Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that affects 3,000 Americans each year. Caused by inhaling asbestos fibers, the disease affects the mesothelia which lines the lungs and other organs.

Organizations Raising Awareness

The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the eradication of mesothelioma. They help patients fighting mesothelioma and their families, fund research for curing the disease, and raise awareness.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, another nonprofit, works to get a permanent ban on asbestos in the U.S. Visit their website to share your story about mesothelioma and find events, conferences, and other ways to get involved in mesothelioma awareness.

Related Blog

A New Drug to Treat Mesothelioma

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Mesothelioma Patient

Doctors diagnosed Helen Bone, a 42 year old from Middlesbrough, United Kingdom, with mesothelioma 3 years ago. Her career was in nursing. Now Ms. Bone campaigns to raise awareness about asbestos and mesothelioma. She also wants rules governing renovation and repair work in buildings that would reduce asbestos exposures. 

Exposure at a Medical Center

Similarly, a plaintiff in West Virginia filed a lawsuit in July. She claims an asbestos abatement project at West Virginia University’s Fairmont Medical center exposed her to asbestos. The plaintiff was a student there from 1998 to 2004. She is currently battling lung cancer.

Exposure at Avon

And in late July, a jury in Illinois awarded $24 million to the family of a janitor. The lawsuit alleged that Avon Products knowingly and negligently exposed the janitor to asbestos by requiring him to handle asbestos-tainted talc without warning, training, or personal protection. The jury found the lawsuit convincing. 

Who Asbestos Affects

Ms. Bone, the nurse from the United Kingdom, warns that mesothelioma should no longer be thought of as a disease that just affects older men who worked in construction or mining. While asbestos-related diseases most commonly afflict workers in related fields – abatement, construction, mining – workers in offices, hospitals, and schools suffer asbestos-related illnesses, too. 

Asbestos-related diseases are devastating to anyone receiving that diagnosis and are devastating to their family and friends.

Liability

These diseases also present a huge liability to businesses that deal with asbestos, like abatement, or businesses and institutions with buildings that contain the material. The lawsuits mentioned above likely resulted from improper containment during abatement or from asbestos that was not properly marked and maintained.

Up-to-date Training

It is important to keep your asbestos training current to protect yourself, your loved ones, everyone. To sign up for a course, visit metaenvironmental.net or call 800-444-6382.

Sources

Click here to read the BBC article about Helen Bone

Click here for more information on the West Virginia and Illinois lawsuits

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The worst pollutants

Three of the 16 pollutants – asbestos, arsenic, and highly hazardous pesticides – are each responsible for over 100,000 deaths, yearly. But lead is by far the most dangerous. The study estimates that lead causes 1.7 million premature deaths, annually. 

Health effects of lead

The health impacts of these chemicals – illness, death – fall disproportionately on low- and middle- income countries. Lead is especially harmful. High doses lead to disability and death in adults. In children, exposure to the heavy metal causes developmental disorders. Children in lower income households or living in older homes with lead paint and those with parents who work in construction or electronics recycling are most likely to be affected.

Educating about lead exposure

Another study, in the Annals of Work Exposures and Health, measured how in-person and take-home lessons on lead exposure prevention improved people’s knowledge of how lead gets into the home, where children can be exposed. The study's authors designed the educational materials to help workers and their families identify strategies to prevent at-home lead exposure. Participants in the study increased their knowledge in lead exposure prevention through these lessons.

In the U.S., OSHA mandates lead safety training for workers exposed to lead above a specific threshold. But there are no training requirements for what happens after the workday is finished. This is when family members are exposed.

Because lead has such an impact on global health, putting more resources into education could also have a big impact by decreasing lead exposure in the home. This means fewer children with cognitive and behavioral issues and fewer deaths for children and adults.

META offers lead and asbestos training. For more information, click here to visit our website, or call us at 785-842-6382.

Works Cited

New Research Finds Lead Has Largest Health Impact Of Top 16 Chemical Pollutants

Study on evaluating impact of education on lead exposure prevention

Further Reading

META's blog on CDC's new lead poisoning resources

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One such case is in court this week. Thomas Wells, a retired schoolteacher from Oregon, worked around Libby in the late 1970s and early 1980s for the Forest Service. He recalled the dust blowing off the BNSF railyard and believed that exposed him to asbestos. Mr. Wells died in March 2020, four months after being diagnosed with Mesothelioma.

Vermiculite

Vermiculite is a mineral that is easily moldable, resistant to high temperatures, and a good insulator. These characteristics made it desirable for a wide number of applications, including acoustic panels, attic insulation, fireproofing, and as a growing medium. Unfortunately, the vermiculite from the Libby mine contains a highly friable form of asbestos that causes cancer.

Libby, Montana

For decades, Libby has grappled with the aftermath of having a vermiculite mine nearby. The Zonolite company began mining vermiculite at Libby in the 1920s. In 1963, W.R. Grace bought Zonolite. The mine was an environmental disaster because of the asbestos. Many who worked in the mine, lived nearby, or handled the product developed asbestos-related diseases.

Superfund Site

The mine shut down in 1990. Eventually, the EPA designated it a Superfund site and began cleaning it. W.R. Grace paid $270 million to the federal government to reimburse clean up. Taxpayers covered most of the rest of the cost, which is estimated at $600 million.

At the time it was shut down, there were estimates that Libby had produced 80 percent of the world’s vermiculite. Much of the vermiculite in the U.S. came from there and likely contained asbestos.

Other Lawsuits

W.R. Grace filed for bankruptcy in 2001. They put nearly $2 billion into a fund to settle future cases. The state of Montana has paid $68 million to 2,000 plaintiffs. BNSF has settle previous lawsuits privately. The railroad company denied responsibility, claiming they did not know that the vermiculite contained asbestos.

Two articles from the Associated Press provided the information specific to the current case:

Victims of Montana asbestos pollution that killed hundreds take Warren Buffett’s railroad to court

Asbestos victim's dying words aired in wrongful death case against Buffet's railroad

Further reading:

The EPA's Superfund page for the Libby Asbestos Site

A previous META blog on Libby Asbestos

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Researchers recently published a study on a new drug to treat mesothelioma. They found the results to be encouraging.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops in the lining of the organs, typically around the lungs. Most cases of mesothelioma result from exposure to asbestos. The disease is resistant to treatment and survival rates are incredibly low.

The Drug

This study was led by Professor Peter Szlosarek of Queen Mary University in London. After decades of work, Szlosarek and his team developed a drug, pegargiminase, that starves mesothelioma tumors.

The Study

Doctors and other medical staff conducted the study over four years, from 2017 to 2021 in five countries, including the United States. Half of the 249 mesothelioma patients in the study received pegargiminase and chemotherapy. The other half received chemotherapy and a placebo.

Results

The overall survival of patients who took pegargiminase was, on average, 2 months longer than the patients who had a placebo. There was even more exciting news: three years into the study, there were four times as many patients alive who took the new drug compared to patients who took the placebo.  

The development of pegargiminase is exciting. There have not been many new treatment options for mesothelioma. There will be further studies into the drug and the way it affects tumors, including other types of cancers. Pegargiminase should offer hope to mesothelioma patients and their families and possibly give a little more time against a terrible disease.

Further Reading

The Guardian article on the pegargiminase study

The study published in JAMA

Mesothelioma facts

A META blog on asbestos

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The popularity of engineered stone has grown enormously over the last couple decades. Safe when installed, the material has significantly more silica than natural stone. Working with it unprotected is dangerous. 

Silicosis

Breathing silica can lead to silicosis, a type of lung scarring caused by the mineral. Silicosis is incurable and is associated with lung cancer, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, and autoimmune disease.

New Rules in California

Safety regulators in California drafted emergency rules to protect workers against silicosis. And those rules were implemented in December. They require wet methods, air monitoring to confirm breathable silica dust is below a target amount, the use of full-face powered air-purifying respirators or an equivalent, and training in the employees’ language.

Employers must notify the state if an employee has a confirmed case of silicosis or lung cancer. Similarly, healthcare professionals hired by the employers to evaluate their employees must report cases of silicosis to California OSHA.

A CBS News article from early February interviewed a doctor from Los Angeles who described how her patients, many in their twenties and thirties, are dying from silicosis. Their only hope is a lung transplant.

Lawsuits against Manufacturers

A number of the workers filed lawsuits against manufacturers of engineered stone. Industry groups say the disease is preventable if shops follow state and Federal OSHA guidelines. There has been a failure of education on the dangers of silica dust. And there has been a failure to implement safety procedures.

Ban Engineered Stone?

Some experts say the engineered stone should be banned, as wet methods and NIOSH-approved respirators are often inadequate for the amount of dust in the shops.

Australia banned engineered stone in December. Their reasoning: the industry had not done enough to protect workers.

Further Reading

The Los Angeles Times article on silicosis and engineered stone.

The CBS News article on silicosis and engineered stone.

California's emergency rules on engineered stone.

An American Lung Association article on silicosis.

A previous META Blog on silica dust.

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What is Libby Amphibole asbestos?

LA is vermiculite from the Libby mine in Montana. The Zonolite company began mining vermiculite at Libby in the 1920s and sold the vermiculite as Zonolite. The mine was an environmental disaster. The vermiculite contained three main types of amphibole asbestos – winchite, richterite, and tremolite. Because of this, many who worked in the mine, lived nearby, or worked with the product developed asbestos-related diseases.

The mine shut down in 1990. Eventually, the EPA designated it a Superfund site and began cleaning it. At the time it was shut down, there were estimates that Libby had produced 80 percent of the world’s vermiculite. Much of the vermiculite in the U.S. came from there and likely contains asbestos.

Why Libby Amphibole asbestos?

That the vermiculite from Libby, MT can contain asbestos has been known for a long time. Yet training for asbestos workers, methods of laboratory analysis, and sampling techniques frequently do not reflect this fact. LA was widely used throughout the United States, easily disturbed and highly friable, and causes cancer. Vermiculite from Libby is Libby Amphibole asbestos. Using that term helps convey how dangerous this vermiculite is and that it needs to be treated accordingly.

The EPA and LA

The EPA first used the term ‘Libby Amphibole asbestos’ over a decade ago. They have categorized it as ‘carcinogenic to humans’. The LA designation is specific to vermiculite from Libby, Montana. So the label should not be used for other products that contain winchite, richterite, or tremolite.

Guidance going forward

In his article, Mr. Laubenthal suggests trainers adopt the LA term, adding it to their materials and teaching proper sampling methods. He repeats this in his guidance for consultants: because the asbestos-containing pieces are larger and sink, leaving the lighter vermiculite flakes on top, samples must be scooped from deep in the material. Additionally, it is important to send the samples to labs that are familiar with analyzing vermiculite.

Further Reading

For more info, click here to read Tom Laubenthal’s detailed article on the subject.

For more on the Libby Superfund site, click here.

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In September, when temperatures were still high, we looked at how to prevent heat illness. Since then, there has been some news on the regulatory side of this topic. While temperatures have dropped across much of the U.S. and it feels like fall has finally arrived, OSHA still has its eye on hot weather. Record-breaking heat waves swept the country this summer, and OSHA is crafting new standards designed to protect workers from heat related illnesses.

Working Outside

30 million Americans work outside. And many others work indoors in high temperatures. These workers are at risk of heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The risks increase if the workers have heart or kidney disease or neurological disorders.

Heat-related Illnesses

Having heat stroke makes you more likely to suffer heat stroke in the future. And doctors are finding that heat illnesses that require hospitalization can lead to stroke, heart, and kidney disease. Not to mention, heat stroke routinely kills people. 

Currently, there are no federal heat safety rules. OSHA has a national emphasis program on heat illness prevention, but it is educational. There are no regulations to enforce.

State rules

Some states have heat illness prevention rules. California, for example, requires employers to let employees acclimatize to working in high temperatures or high humidity. They also mandate rest breaks in the shade. Doctors would like to see medical monitoring added as part of heat illness prevention, similar to the medical checkups required prior to wearing a respirator.

Heat illness experts and lawmakers feel that the states without heat illness rules are not going to adopt them on their own. That’s why there has been a push to implement rules at the federal level.

OSHA is in the middle of a long process to craft these rules, determining what the regulations will look like and finding ways to make them less burdensome on small businesses. 

Further Reading

Click here to read an article on OSHA's plan to implement rules on heat illness prevention

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Heat exhaustion and heat stroke

Heat exhaustion occurs when the body overheats. Symptoms include cramps, fatigue, excessive sweating, and rapid heartbeat. Heat stroke is the most serious heat illness. The body no longer controls its temperature. Dizziness, dry skin, nausea, and severe headache are some of the symptoms. Heat stroke can lead to coma and death.

What to do for heat exhaustion and heat stroke

Anyone suffering heat exhaustion should leave the hot area and rest, remove unnecessary clothing, apply cool cloths, and sip water. Medical evaluation is recommended. Heat stroke is a medical emergency. Call 911. Move the worker to a cooler area, remove outer clothing, and apply cold water or wet cloths to their skin, or give them an ice bath if possible. Remain with them until medical care arrives. 

Who is at risk?

People who work in hot environments, the elderly, and those with high blood pressure are most at risk of suffering heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

How to prevent heat illness

To prevent heat illness, drink plenty of fluids the day before work and during work. OSHA recommends 8 ounces of water every 15 to 20 minutes, but no more than 1 liter per hour. Take breaks. Take longer and more frequent breaks as the temperature and humidity increase. Use ventilation, air conditioning, and personal cooling devices when possible. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and salt tablets. Get acclimated to the weather. 

State protocols and employer responsibilities

States have protocols to protect workers from heat exhaustion and heat stroke. California OSHA, for example, requires 2 weeks of acclimatization for workers to get used to working in hot weather.

Under OSHA, employers are responsible for protecting workers from heat-related illnesses. Employers should provide water, rest, and shaded areas. Employers should train workers on preventing and recognizing heat illnesses and allow workers to build a tolerance for working in the heat. And employers should monitor employees for signs of heat illness.

To learn more about heat illness prevention, click here to visit OSHA's Heat Illness Prevention site.

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What is Silica?

Silica is a common mineral found in concrete, glass, mortar, brick, stone, and sand. Manufacturing, cutting, sanding, or drilling these materials can produce respirable crystalline silica, which is 100 times smaller than a grain of sand.

OSHA estimates that 2.3 million workers in the U.S. are routinely exposed to respirable silica. Inhaling this dust leads to an increased risk of several diseases. Among these are silicosis, lung cancer, kidney disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD.

OSHA Standards

OSHA published two standards on respirable silica, designed to protect workers. In the construction standard, for example, OSHA suggested systems that deliver water to the cutting surface, shrouds, dust collection systems, and HEPA filtration. By implementing these controls, it is assumed that the levels of respirable silica will remain below the personal exposure limit, or PEL.

The Study

The study, mentioned above, challenges that assumption. Researchers took air samples from a construction site. They also took personal air samples from 19 workers at the same site over 13 days. The workers performed such tasks as core drilling, cutting with a walk-behind saw, grinding, and jackhammering. Researchers noted whether or not the workers were implementing the OSHA controls. Some did not.

Conclusion

The researchers found that over half the workers were exposed to respirable crystalline silica above the OSHA Action Level. And nearly one third of the exposures were above the PEL. One of the work site samples exceeded the PEL. The study suggests that OSHA's engineering controls for silica dust may not prevent hazardous levels of the dust. Workers performing certain tasks, along with the rest of the work site, face levels of silica dust above the PEL. In turn, they are at greater risk of developing one of the diseases associated with breathing silica dust.

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