Larry Davis has both seen and experienced the horrors of mesothelioma firsthand. Because of that, the lifelong runner – and longtime survivor of the asbestos cancer – has done his part to raise awareness and raise money to help fight the disease.

An upcoming event that Davis – a resident of Pompano Beach, Florida – will be participating in will be a benefit race in Illinois during the weekend of National Mesothelioma Awareness Day, which falls annually on September 26, according to the Florida-based Sun Sentinel

“The organizer told me, ‘We’ve got hills, they’ll kill you.’ I’d rather go that way,” Davis said jokingly, according to the Sentinel.

In addition to being diagnosed with mesothelioma himself, Davis also saw his father succumb to the illness at the age of 56 after being exposed to asbestos fibers while working at a box manufacturing plant in New Haven, Connecticut.

While using his passion for running is one means of raising awareness and funding for mesothelioma research, Davis also played is part in the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation’s convincing of 50 members of Congress  to establish September 26 as National Mesothelioma Awareness Day.

“It’s hard to believe that a group such as ours could go to [Washington] and get the attention of Congress and get them to do something,” said Davis, according to the Sun-Sentinel. “It’s huge. I feel pretty good about what we did.”

He has also repeatedly shown his support for Ban Asbestos Now and CureMeso.org, among other mesothelioma awareness groups.

For those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer that can be linked to asbestos exposure caused by a product or former employer, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney to learn more about your rights, and to see if pursuing a mesothelioma settlement is in your best interest.

In an attempt to both honor loved ones who have passed away from mesothelioma and also raise awareness on the dangers of asbestos exposure, hundreds of family members of mesothelioma victims assembled recently to hold pay tribute during a ceremony in Manchester, England.

With photos of their relatives in hand – many of whom were exposed to asbestos while working in factories that utilized the substance – more than 200 grieving family members gathered in front of the town hall and watched as doves were released to honor the 30,000 people who have succumbed to mesothelioma, the Manchester Evening News reported.

The event was held on July 2 and sponsored by the Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group.

Lauren Ross, a campaigner at the event who saw her husband Frank pass away from the illness in February 2007 at the age of 60, said that she still had worries about asbestos exposure with regard to her daughter – who is training to be a teacher in buildings that were built using the fiber. Additionally, she said that homeowners should be aware that their homes may also have been built using asbestos.

“There are dozens of garages where we live which are riddled with asbestos,” she said, according to the Evening News. “Home owners need to be aware of this. They can’t just go knocking them down. The dust would go everywhere.”

The event was one of many recent attempts by the support group to reach out to factory workers and warn them of the dangers of asbestos exposure that include an increased risk of developing mesothelioma or asbestos cancer later in life.

For those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer that can be linked to asbestos exposure that occurred while working for a former employer, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney to learn more about your rights, and to see if pursuing a mesothelioma settlement is in your best interest.

Evan Handler photo: sitcomsonline.com

In his two books about his experiences – “It’s Only Temporary” and “Time on Fire”- Handler reports egregious mistakes in his care that could have been disastrous if he had not been so vigilant. He was given intravenous drugs meant for another patient, almost given medications by nurses that his doctors had forbidden for him and that other hospital staff refused to follow the hospital’s posted hygiene precautions for immunosuppressed patients like himself. During his eight months in the hospital, Handler became the ultimate empowered patient by learning to double-check everyone’s work and trust no one – including doctors and nurses completely. He even started forging his doctor’s signature on his blood tests so that they would make it to the lab faster.

“I was lucky to be able to maintain my strength and do it as long as I did, and my girlfriend at the time, Jackie, was willing to sit by my side and advocate for me, and she was very skilled at doing it. You wonder, how many people die from illnesses because the strength to keep up vigilance runs out?”

Unfortunately, many do die. It is estimated that medical errors in hospitals kill between 44,000 – 98,000 patients a year. If you have mesothelioma cancer or any other medical condition, being vigilant, informed, and an all-around bad patient may save your life.

Read the interview between Handler and CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Frank Cavaluzzi sporting one of our BAN t-shirts (Ben Filio | The Daily News)

He doesn’t have a bicycle seat and will be carrying pounds of gear on the sides of his two wheels, but that won’t stop Frank Cavaluzzi from riding all the way from his home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. — with the goal of raising awareness about Mesothelioma and its deadly grip on thousands of Americans suffering from the form of cancer every year.

Cavaluzzi, who himself suffers from a different lung ailment (allergic asthma), took up biking as a way to open his diaphragm and help his breathing, now wants to use his new-found skill in long-distance biking to help those struggling with mesothelioma.

Sponsoring him is Larry Davis — someone we’re very familiar with here at MesoRC — who has been one of the leading figures behind raising awareness for mesothelioma patients.

“Larry Davis is the inspiration for this ride,” Cavaluzzi told the McKeesport Daily News. “He’s helping to sponsor and support it by being an activist.”

You can read the entire article here, and follow Cavaluzzi’s trek to D.C. on Davis’ website — actionagainstasbestos.com

A noted doctor and his colleagues from the Collegium Ramazzini have thrown their support behind a global asbestos-usage ban in order to decrease the number of mesothelioma and asbestos cancer diagnoses around the world.

Along with other Fellows of the independent, international academy that is the home to 180 renowned experts in occupational and environmental health, Dr. Joseph LaDou recently stated that a worldwide ban on asbestos was needed in order to see a significant decline in diseases that have been linked to the fiber.

“All asbestos-related diseases are preventable if asbestos is banned globally,” he said, according to an article in Environmental Protection.

Currently 52 countries have banned asbestos usage within their borders. The United States is among the countries that have not yet enacted a ban on the fibers.

According to EP, there are still 2 million metric tons of asbestos produced every year and exposed to more than 125 million people who work at companies that deal with the substance on a regular basis. Still more likely interact with asbestos in their homes where the fibers were used during its construction as a fire retardant.

For those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer that can be linked to asbestos exposure caused by a product or former employer, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney to learn more about your rights, and to see if pursuing a mesothelioma settlement is in your best interest.

The Boston Fire Department is dealing with yet another steam pipe break that may have spewed asbestos fibers used in the pipe’s construction into the air and putting residents at risk for exposure.

On August 27, a steam pipe located underneath Milk Street in Boston’s downtown ruptured and sent steam flowing through the pavement and onto the street, leaving a 27 inch hole in the ground as a result.

City firemen and hazardous material crews descended on the scene while the road was closed off to the public as tests were conducted to see if any asbestos had been exposed and made its way into the air.

“It erupted, and put a pretty large hole in the street. Debris blown across the street. Thank goodness there wasn’t no pedestrians or anybody out here, and the weather was like today,” Fred Ellis, Jr. of the Boston Fire Department told WHDH-TV, the city’s NBC affiliate. “Nice day and there would’ve been a lot of people out here, so we’re fortunate it rained as it did.”

The latest pipe burst in Boston came one month after another ruptured steam pipe in the city’s South End sent steam and debris into the air and concerned some that asbestos may have been exposed as well.

“The least of our worries is steam, but the most of our worries is the pipes may be contaminated with asbestos, so when it pops up it gets into the environment, so we just want to make sure that it is in fact just steam and not any asbestos,” said Boston Fire Department Chief Andre Stallworth at the time, according to WHDH-TV.

The South End area was sectioned off as well, with specialized asbestos management teams sent in to control the situation and test for any asbestos that may have made its way into the air.

For those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer that can be linked to asbestos exposure, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney to learn more about your rights, and to see if pursuing a mesothelioma settlement is in your best interest.

Evidence proves that the asbestos industry knew from about the 1920s on that asbestos killed and sickened workers who were exposed to it. Because its use was so widespread for so long, hundreds of US companies used the fibrous mineral to make many thousands of products until the dangers of asbestos became widely known in the 1970s. When inhaled, asbestos can lead to a range of deadly and debilitating diseases such as mesothelioma cancer.

As early as the 1930s, executives at asbestos companies were covering up the fact that employees were getting sick and dying in large numbers from asbestos-related diseases. These executives concealed or destroyed memos about the dangers of asbestos, paid off doctors to suppress results or ignored reports altogether, and quietly offered compensation to individuals affected by their daily work with the hazardous mineral, making them promise never to tell their co-workers about their disease. This malfeasance became known as the “conspiracy of silence.”

1. W.R. Grace and Company

W.R. Grace is perhaps most famous for being the villain in the 1996 book “A Civil Action” (later made into a movie starring John Travolta), which detailed the company’s negligence in poisoning the drinking water in Woburn, Massachusetts.

But Grace’s malfeasance in Woburn could not match the devastation it wrought on tiny Libby, Montana. Grace bought the Zonolite mine near Libby in 1963, which produced a very profitable but hazardous vermiculite mineral that was used widely for insulation, gardening, and fireproofing.

Grace knew that the vermiculite was contaminated with tremolite asbestos, a particularly dangerous form of the mineral that causes asbestosis and mesothelioma, but never warned their workers or the public. Grace vermiculite has killed and injured thousands, including children who played on piles of contaminated waste rock that lay outside of its processing plants and played on the town baseball field that was covered in mine waste rock. Until 1990 when the mine was finally closed down, 80 percent of the world’s vermiculite came from Grace.

Grace has never admitted to wrongdoing in Libby, and continues to be a profitable company located in Cambridge Massachusetts to this day, despite having filed for bankruptcy protection in the 1990s. Their new company slogan is “Enriching lives everywhere.”

2. Johns-Manville

Johns-Manville was for decades the largest and most powerful asbestos company in the world. J-M produced countless tons of asbestos insulation, cement, plasters and other products during its 100 plus years as leading asbestos manufacturer before it filed bankruptcy 1982 to avoid paying the avalanche of lawsuits from its victims.
There is overwhelming evidence that J-M executives knew as early as the 1930s that its products were killing its workers, but hid the findings in the face of enormous profits.

J-M, like other asbestos companies denied right up to the end that asbestos is dangerous.

One famous 1966 internal corporate J-M letter states:

“My answer to the [asbestos] problem is: if you have enjoyed a good life while working with asbestos products why not die from it. There’s got to be some cause.”

Johns Manville (sans hyphen) was bought by Berkshire Hathaway in 2001 and continues to be a highly profitable company.

3. Owens Corning

In the 1940s Owens Corning was a fiberglass insulation manufacturer struggling to complete with the rising dominance of asbestos as an insulation product. Drawing from the volumes of published medical literature showing that asbestos was a health hazard, Owens Corning attempted to discredit asbestos and gain approval from the labor unions.

When the strategy failed, Owens Corning joined the fray and became a major asbestos producer itself, adopting the new strategy of the conspiracy of silence.

4. Bendix Corporation

Bendix manufactures brakes and brake linings for the automotive and aerospace industries. Although asbestos-free today, Bendix products were once made from asbestos. Like the rest of the asbestos industry, Bendix knew for decades that asbestos exposure caused deadly and painful diseases such as asbestosis and lung cancer, but did nothing to protect their workers or the public.

In 1970 Bendix sponsored a contest for employees to figure out what to do with the 15 tons of asbestos-filled brake dust that poured out of the factory every day. Despite knowing that asbestos causes mesothelioma cancer even in small amounts, some of the ideas floated by the company were filler for asphalt products, undercoating for automobiles, and filler for bowling balls.

5. John Crane

John Crane has the dubious distinction of being the most popular defendant in the asbestos mass tort. This is because for several decades, almost all of Crane’s gasket material, rope, valve packing, and tape contained asbestos. Not only did Crane knowingly expose its workers to dangerous levels of exposure to asbestos and put them at risk of developing mesothelioma, it also exposed anyone who came into contact with these products.

Unlike many of its fellow asbestos manufacturing friends, John Crane was never forced into bankruptcy and remains a solvent company today.

Thanks to a long paper trail left behind by asbestos industry executives, asbestos attorneys were able to prove that many of these companies knew their products were dangerous yet failed to warn their workers and the public. Asbestos law has emerged as a viable path for victims to receive compensation for their suffering.

The town of Asbestos, Quebec has once again found itself at the center of controversy as it continues to defend the mining operations of asbestos fibers that detractors contend are continuing to kill people around the world.

The most recent flap between the town – which is the home to an asbestos mine – and anti-asbestos organizations came in July when the town elected to cancel a Relay For Life fundraising event  sponsored by the Canadian Cancer Society in order to support its mining industry.

“It’s our past, it’s our history, therefore the population is united in support of the mining industry,” Asbestos’ Mayor Hugues Grimard said, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Centre.

The decision comes after the CCS authored a letter to Premier Jean Charest asking him to not pledge a loan for the town’s mine that would enable it to stay in business. The mine had previously filed for bankruptcy protection.

“For sure, it’s a shame because we won’t be giving back to a cause for cancer research,” Grimard added.

André Beaulieu, a spokesman for the Canadian Cancer Society, told the CBC that the organization would not adjust its stance on the mine in Asbestos and hoped that Canadian officials would choose to use the money in other ways to help the town.

“We are concerned about the fact that asbestos is a fiber that is killing people,” Beaulieu said. The CCS has said that 90,000 people are killed every year from asbestos that is mined in Quebec.

“Our mandate is really public health and right now, obviously, the community’s looking from an economic point of view and we understand,” he added.

Since it was first initiated four years ago, the Asbestos leg of the 12-hour overnight fundraising event had raised nearly $350,000.

For those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer that can be linked to asbestos exposure caused by a product or former employer, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney to learn more about your rights, and to see if pursuing a mesothelioma settlement is in your best interest.

Although it’s stirring up fierce debate on the internet, California state Sen. Gloria Romero’s (D-Los Angeles) quest to kick the state rock serpentine from its pedestal has resulted in little more than yawns over at the LA Times.

Romero sponsored the bill under pressure from a trio of mesothelioma awareness groups that argue that sometimes asbestos-containing serpentine is a poor choice to symbolize the state with some of the highest instances of mesothelioma in the nation. Mesothelioma is a rare but deadly whose only known cause is exposure to asbestos.

Asbestos is a killer, but serpentine’s designation as the state rock has zero impact on the ongoing mesothelioma tragedy. And did we mention that while the Legislature is gathering moss on the rock issue, the budget is now 13 days overdue?

Read the full article on the asbestos / serpentine article here.

A debate has been raging since June when Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) introduced Bill SB 624, which would strip the California state rock designation from serpentine, a rock that can contain naturally-occurring chrysotile asbestos.
Does serpentine, or more specifically the asbestos it contains, cause cancers such as mesothelioma as the bill’s sponsor argues? Or is serpentine a fascinating but misunderstood symbol for California’s unique landscape, with no ties to cancer, as the rock’s defenders argue? The debate is playing out across Twitter (where the discussion is tracked under the hashtag #CAserpentine) and in newspapers, blogs, and no doubt gem shows across the country.

No matter who wins the debate, there’s no denying that the story has brought a new level of awareness to asbestos exposure and the very real problem of mesothelioma. And it was a very real case of mesothelioma that started the ball rolling on Bill SB 624.

Alan Reinstein died in 2006 from mesothelioma, a deadly form of cancer whose only known cause is exposure to asbestos. Now his widow Linda wants to prevent more needless mesothelioma deaths by making people aware of the dangers of asbestos. Linda Reinstein founded the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) after her husband’s passing to help ban the use of asbestos and promote awareness. Sen. Romero sponsored the “symbolic” bill SB 624 as a way to continue to expand the debate. The bill is still being considered in the California legislature.