For the past few years, health giant Johnson & Johnson has been involved with over 6,000 lawsuits claiming its talc products – Shower to Shower and baby powder – can cause of ovarian cancer. Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson was faced with another lawsuit regarding their talc-based products being linked to mesothelioma – a […]
Hand-held Device Quickly Determines Asbestos Contaminants in Vermiculite Insulation
The United States Geological Survey (USGS )scientists have developed a new time-saving technique for determining if vermiculite insulation contains traces of asbestos. Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral that expands when heated – as much as 8-30 times its original size – is light-weight, heat resistant, and like asbestos, has been used in numerous products. […]
National Asbestos Awareness Week: April 1 – April 7, 2018
For the fourteenth consecutive year, April – April 7, 2018, has once again been named Global Asbestos Awareness Week by the U.S. Senate and the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO). Since the conception of the ADAO in 2004, there have been 13 Asbestos Awareness Week Resolutions that have aimed to warn and educate the public […]
Demolition Costs in Pittsburgh Rise Due To Asbestos Regulations
In the past three years, the cost of demolishing condemned buildings in Pittsburgh have skyrocketed, jumping more than 550 percent between 2015 and 2017. In 2015 it cost on average $9,123, and just a year later, nearly $60,000. The cost has fallen to near half that price in 2017, but at $30,000, it is still […]
New Legislation Does More Harm Than Good for Asbestos Victims
In 2017, a bill was approved by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee that could damage the asbestos claims process and prevent victims of asbestos-related diseases from ever seeing any sort of monetary compensation before they pass. This bill, known as the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act, was written by the asbestos industry and is […]
Take-Home Exposure Duty Could Extend Beyond Family Members
Asbestos exposure in those who did not work directly with the carcinogen, but were exposed through a family member that did, is known as take-home exposure. As workers came home with asbestos dust on their clothes, hair, shoes, and tools, they were unknowingly contaminating their household. Wives have contracted mesothelioma by doing their husband’s laundry; […]
Apartment House in Point Breeze Potential Hazard to Surrounding Residents
Even though asbestos has not been used as a building material for homes in a few decades, the fact remains that many homes – especially those built before 1980 – may contain asbestos and could become a health hazard if those fibers become disturbed in any way. Insulation, floor tiles, roofing, and siding were all […]
Asbestos Cancer Risk Measured by Fiber Length
Since asbestos was used for decades in thousands of products ranging from attic insulation to woven oven mitts, it is hard to imagine that this versatile material is actually a naturally occurring mineral, composed of chemical compounds bundled into fibers. Found in serpentine, mafic, and altered ultramafic rocks, asbestos is divided into two groups – serpentine and […]
Asbestos Regulations – National Cancer Prevention Month
Despite the known dangers of asbestos exposure, asbestos is still legal in the United States. However, it is heavily regulated within different organizations in the government. Different agencies have their own laws and regulations for asbestos control to maintain exposure levels in the workplace, home, and environment. OSHA The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) […]
First Blood Test For Concussions Approved by the FDA
In recent years, many sports organizations including the NFL, have made numerous rule changes to their concussion protocol in order to identify concussions more quickly – mere moments from the time of impact. Determining concussions by symptoms may not always be clear, as symptoms might take days, weeks, or even months to appear after the […]