Author: Alex Strauss

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    Landlord’s Action Puts Tenants at Mesothelioma Risk

    ByAlex Strauss

    Property owners who want to remove asbestos are being urged to heed a lesson learned the hard way by a Massachusetts landlord last week. The state’s Attorney General has ruled that a property owner in Springfield, Massachusetts put her tenants, and possibly their neighbors, at risk for asbestos caused diseases like mesotheliomacancer by failing to follow state regulations regarding asbestos removal. Asbestos is the primary cause of mesothelioma, a rare malignancy of the mesothelial membrane that is often fatal. It was long used in the U.S. as a building material, and can still be found in the roofs, floors, walls and siding of tens of thousands of older homes and buildings. Asbestos often disintegrates as it ages, prompting many property owners…

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    Unions Call for Asbestos-Free Australia

    ByAlex Strauss

    The head of an Australian Consortium of Trade Unions (ACTU) is calling on the government to protect its citizens against mesothelioma by ridding the country of asbestos by 2030. Ged Kearney is president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, which represents construction unions and made the call on the ACTU website. Because asbestos was mined in Australia and in Australian buildings and cement from the 1950’s to the 1970’s, people who work in mining, construction and ship building trades are at higher risk for asbestos-linked diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. According to the ACTU, Australia had the highest per capita use of asbestos in the world from the 1950’s to the 1980’s. The Australian government banned the use of asbestos…

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    Mesothelioma Risk Depends on Asbestos Fiber Size

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists who study the connection between asbestos fibers and mesothelioma say they now understand what size particles pose the most danger. Asbestos is the primary cause of mesothelioma, but some manmade fibers can also be carcinogenic. Manmade nanotubes or nanoparticles are carbon molecules constructed for use in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science. Some studies have suggested that their shape can allow them to cross membrane barriers inside the body and cause “inflammatory and fibrotic reactions.”  Such reactions are believed to be the same mechanism by which asbestos fibers may trigger malignant mesothelioma in the pleural membrane around the lungs. Although scientists have long known that the affects of fibers depends on their length, the “key threshold length”…

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    Alaska Lawmakers Allow Asbestos in Gravel

    ByAlex Strauss

    Alaska lawmakers have decided not to let the threat of mesothelioma stand in the way of progress. In April, the state legislature voted to allow mining and use of asbestos gravel in communities where NOT using it would be too expensive. Asbestos, a mineral long associated with malignant mesothelioma, occurs naturally in many parts of the state.  But according to Alaska Public Radio, the presence of asbestos has stopped construction on roads and other public projects that depend on local gravel. The new legislation gives legal protection to landowners and construction companies if people exposed to asbestos contract mesothelioma or another asbestos-linked illness.  Although the bill’s sponsor says it is intended to jump start projects that have been on hold for years…

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    Finding the Mesothelioma Asbestos Connection

    ByAlex Strauss

    Even though the cause of mesothelioma – exposure to asbestos – is well-known, it is not always easy for a mesothelioma patient to find his or her own ‘asbestos connection’. For people who worked in asbestos-filled job environments, such as asbestos mines or factories which manufactured asbestos-containing products, the connection can be obvious. The same is true for mesothelioma patients who have worked as electricians, plumbers, construction workers, or in ship building or demolition – all careers where exposure to asbestos materials was common. But for others, the link can be more challenging.  Since work history can be a vital part of diagnosing mesothelioma, not knowing where, or even if, a person has been exposed to asbestos can delay treatment and impact…

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    Effectiveness of Mesothelioma Drug Improved by Other Compounds

    ByAlex Strauss

    Two new studies suggest that a popular mesothelioma drug becomes more effective when combined with other compounds. Pemetrexed (Alimta) is considered a gold standard chemotherapy treatment for mesothelioma, a cancer of the membrane that surrounds the lungs and other internal organs. For mesothelioma, pemetrexed is frequently combined with the platinum-based agent, cisplatin. Although many drugs interact with each other or trigger drug resistance, there has been little study of the interaction between these two key mesothelioma drugs. To better understand the relationship between pemetrexed and cisplatin, a team of Japanese researchers used the combination to treat mesothelioma cells in the lab. Although the team did find resistance to either pemetrexed or cisplatin in the mesothelioma cell lines they tested, they confirmed…

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    Chemotherapy “Bath” May Stop Mesothelioma Spread

    ByAlex Strauss

    There is more evidence that washing heated chemotherapy drugs through the open body cavity after mesothelioma surgery may help stop the cancer from spreading. A team at the Washington Cancer Institute followed the movement and absorption of these drugs – known as pharmacokinetics – to assess their potential for effectively killing spreading mesothelioma cells without harming healthy tissues.  Specifically, they were studying people who had one of the rarest forms of mesothelioma, called peritoneal mesothelioma. In these patients, mesothelioma in the membrane around their abdominal organs can progress up into the pleural space around the lungs. During a surgery called pleurectomy and decortication (P/D), the surgeon may remove all or part of the diseased pleural membrane and scrape cancer cells off the…

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    Australian Court: Asbestos Company Directors Guilty

    ByAlex Strauss

    After a legal battle that lasted more than ten years and prompted a made-for-TV movie in Australia, seven former corporate directors were recently found guilty of lying to employees and the public about mesothelioma compensation. Building product company James Hardie Industries was Australia’s biggest producer of asbestos cement and had manufactured asbestos products of various kinds since the 1930’s. In 2001, it moved its operation overseas, leaving behind a trust fund for Australian workers whose asbestos exposure at work put them at risk of mesothelioma and other asbestos related diseases. The company publicly stated that this mesothelioma compensation fund was ‘fully funded’ and would provide ‘certainty’ for current and future mesothelioma victims. In fact, the fund was on the verge of…

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    Red Wine for Mesothelioma?

    ByAlex Strauss

    Patients battling mesothelioma may want to discuss with their licensed healthcare provider the idea of adding red wine to their treatment strategy. There’s new evidence that the component in red wine that has long been known to fight heart disease and some cancers may help do the same for malignant mesothelioma. Resveratrol is a natural phenol derived from the skin of red grapes.  It has been linked to the “French affect” wherein the French appear to enjoy some cardiovascular protection against dietary fat. In recent years, resveratrol has also been the subject of numerous cancer studies.  The Korean study represents the first time resveratrol has been tested against mesothelioma, an especially virulent and hard-to-treat cancer. To test the impact of resveratrol…

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    “Encouraging” Mesothelioma Approach Combines Surgery and Light

    ByAlex Strauss

    A mesothelioma treatment approach that includes light-activated chemicals and a lung-sparing surgery is being called “safe” and “encouraging” by some of the nation’s top mesothelioma researchers. Radical pleurectomy and decortication (P/D) involves the removal of the thickened pleural membrane around the lungs and separation of the pleura from the chest wall. The goal is to allow the lung to expand more easily.  Because it is less likely to remove all of the mesothelioma cells than the more extensive approach known as Extrapleural Pneumonectomy (EPP), some doctors have only considered P/D for patients who would not tolerate lung removal. The debate among the world’s mesothelioma experts continues. But at the University of Pennsylvania, doctors are achieving notable success in treating mesothelioma with a…