Archive for the ‘Massachusetts’ Category

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - The demolition of a former freezer plant that sits alongside Cape Cod Canal has been delayed after roof shingles were tested and found to contain asbestos.

Project Manager Joe Forns and demolition contractor Brian Bergen are working with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on demolition plans that will ensure the roof of the structure is removed before the rest of the building is dismantled.

However, the town can’t issue a permit for the demolition until the new plans are approved by the Department of Environmental Protection. J.J. Burke, Fire Prevention Officer for the town of Sandwich, said “Until I hear from DEP the town’s at a standstill. We have the permit ready to go; we’re just waiting to hear from DEP and the contractor.”

Burke says that the asbestos in the roofing shingle is not dangerous. The asbestos fibers are encapsulated by a tar that prevents fibers becoming airborne. Even so, because the shingles contain asbestos they must be removed and disposed of according to regulations that govern the handling of asbestos-containing waste materials

According to Burke, DEP isn’t concerned about the possibility of the asbestos being a danger to the health of workers, as the asbestos is encapsulated. Regulations must still be followed, however. That means the asbestos waste has to be removed carefully, sealed in separate containers, and disposed of at a facility that is equipped to handle asbestos waste. The rest of the debris-including steel, concrete, and heavy timber-is set to be recycled at local centers.

The site must also undergo some careful preparation before the asbestos shingles are removed. Certain interior electrical components must be removed beforehand, to prevent the possibility of asbestos contamination occurring. Asbestos waste is three times more expensive to dispose of than non-contaminated waste, so the plan must ensure there possibility of contamination is minimal.

Another issue that’s holding the procedure up is that some sections of the roof, when removed, will land on adjacent property that’s owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. That means that the owners of that land also have to approve the plan before it can go ahead.

According to Burke, the demolition will be environmentally-friendly, with as many materials as possible-even including concrete-to be recycled.

Once the plan for the removal of the asbestos shingles is approved, the demolition permit will be granted within a week. Following this the demolition must be completed within thirty days.

Boston, Massachusetts, March 10, 2008 - New research that centers on cancer genetics may soon be used to help improve treatment regimes and prognosis for people with many different types of cancer, including mesothelioma.

Current cancer treatments are fairly general in nature. Most people with mesothelioma, for example, receive treatments based on the location of their cancer, and the stage the cancer is at.

In the future, the use of DNA testing may help doctors create highly specific and individualized cancer treatments that more effectively target the specific type of cancer that each individual patient is affected by.

The use of DNA testing will be possible in part thanks to the completion of the Human Genome Project, completed at the beginning of the century. The project involved teams of scientists from all over the world, who worked together to discover the genetic sequence for all human genes.

The information generated by the Human Genome Project, in conjunction with increasingly sophisticated DNA testing, can be used to determine the genetic make-up of a cancer from an individual patient.

This information allows doctors to look at the genetic pattern of a cancer and have a better idea of how that cancer will respond to particular types of treatment. For example, if a patient’s cancer is of a genetic type that is known to respond poorly to a particular type of chemotherapy, genetic testing will help doctors determine which types of chemotherapy to avoid.

The downside, according to Dr. Thomas Lynch, chief of Hematology and Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is that in some cases, the development of new drugs can’t keep up with the discovery of gene patterns that are clinically useful. Researchers are discovering new cancer gene patterns faster than drugs to treat those cancers can be developed.

Two new research facilities have recently opened, in the hopes that new research can be made use of as quickly as possible for the treatment of cancer. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute recently opened the Center for Molecular Oncologic Pathology. Massachusetts General Hospital plans to open a pathology laboratory which will be dedicated to genetic and molecular tumor analysis.

These new research developments may, in the future, mean a better prognosis for people with mesothelioma, a rare, aggressive, and highly treatment-resistant type of asbestos-related cancer.

In February 2008, Dr. David Sugarbaker and a team working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts reported using a new genetic analysis technique that enabled them to discover previously unknown genetic mutations involved in the development of mesothelioma.

According to D. Sugarbaker, the future of cancer treatment may involve rapid genetic sequencing of tumors while a patient is in the operating theatre. The results of genetic typing tests might save a patient from unnecessary surgery, and help doctors determine what types of treatment will be most effective for a given patients.

This type of approach is already used for people with lung cancer. Around 13% of lung cancer patients have tumors with a particular type of genetic mutation. New lung cancer patients are tested for the mutation, and are given a particular type of chemotherapy if they test positive.

For highly treatment-resistant cancers such as mesothelioma, this new approach could signal a significant advance in the development of more effective treatments.

NEWTON, Massachusetts – As the costs to build the new Newton North High climb out of control, the city of Newton has found a new way to save money – by using asbestos tainted dirt as fill in the construction of the school.

The plan, which has the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection, is to recycle soil that was found on site. The dirt only contains trace amounts of asbestos, said a city spokesman, Jeremy Solomon. It will bring substantial savings, he said.

The construction project has attracted many complaints from town officials and citizens alike as the projected cost of building spiraled during the plans. Part of the additional unexpected cost was the removal of asbestos from the old building, and removal of asbestos tainted dirt that was found when the foundation was being dug.

According to Solomon, the city pays $123 a ton to have the dirt removed, compared to $82 per ton for non-hazardous soil. Using the fill in “very specific ways approved by the DEP” will save the city a considerable amount on the costs of the new school – which is already estimated at $187 million.

Crews began pouring concrete for the school’s foundation on February 14 after more than a year in the planning stages.

School department officials met with officials from the DEP two weeks ago to discuss their plans for reusing soil that was found on the site as fill, rather than paying to have it removed, then paying for fill in addition.

The construction project has been plagued by cost overruns and rising costs since the beginning. Last year, the discovery of asbestos on the grounds and in the old school, which will be demolished, added tens of thousands of dollars to the projected school costs.

Asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral in many places, was widely used in construction until about 1980. While the materials in which it was included are safe in the environment as long as they are in good condition, when they begin to deteriorate, they emit tiny fibers of asbestos which can be inhaled or ingested. Long term exposure to relatively low levels of asbestos fibers in the air has been definitively linked to the development of cancer, including a rare form of cancer called mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer are among the most common effects of exposure to airborne asbestos. About 3,000 people per year are diagnosed with mesothelioma, many of them schoolteachers.

The soil that is planned for use as fill may have been tainted by asbestos from the environment, or from fill that was used elsewhere. The DEP has approved it for use in ways that it deems safe, mostly in areas that will be covered to prevent asbestos fibers from escaping into the air.

BOSTON, Massachusetts – A small study of mesothelioma patients at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital may offer the promise to understanding the nature of disease and how it affects the cells of our bodies.
The study was done by doctors at the hospital working with scientists from a gene-reading unit of Roche Holding AG. It is one of the first studies to look at the genes in cancerous tumors to find which genes were changed and what the effects of those changes were. It took advantage of new cheaper ways to study DNA in order to change the understanding of disease.
The results of the study suggest that genetic mutations may vary from patient to patient, and that drugs will need to be carefully tailored to small groups in order to be most effective.
David Sugarbaker led a team of doctors in examining four patients with pleural mesothelioma, a rare cancer that strikes about 3,000 people a year. It is caused by exposure to asbestos. The doctors found that between two and six genes had mutated in each of the patients; however, each patient’s tumor showed a different set of mutated genes, and no gene was mutated in more than one patient.
The results could explain a great deal about why chemotherapy drugs work very well for some patients and not at all in others. It also suggests that developing effective new cancer drugs could require that those new drugs be developed for very small groups of patients.
There are some drugs already that do that. Herceptin, by Genentech, targets a specific genetic mutation that’s found in about 20% of breast cancers, and Gleevec, made by Novartis, attacks one specific mutation found in certain kinds of leukemia.
Unfortunately, it could also mean that some cancers may be so unusual and rare that the cost of developing drugs to treat them might be prohibitively high. Mesothelioma is already one of those diseases that is considered a candidate for orphan drug development – diseases that are so rare few companies are willing to undertake the costs of developing treatments for them. The results of this study suggest that within the grouping of mesothelioma patients, there are even smaller groupings.
Dr. Sugarbaker says that the study breaks new ground and suggests a different way of treating disease.
“Now that we understand that everything is so doggone different,” he says, “..we have to look at each patient completely. What we need to do is to pair up the right patient with the right drug.”
For now, most geneticists believe that the cost is prohibitive. The gene studies for the study cost over $100,000 per patient. Other cheaper methods could bring the cost of the testing down to about $12,000 per patient.
Others warn that the study’s results aren’t clinically useful yet. Bert Vogelstein, a cancer researcher who published similar research, said that finding a mutation in a tumor doesn’t prove that it caused the tumor.
The National Institutes of Health is spending $100 million to fund a much larger study, called the Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project, that aims to map out mutated genes in brain, lung and ovarian cancers. Preliminary results may be released later this year.

BOSTON, Massachusetts – The Downtown Crossing MBTA station was evacuated and closed last night after a fire at the old Filene’s Basement building filled it with dangerous smoke. The smoke from pipe insulation and other materials in the basement of the building, which is directly above the Downtown Crossing T station, may have been contaminated with asbestos.

The Filenes Basement building has been a fixture of the downtown scene for decades. It is currently being redeveloped. Like most older buildings, it is known to contain asbestos.

The fire began at about 7 pm Wednesday night. Police and firefighters responded to find a fire in the basement of the building where pipe insulation had caught fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Pipe insulation is one of the materials that is most likely to contain asbestos, since asbestos is one of the best known insulators. Until the 1970s, asbestos was used in many different kinds of construction materials. It was banned for many uses during the 1980s and early 1990s, after it became widely known that asbestos is a dangerous and toxic carcinogen. However, by the time it was banned, asbestos-containing materials had been used in millions of buildings across the country.

Those buildings are now aging and undergoing renovation and demolition, and the materials that contain asbestos have become a possible health hazard. When those materials are damaged, they can release microscopic fibers of asbestos into the air. Inhalation of those fibers can cause lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, a rare cancer that affects the lining of the lungs.

Authorities are investigating the possibility that fire fighting activities may have released asbestos fibers. Five civilians and eighteen firefighters underwent asbestos decontamination as a precautionary measure, said a spokesperson for the fire department.

The biggest problem wasn’t the fire, but rather the smoke that it generated. As a further precaution, the Red and Orange lines of the MBTA went through the station without stopping until the fire was out.

Asbestos exposure is becoming a concern for firefighters across the nation. A downtown fire in New Haven may have exposed dozens of firefighters to asbestos in December, and in Washington, firefighters from three different counties will be followed by medical teams after they were exposed to asbestos in abandoned buildings during training exercises last summer.

More recently, fires at an abandoned Army base in Arkansas and at a New Zealand meat and refrigeration plant have raised concerns in their communities about he possibility of asbestos exposure from the smoke and debris.

MASHPEE, Massachusetts - The Mashpee town health agent says that he will have he Harborside Healthcare nursing home inspected for asbestos in light of “white dust” that resulted from ceiling repairs in the building.

Plaster dust coated the hallways when the inspector visited the nursing home Wednesday morning. Glen Harrington said that he will send a sample of the dust to a state laboratory for analysis because the building was built before Massachusetts state law banned asbestos in construction.

Nursing home administrator Robert Theroux said that the administration doesn’t believe that the dust contains asbestos, but that they are prepared to take appropriate steps to deal with the situation if analysis shows that there is asbestos in the dust and the ceilings.

The dust was the result of renovations carried out at the facility in December and January. On December 4, the Mashpee Building Department issued a permit for roof repair at the nursing home. During the repairs, the ceilings in two patient rooms were accidentally damaged and immediately repaired. If the ceilings contained asbestos, the damage could have released dust into the air where residents and staff may have breathed it.

After completing work on the roof, the facility managers moved on to cosmetic repairs to the ceilings in the hallways. Their attempt to apply a new coat of textured plaster to the ceilings failed when the paint wouldn’t stick. At that point, the workers stripped the existing plaster from the ceiling, creating the dust that coated the floor.

The dust is a concern for the health agency. One of the most common places to find asbestos in older facilities is in the textured plaster that was used to create decorative ceilings. Generally, if such ceilings are in good repair, the recommendation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to leave them alone. Sanding, chipping or scraping asbestos containing ceiling materials can release toxic asbestos fibers into the air.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen. While it is not a hazard as long as it is contained in undamaged materials, once it is released into the air as tiny fibers it becomes a deadly hazard. Tiny fibers lodge in the body, particularly in the lungs and other soft tissues, and may remain there for decades before causing symptoms as lung cancer, asbestos cancer, mesothelioma and other illnesses.

Harrington said that he wasn’t impressed with the timing of the repairs, or with the ventilation provided for the work.

The staff was actively cleaning up the rest of the dust during Harrington’s visit yesterday. He says that no citations have been issued, but he declined to speculate on what might happen if the dust turns out to contain asbestos. Any exposure is dangerous, Harrington said.

Kim Herrera found the dust coating everything in her grandmother’s room when she visited her on Tuesday. She said that she was concerned about her grandmother and the rest of the nursing home residents.

BOSTON, Massachusetts - A professor of ethics at Washington University School of Law is using novel teaching materials in his law ethics classes. His students will be discussing the ethical considerations of a “creative” advertising campaign by Boston-based law firm The Law Office of James Sokolove.

The law firm’s advertising campaign on MediaBids, an online advertising broker, offers $1,500 to newspaper and magazine publishers for each “lead” produced by its ad in their publication. MediaBids offers a different model of print advertising that they call “results-based per-inquiry pricing”. Advertisers pay publishers for each lead that is generated by their ad.

Sokolove’s offer defines “lead” as a person who calls who is determined to be suffering from or diagnosed with mesothelioma - determination of diagnosis is made immediately, during the initial phone call.”

According to Professor Peter Joy, the advertising strategy is “a creative way to get around advertising ethics”. Joy teaches legal ethics and is director of the law school’s Criminal Justice Clinic.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that is grabbing headlines around the world because of its invariable association with asbestos exposure. Companies that made, distributed and used products containing asbestos have paid out millions of dollars in claims from people who developed mesothelioma, asbestos cancer, or other related diseases after working with and around their products.

Asbestos lawsuits have sparked many criticisms of the legal profession and many questions about the ethics of soliciting for clients. Among the questions are those regarding which fees and payments may be legitimately advanced as part of litigation. Most jurisdictions, for instance, forbid the payment of living expenses during litigation, but allow advancing the payment of litigation costs or paying for medical exams or screenings as part of litigation.

Joy says, though, attorneys may not pay individuals, companies or entities for generating clients or making client referrals. The Sokolove print ads are something completely different, he says. As an example, he points out that if a lawyer’s ad generated five leads, then $7,500 - $1,500 per new lead - is a reasonable advertising cost. If, on the other hand, the lawyer’s ad generated 50 leads, the advertising cost of $75,000 is not a reasonable advertising cost.

Personal injury lawyers, who often work on a contingency basis, have been roundly criticized by the insurance industry and characterized as scavengers, especially in the case of asbestos and the resulting mesothelioma. Those who have suffered because of asbestos exposure have a different view of the situation. For many, faced with mounting medical costs associated with mesothelioma and the loss of a loved one due to asbestos exposure, the right to bring suit against the companies responsible for their illness is their only recourse.

The asbestos industry and others who knew and understood the dangers of asbestos to their workers and to the public showed complete callous disregard for general safety. They buried information about the dangers and hazards in the interests of maintaining higher profits. If it were up to the insurance industry and their lawyers, the workers who were injured by the don’t-tell policies of big industry regarding asbestos would lose their right to hold those companies accountable in court.

Many of the practices that are common to asbestos law firms have been criticized as unethical at the very least, but on closer inspection are common sense. Asbestos litigators have been responsible for raising public awareness about asbestos and mesothelioma, and in encouraging thousands of former employees of these companies to seek early screening for asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Whatever the underlying motive, it’s difficult to fault methods and measures that bring new awareness to the public about the hazards of asbestos and the possibility of mesothelioma and other asbestos related diseases.