Despite bipartisan concerns that forcing a vote would be counterproductive, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) have agreed to launch a new round of negotiations on the key issues holding up the legislation.

Southfield, Michigan-based Federal-Mogul said its planned payment was unjust considering other companies, such as Halliburton Co., had larger asbestos liabilities. It asked that its proposed contribution be reduced.

The asbestos charge, which totaled $141 million in the quarter, is part of $2 billion settlement awaiting approval by a bankruptcy court judge. KBR, formerly called Kellogg Brown & Root, filed for bankruptcy in December to resolve the asbestos claims, and hopes to have the issue settled by the end of the year.

Over the next three months, the Duncan man learned that the asbestos fibres he inhaled on the job in his late teens or early 20s had finally detonated inside his lungs. By the end of the year, the 54-year-old father of two teenage daughters was dead from a rare, lethal form of lung cancer -- one of 70 people who died in B.C. in 2003 from a disease they contracted on the job.

For residents of North Ridge Estates, spring arrived with all the familiar signs -- melting snow, blooming flowers and shards of asbestos knifing up through the earth.

The families of this wooded subdivision say that when they moved in they didn't know the developer had buried tons of asbestos-laden debris here and left more on their land.

Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge David Tobin issued the rulings Monday, siding with defendant 3M Company and dismissing the claims of John Dermotta, Samuel Birch and Donald Dailey, who all claimed they became ill from asbestos exposure at their work place, Eljer's of Salem.

WASHINGTON -- Although one effort to devise compensation for victims of asbestos failed on Thursday, Arkansas senators said they believed Congress still might be able to find a system that will aid people made sick by the toxic fibers while protecting companies from financially ruinous claims.

The $124 billion bill, which was written by Senate Republicans with comment from the asbestos and insurance industries, fell far short of the 60 votes needed to end the debate. The vote was 50-47.

Efforts to pass an asbestos compensation trust fund failed in the Senate Thursday when a cloture motion fell 10 votes short of the 60 votes needed to end debate.

After his effort to strengthen a provision guaranteeing special treatment for Libby residents was rejected on Thursday, Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus voted to block work on a bill to establish a trust fund to compensate asbestos victims.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2004--Organization Calls for Independent Commission to Determine Fair Funding Levels for Potential National Asbestos Compensation Fund

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an organization dedicated to serving as the voice of asbestos victims, today praised the United States Senate for rejecting S. 2290.

ADAO has been meeting with legislators to share victims' concerns about S. 2290 and is calling for an independent commission to determine fair funding levels. According to ADAO, the bill has numerous inequities - including inadequate compensation, awards not based on the merits of individual cases, no opt-out clause ensuring a person's right to file a lawsuit, debts against the value of insurance coverage, and more.

"We applaud the United States Senate for rejecting S. 2290 in today's session," said Linda Reinstein, Executive Director, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. "This bill does not fairly represent asbestos victims and we look forward to continuing to work with Congress to help find the right solution."

Cancer resulting from exposure to asbestos, for example, does not develop for 10 to 15 years. And while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the direct orders of the National Security Council headed by Condoleezza Rice, consistently denied the presence of dangerous levels of asbestos in the air around the WTC site, it has since admitted that more than 25 percent of the bulk dust samples collected before September 18, 2001, showed the presence of asbestos above the 1 percent benchmark.

State environmental officials found 174 asbestos violations during a sting operation of contractors and property owners and levied more than $1.2 million in fines as a result.

The insulation, which was used in Canada until the mid-1980s, and sold primarily under er the brand name of Zonolite, may contain asbestos. When fibres from asbestos are in the air people breath, they can cause lung cancer or other serious respiratory illnesses. While not all vermiculite insulation contains asbestos, it's best to assume the worst and take precautions if you have it in your home.

With a potential payout of $114 billion, they regard the bill as a bailout for asbestos producers and their insurers, and "an outrageous attack on the rights of asbestos victims, leaving them without the help they need while shutting them out of the legal system," said Jeff Blum, executive director of USAction, an advocacy group on the lawyers' side.

The White House on Monday threw its support behind a Senate Republican bill to settle the nation's mass of asbestos injury suits by creating a $124 billion trust fund to compensate victims over 27 years.

More than 50,000 tons of asbestos-laden vermiculite from a Montana mine was shipped to Utah over the past 45 years, and environmental watchdogs are recommending that people who worked at or lived nearby the delivery points get a health checkup.

Former workers at an asbestos-hit factory are being urged to contact their union so details can be placed on a database being prepared for possible health claims.

Workers at a former building insulation plant in St. Louis were unknowingly exposed to asbestos, and city, state and federal agencies are trying to determine if the exposure damaged their health, officials said Friday.

More than 1,100 bags containing asbestos-contaminated waste were found illegally dumped southwest of Yuma.

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality workers spent several days this week containing the area and preparing for removal of the waste.

Employees in the State Office Building in Lihu'e are concerned after learning that an asbestos-removal project is coinciding with several workers' complaints of respiratory symptoms.

Susan Vento, who married the 24-year congressman shortly before his death from asbestos-related cancer in 2000, in the ad denounces efforts to set up a $114 billion industry fund for tens of thousands of asbestos victims - an action that would also bar lawsuits against asbestos firms. The ads were sponsored by U.S. Action, a liberal group, and were airing in Washington.

In terms of the deed for the trust that was set up last June, it was not permitted to make any payments for six months, other than interim payments to people dying of mesothelioma - a cancer of the lining of the lungs caused exclusively by blue asbestos.

Workers at a former building insulation plant in St. Louis were unknowingly exposed to asbestos, and city, state and federal agencies are trying to determine whether the exposure damaged their health, officials said Friday.

Republicans started a congressional push Monday for creation of a billion-dollar asbestos trust fund in a deal that would give companies immunity from asbestos-related lawsuits. Opponents and even some supporters said that would not work and that the measure had little chance of passage.

Local organizers of the Mesothelioma Walk, set for April 25 in Harrisburg, hope to increase awareness of the disease, plus raise funds for research.

A group of participants from Delaware County are also participating in memory of friend/family member Barney Harahan.

Lilly expects its supplemental NDA for Alimta in second-line, non-small cell lung cancer will be the subject of an advisory committee meeting this year, Investor Relations Manager Heidi Straub said April 19.

Burglars who broke into a former social club in West Bromwich are being urged to seek medical advice as they may have come into contact with blue asbestos.

"About 25 percent of all asbestos cases nationwide in which the plaintiff suffers from mesothelioma are filed in Madison County," Bell told more than 125 students, lawyers and reporters during a panel discussion on the topic. "How is it that one small county in one state is home to one-quarter of all mesothelioma cases filed in the United States?" Mesothelioma is a lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

U.S. Senate Republicans will bring to the floor on Tuesday a bill establishing a fund of up to $124 billion to compensate asbestos victims, but the chief sponsor said he feared Democrats would try to block the measure.

About 450 miners are expected to lose their jobs in Black Lake, near Thetford Mines, a city of about 17,000 located 80 kilometres south of Quebec City.

An avalanche of asbestos lawsuits, many filed by people who are not extremely sick, is overwhelming courts and threatening companies even though the cancer-causing substance has not been widely used in the United States for almost 30 years.

A cancer survivor and the widows of two men who died of cancer reached out-of-court settlements this week of their lawsuits charging that the men became sick as a result of breathing asbestos fibers when they worked in the Fisher Scientific Co. plant along Indian Springs Road in White Township.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said the latest effort to pass asbestos litigation reform, which he introduced last week and is scheduled for consideration when the Senate returns from Easter recess, "probably" won't receive enough Democratic votes to succeed. He added that sometimes you "have to lose to win."

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reported today that Lab Chrysotile Inc. pleaded guilty in the Court of Thetford Mines of offences under the Export and Import Permits Act. Lab Chrysotile was fined $25,000.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is asking the county to submit a plan to make sure potentially hazardous asbestos is handled properly at the landfill.

Former employees of a long-defunct insulation manufacturing plant in Spokane likely inhaled potentially deadly asbestos fibers and should seek advice from a doctor, the state Department of Health says.

WASHINGTON - Libby residents who have asbestos-related diseases would be compensated under a bill that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has vowed to bring up after Congress returns from its weeklong Easter break.

TOKYO - The Japanese Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by former Japanese shipyard workers contracted to Yokosuka Naval Base who developed asbestos-related lung problems.

Dormitories containing asbestos still are standing at the Camp St. Mary's site in Okatie. The former Catholic summer camp, which Beaufort County plans to turn into a park, remains unchanged five months after renovations were scheduled to begin.

They allegedly violated the federal Clean Air Act by improperly handling asbestos -- failing to wet it during removal, not carefully lowering it to the floor, failing to dispose of it in a wet condition sealed in a leak-tight container and not depositing it as soon as practical in a waste disposal site.

In the months following the collapse of the Center, the EPA helped clean some 4,000 apartments in the area through a voluntary program. However, tens of thousands of other sites, including offices and schools, have never been officially checked for toxins like asbestos, mercury and lead.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans said they would try again to reform the asbestos litigation system with a reworked proposal introduced on Wednesday, but acknowledged they faced an uphill battle.

Asbestos litigation reform legislation introduced Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) represents a significant step forward in the effort to address the concerns of victims as well as the business community, according to the American Insurance Association (AIA). However, AIA will reportedly continue pushing for further, meaningful improvements to the bill as Senate debate approaches.

James Hardie's right to retain almost $600 million received in dividends and other payments from its main asbestos cement subsidiary has been questioned at a government inquiry.

DENVER -- Two Colorado men faced federal charges Thursday in connection with asbestos removal at Fort Morgan High School in 1999.

Joseph John Cannella, 41, of Arvada, was arrested Thursday morning. An arrest warrant was issued for Steven Douglas Herron, 55, of Aurora.

In the dusty job of cutting through walls and ceilings to install new plumbing, workers took none of the precautions required for materials containing asbestos, potentially endangering the 60 or so residents - and themselves.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is cracking down on illegal asbestos disposal, starting with a $108,000 fine slapped on a Quincy business owner for abandoning two leased box trailers full of asbestos in Middleboro and 15, 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste in a truck in Wareham.

Recent inspections by the state Environmental Department turned up more asbestos within the structure, as well as several other undisclosed issues that may need to be addressed, Town Manager Alex Brown said. Brown said no definite decisions have been made and the city was waiting to hear from the Environmental Department as to the specifics of the cleanup and how it would need to be conducted.

Even as the White House scrambles to defend its handling of the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, the poisonous gas and dust unleashed by the disaster continue to settle in the lungs of thousands of recovery workers and New York City residents.

Karmanos Cancer Center is launching a comprehensive medical program to study the effects of asbestos-related cancers linked to contaminated vermiculite from a Montana mine.

With current legislation pending in Congress on asbestos, the American Academy of Actuaries will sponsor a luncheon briefing breaking down this complex issue. Highlights include an update on the Academy monograph "Overview of Asbestos Issues and Trends." Topics addressed include the overall asbestos problem, stakeholder issues and the number of claimants filing lawsuits, and the link of asbestos to malignant diseases.

Thousands of workers at vermiculite mines in Libby, Montana have become ill or died from asbestos-related diseases, and doctors at Karmanos said they were prompted to form the Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Diseases after learning that a Dearborn factory had processed more than 3 million pounds of the mines' mineral for insulation and fireproofing.

HALIFAX -- As many as 23 dockyard workers in Halifax were exposed to asbestos onboard a navy supply ship after the military failed to warn the shipyard about the presence of the hazardous material. The incident took place in February, a few weeks after HMCS Preserver began what's expected to be an 11-month refit, said Mary Keith, a spokesperson for the yard's owners, J.D. Irving.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan - The United States owes Japan potentially millions of dollars in judgments and settlements for former naval base shipyard workers who developed asbestos-related lung diseases, Japanese officials say.

In a lawsuit filed in Albuquerque, N.M., Day's family contended that the company, owned by Mobile businessman Charles Foster, was practicing medicine when it tested Day and other workers for asbestos-related lung disease.

Barry Castleman, a leading expert on asbestos, told the crowd of the widespread detrimental effects of asbestos in countries around the globe as part of the Presidential Lecture Series. His lecture, titled "The International Struggle Over Asbestos," marked the beginning of a series of events in Missoula and Libby that focus on asbestos. The series will run until July and includes lectures, a symposium, art shows and films. It is called "Landscape of Asbestos: Libby and Beyond."

The Oriskany will still spend about six months parked at Texas Docks & Rail in Corpus Christi, where oily solvents will be drained and asbestos removed from hundreds of tanks and bilge compartments.

The four men who signed up in February 2001 as directors of a charitable trust to pay asbestos compensation received "crystal clear" advance warnings that a downturn in investment markets could deplete the funds available for victims of dust diseases, an inquiry into the trust heard yesterday.

Plans to demolish the former Hillcrest Hospital may be delayed until environmental specialists determine if asbestos found in the 67-year-old building needs to be removed.

Dozens of residents were told to stay indoors and shut doors and windows when a blaze at a disused factory in Kidderminster sparked an asbestos alert today.

Sunday officials conducting tests found no evidence of asbestos in the air and said it was safe for the students to return.

Ottawa - The federal government has begun combing through tens of thousands of construction records on Canadian Indian reserves to identify homes containing an asbestos-contaminated insulation linked to cancer.

BEEVILLE - The Texas Department of Health is investigating whether more than 16,000 square feet of asbestos-laced flooring was removed without state surveying, permits and proper safety precautions from a building that Bee County and Workforce-1 both plan to lease for office space.

WELLSVILLE - The Ohio EPA last week halted private demolition of an old commercial structure located at 1513 Main Street and cited the owner with failure to provide notification of possible asbestos contamination at the site.

UNC officials say the toxic materials in the P-traps, as well as asbestos and other materials, were put into the containers before Gabriel's firm began its work. The officials say the containers were then put in an isolated part of the building, and Gabriel's workers and others on the job site were instructed not to go near them.

Time after time during the all-day hearing at the old Customs House on Bowling Green, residents, community organizers and panel members questioned the way the original cleanup had been handled by the E.P.A. And they asked what could be done to ease the concerns of thousands of people whose apartments were contaminated by the dust, which contained asbestos, lead, mercury and other hazardous elements.