November 30, 2004
The Environmental Protection Agency has found Lee County schools in violation of five asbestos regulations following a June 2003 inspection of district facilities.
Motorists driving by the former Livestock National Bank building in the Sioux City Stockyards might wonder what is under the tarp. It is the asbestos-covered rubble.
HOUSTON, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) announced today that on November 18, 2004 and November 29, 2004, the Honorable Judith K. Fitzgerald issued orders approving the final insurance settlement agreements between DII Industries, Kellogg Brown & Root and other affected Halliburton subsidiaries and all appealing insurance carriers.
These settlements, together with other previously announced insurance settlements, provide a global resolution to the debtors' insurance disputes which will result in the receipt of over $1.5 billion in cash and permit the successful conclusion of the bankruptcy proceedings.
The settlement agreements were reached with, among others, over one hundred solvent and insolvent London-based insurance companies, over fifty domestic insurance companies and other companies with which DII Industries shares insurance coverage. Two of the settlement agreements involve matters relevant to Harbison-Walker Refractories Company and Federal-Mogul Products, Inc., both debtors in their own bankruptcy proceedings, and the Bankruptcy Courts in those proceedings also have entered orders approving these settlements.
"Halliburton's employees, customers and shareholders are celebrating this positive news. This is clearly one of the concluding steps toward permanently resolving our asbestos and silica liability that will provide payments to the impaired claimants," said Dave Lesar, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Halliburton. "As final settlement agreements have been reached, we are delighted to bring closure to this issue."
The Bankruptcy Court's approval orders are now final and the settling insurers are obligated immediately to dismiss their appeals to the Bankruptcy Court's confirmation order and their motion to vacate the District Court's affirmation order. The company anticipates concluding the bankruptcy by year- end, and funding of the trusts by the end of January 2005.
Talks are expected to resume within weeks on the measure, which as currently conceived would create a $140 billion, industry-financed, national trust fund to compensate as many as 2 million sick workers. A bill could reach the Senate floor as soon as early next year.
W. R. Grace & Company, a producer of chemicals and building material that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 amid thousands of asbestos-related claims, said yesterday that it might be indicted as a result of an investigation of environmental violations and obstruction of government proceedings at a Montana mine.
I believe that I have some command of the asbestos docket, although, after only two months, there are probably issues which have not yet arise
November 02, 2004
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Insurers face as much as 10 billion pounds ($18.3 billion) in U.K. asbestos costs over 30 years as disease-related claims surge, a report by actuaries said.
Lilly UK announced today that Alimta( (pemetrexed) will be available shortly for the treatment of people diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs for which there is no known cure. Pemetrexed is the first licenced treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma, in combination with cisplatin.
Most mesothelioma patients have a life expectancy of five months at the time of diagnosis(1). In a recent clinical trial, patients treated with pemetrexed and cisplatin lived longer than those treated with cisplatin alone(2).
Mesothelioma is a particularly lethal form of cancer that is usually caused as a result of exposure to asbestos. Most patients who develop mesothelioma have a history of working in industries where there was a risk of asbestos exposure, such as shipping, mining or insulation. Mesothelioma occurs decades after exposure.
Professor Hilary Calvert, of the Northern Institute of Cancer Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, comments, "This form of cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage at which point treatment with radiation therapy or surgery is not an option. Most of the patients I see only have a life expectancy after diagnosis of only a matter of months."
He adds, "Until now there has been no licenced chemotherapy available and patients have been more likely to have treatment aimed to relieve the symptoms rather than to control the disease."
New cases of mesothelioma are increasing rapidly in the UK. It is estimated that over 1,700 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma annually in the UK alone(3). This figure is likely to rise each year and peak up to 2,500 patients in 2015 due to the delay between exposure to asbestos, which is responsible for nearly all cases, and onset of the disease(4).
Analysis indicates that many mesothelioma deaths are due to previous high asbestos exposure in industries such as shipbuilding and railway engineering. Because of the regionality of these types of industries and consequent high asbestos exposure, mesothelioma deaths in Britain vary considerably.
The areas of high incidence include London, Glasgow, Newcastle, Greater Manchester, Plymouth and Hampshire.
Dr Mark Britton, Chairman of the British Lung Foundation, comments, "The news that a patient has mesothelioma has a devastating impact on them, their partner and family. Patient organisations such as the British Lung Foundation can do much to meet families' need for support and information."
Asbestos was once known as the 'miracle mineral' because the naturally occurring silicate has excellent heat resistant properties and can be spun like cotton, turned into boards or incorporated into concrete products. The use of asbestos in potentially hazardous circumstances was prohibited in the UK in 1986(5). Its use was widespread in houses, factories and ships. The substance was only finally banned in the UK in 1999(6) and leaves a lethal legacy for thousands of working men and women.
Pemetrexed will be commercially available in the UK at the end of this year or the start of 2005.
Alimta(r) (pemetrexed) is a registered trademark of Eli Lilly and Company
Oct. 31--Hoping against hope to save their company from the burden of 48,000 asbestos lawsuits, executives of Kelly-Moore Paint Co. recently tried to convince a Brazoria County jury to shift the blame to Union Carbide, one of the companies that sold it the dangerous white powder.
Hoping against hope to save their company from the burden of 48,000 asbestos lawsuits, executives of Kelly-Moore Paint Co. recently tried to convince a Brazoria County jury to shift the blame to Union Carbide, one of the companies that sold it the dangerous white powder.
WINNIPEG - Two sisters, whose childhood house was lined with Zonolite in the 1960s, are suing the federal government and the maker of the product for unspecified damages caused by the asbestos-laced insulation.
BALTIMORE - W.R. Grace & Co. and several of its senior-level employees are the targets of a federal grand jury investigation relating to possible violations of environmental laws in Montana, the company announced Friday.
STAMFORD -- The Scofield Manor nursing home wants $50,000 from the city to remove asbestos from enclosed areas to sign a lease with the city. The state-licensed facility has not renewed its lease with Stamford since 1999, after asbestos was discovered in the boiler room.