a pioneering asbestos researcher and former Assistant Surgeon General. Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization director Linda Reinstein will also speak at the meeting.

The meeting is planned for July 21 and 22 at the Embassy Suites, 1250 22nd St., NW, Washington., DC. Contact for the event is Douglas Larkin of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.

Homewood, Illinois - Test results from samples taken at Homewood Fire Station in Homewood, Illinois show that there is no asbestos present in the air, meaning that no exposure risks have occurred as a result of recent renovation work.

Asbestos was discovered at the Homewood Fire Station at 17950 Dixie Highway around two weeks ago, and testing was carried out to determine whether airborne asbestos was present in the building.

Village manager Mark Franz said a small amount of asbestos may have been disturbed during renovation work carried out on a water-damaged wall on the north side of the fire station. The work was carried out two weeks ago by a Homewood-based business, Rickoff Remodeling.

“It was just a small amount [of asbestos] discovered,” said Franz after the asbestos was found. “Unless a major problem is discovered through testing, we don’t anticipate closing down any other part of the building. But if there is more asbestos found than expected we’ll do whatever cleaning is necessary to make the building safe.”

The asbestos was removed by environmental consulting and contract service RCM soon after its discovery. Following the removal air samples and other tests were carried out by RCM to determine how high asbestos levels are and whether exposure risks are present in the building. According to Mark Franz, early asbestos tests indicate that one room on the north side of the fire station building may be above the threshold for permissible levels of asbestos.

Since the discovery and removal of asbestos the fire station has been inspected by the Illinois Department of Public Health, and officials have requested that a large part of the building be cordoned off until the results of the asbestos tests are in. Four administrative buildings in the fire station were cordoned off to carry out the “aggressive” air tests which were recommended by the Department of Public Health.

Asbestos was so commonly used in construction up until the 1980s that the discovery of asbestos inside the Homewood fire station is not a surprise. In fact, recent reports indicate that asbestos may be a common fixture in older fire stations.

In Newton, Massachusetts, for example, the town’s fire stations will all be renovated over the next ten years, partly for the purpose of removing asbestos from the buildings. Recent renovation work in Newton’s Fire Station 3 exposed several firefighters to asbestos, and asbestos was also discovered at the town’s Fire Station 2.

In the case of the Homewood, Illinois station, the asbestos was discovered without any apparent exposure risks occurring. According to Mark Franz, “The entire area has been cleared for occupancy by the Illinois Department of Public Health.”

Two contractors have this week been fined as a result of improper handling of asbestos-containing materials. They are the Cinter Construction Company, Inc. of Williamsburg, VA and AAPEX Environmental Services Inc. of Liverpool, NY.

Asbestos was a common component of construction materials up until the 1980s due to its high fire resistance and other desirable factors, but the demolition or renovation of older buildings means the asbestos they contain must be dealt with appropriately.

Dumping of asbestos-containing waste in any location other than a licensed landfill is illegal due to the hazards associated with asbestos exposure. Inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause lethal diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma due to the chronic inflammation that the fibers cause in the lungs.

Due to the hazards of asbestos exposure, removal and disposal of the substance must be carried out in accordance with strict state and federal regulations. This means asbestos must be removed from buildings using specific safe methods, and must only be disposed of at landfill sites which are equipped and licensed to handle the substance.

Failure to adhere to laws and regulations controlling asbestos handling can lead to hefty fines, as the two contractors discovered this week.

The Williamsburg, Virginia incident concerns the Cinter Construction Company, Inc., which was found by the Department of Environmental Quality to have dumped asbestos-containing waste from a $14 million Navy housing construction site in downtown Newport News.

The construction company had illegally dumped asbestos waste at a Suffolk landfill, mistakenly believing it was uncontaminated soil. However, when DEQ officials took samples of the twenty truckloads of waste dumped at the landfill, they found that asbestos was present.

The second incident, in Liverpool, New York, occurred after a contractor admitted in federal court to illegally removing and disposing of asbestos-containing materials. The contractor admitted to having been handling asbestos illegally for more than ten years.

AAPEX Environmental Services Inc. of Liverpool, NY also admitted to defrauding an insurance company. It had done so by failing to inform its insurer that it was carrying out activities in which asbestos handling was involved, in order to obtain lower insurance premiums.

AAPEX Environmental Services Inc. has agreed to pay a fine of $166,700 as part of a plea deal. The deal also involves an agreement to permanently cease handling asbestos-related work.

The ASARCO trial is almost over, and an enormous number of environmental and asbestos-related lawsuit claims could depend on its outcome.

Closing arguments will be given on Thursday June 12, for the case in which Arizona-based mining company ASARCO alleges that its parent company, Grupo Mexico, systematically stripped its assets and left behind little more than a shell.

Grupo Mexico is a mining conglomerate headed by Chairman and Chief Executive German Larrea Mota-Velasco. The company is the world’s third largest producer of copper, and has mining interests in several South American locations.

ASARCO filed for bankruptcy in 2005, and during the process a bankruptcy judge removed Grupo Mexico’s control over the company due to allegations that the parent company was stripping ASARCO’s assets in an attempt to protect those assets from asbestos and environmental liability claims.

Among ASARCO’s claims are that Grupo Mexico knew it faced potential liabilities of more than $1 billion when it acquired the ASARCO company in 1999, and also that the parent company knew it might also shoulder the responsibility of cleaning up to twenty Superfund sites.

In addition, ASARCO claims that Grupo Mexico stripped the subsidiary of assets, including Peruvian copper mines that ASARCO once had a significant stake in and were the company’s most significant asset. ASARCO claims the parent company did this to prevent the mines being used to pay ASARCO’s creditors.

ASARCO also claims that Grupo Mexico used the fact that it controlled all the parties in the transaction to its own advantage, because it allowed the parent company to underpay ASARCO for the mines.

ASARCO’s legal battle began Monday May 12, with the beginning of a multi-billion dollar civil lawsuit against Grupo Mexico. Among those who testified at the trial was German Larrea Mota-Velasco, who repeatedly denied wanting the Andes copper mines in question, and who stated that he had never intended ASARCO should be forced into bankruptcy.

The outcome of this civil case will likely determine whether or not many of ASARCO’s creditors—including contaminated sites in many western states, as well as bond creditors and former employees and others suffering from asbestos-related diseases that the company is liable for—will see any money when the company emerges from bankruptcy. Some estimates say that ASARCO is responsible for tens of billions of dollars worth of liability, including several billion dollars worth of claims relating to exposure to toxins such as asbestos and lead.

The Minnesota Iron Range study that has been several years in the making has finally begun, as this week researchers collected their first batch of air test samples.

The NRRI and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health are collaborating on a five year study which will investigate the health risks Iron Range miners face from exposure to mine dust. It has previously been shown that Iron Range miners have a substantially increased risk of developing mesothelioma compared to the risk for the general population.

The researchers have collected samples from a particle-sampling machine which sits atop Virginia City Hall. Over the next few months, three of these machines—which each cost $35,000—will move through communities all over the Iron Range, to allow researchers to find out what types of particles are present in the air around the mines.

This information will be invaluable if subsequent research shows that mineral particles present in the mine or the air are a human health hazard.

The testing machines have collected data for ten days in Virginia, and the filters will now be analyzed in Minneapolis, according to UMD Natural Resources Research Institute research associate Tamara Diedrich. Following the initial analysis the samples will be shipped back to UMD for more in-depth analysis using electron microscopy.

Diedrich says these initial air tests are “exploratory” work, and also says the research team is still devising a detailed plan as to how Iron Range air quality will be monitored.

The team will likely include Hibbing, Silver Bay, Babbitt, Grand Rapids, Ely, Keewatin and Chisholm in their initial sampling over the next few months. Up to ten communities may be involved, but only three will be monitored at a time due to limited resources. “This is an exciting opportunity to look at dust in the air and find out how the background changes from east to west across the Range,” Diedrich said.

The machines which are being used for the sampling “inhale” one cubic foot of air per minute, and use tiny filters to retain particulate matter in the air. The intake valve filters are just eighteen microns in diameter. A human hair, in comparison, is 70 microns in diameter.

According to Tamara Diedrich the community air monitoring will provide information about exposure to particulate matter which will be useful if there are any issues discovered during subsequent phases of the research. However, it will take up to three years’ worth of data to create a “baseline” for community particulate exposure which can be used as a basis for comparison with communities where suspected asbestos or other dangerous particles may be present in the air.

Canada - Two internationally renowned scientists who contributed to a Canadian health study about asbestos and cancer risks have asked the Canadian government to make good on its promise to release the results of the study to the public.

Canadian federal agency Health Canada hired seven medical and scientific experts from around the world to compile the report on the risks of asbestos exposure. The experts submitted their report back in March, and say they were told that the Canadian government would release the results to the public within a few weeks. However, the report still hasn’t been made public.

Health Minister Tony Clement says the report will be made public only after it has been reviewed by health department officials.

Head of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, Leslie Stayner, and Trevor Ogden, the chairperson of the panel of medical and scientific experts, have both written letters to Clement asking why the release of the report has been delayed for so long.

Stayner wrote, “It is simply unacceptable for this report to continue to be withheld from the public, while individuals who have seen the report and our comments make erroneous allegations about what it contains to suit their political objectives.”

Canada is the only developed nation which still produces raw asbestos, the substance which has been labeled a deadly threat by many health agencies, including World Health Organization and the International Association for Cancer Research.

The Canadian government continues to believe that asbestos is safe as long as it’s handled properly. The government has spent almost $20 million over the last twenty years to promote exports of asbestos. Most of that has gone to developing nations such as Pakistan, Indonesia, and India, where it is generally used in construction materials.

The executive council of the Canadian Labour Congress this weekend passed a resolution calling for a halt to the production of asbestos, and an economic transition for the 700 Quebec asbestos miners who would be affected if the asbestos industry were shut down. Canada’s two asbestos mines are both located in Quebec. The province has one of the highest incidence rates of mesothelioma in the world.

In his letter, Stayner wrote that the panel had not been asked to debate on whether or not chrysotile could be used safely, but said that “from a pragmatic point of view, my answer to this question would be that [safe use of chrysotile] is simply not possible.”