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Asbestos
Disease Awareness Organization Newsletter |
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You are
receiving our September newsletter a few days early so we could alert
you to the PBS presentation of "Libby, Montana" on August 28. More
information is available below.
July 31
marked an important step on the road to banning asbestos in the US,
when the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW)
passed SB 742, the Ban Asbestos in America Act of 2007, for
consideration by the full Senate. In the
last weeks before the mark-up session, ADAO volunteers (including my
wife, Michelle, and I) met with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the author
of the bill, and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs EPW, as well
as with their staffs. Working intensively to strengthen and support the
bill, ADAO offered key recommendations on the language, which were
received enthusiastically and incorporated into the bill as passed by
EPW. The bill
had long incorporated ADAO's recommendation that funding provisions for
medical research and treatment cover all forms of asbestos-related
disease, not just mesothelioma. At virtually the last minute, the bill
also incorporated an amendment proposed by ADAO to address the fact
that many products on American markets are believed to contain asbestos
as a material contaminant, and not just as an unintentional ingredient.
The new language calls for banning not just the use of asbestos, but
its very presence in products, as well as mandatory, proactive
compliance testing by the EPA of products on the open market and
publication of these test results. In the
mark-up session, the EPW unanimously adopted this amendment and then
passed the entire bill by unanimous vote. Linda Reinstein, ADAO
Executive Director and Cofounder, and Doug Larkin, ADAO Director of
Communications & Cofounder, attended the mark-up session to show
support from patients, family members and doctors around the world.
They were elated by the vote and immediately broke the news of the
bill's passage to our volunteers. The bill
would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to include asbestos as a
banned substance, which previously would require the EPA to respond to
individual complaints from the public. With potentially thousands of
commercial products currently containing asbestos, this approach would
have been cumbersome and costly for the public to undertake, making the
ban impractical to enforce. In the verison passed by the EPW, the bill
represents a powerful new wall of protection for workers and the
public, closing loopholes in previous drafts that could have been
exploited by businesses wanting to continue producing products
containing asbestos. The full
Senate is expected to take up the bill in September or October. The
unexpected bipartisan support in the EPW bodes well for the bill's
chances on the Senate floor. However, the battle is far from over.
Opponents are expected to try to amend the ban bill with provisions to
control or eliminate asbestos liability lawsuits, along the lines of
the so-called "FAIR Act" that was defeated last year. ADAO will
maintain vigorous support for the ban and opposition to efforts to
taint it with favors for industry. ADAO
expects to advocate for the companion bill that has been introduced in
the House of Representatives by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN).
The Roll
Call Newspaper reported, "Former supervisor of the AOC's tunnel team,
John Thayer, appeared before the subcommittee to talk about the ill
effects he, his men and now their families are experiencing as a result
of asbestos in the tunnel system. "Our families now have to sit back
and watch their loved ones suffer, assuming they don't get sick from
the volume of dust we took home over the years for them to unknowingly
breathe," Thayer said. "The AOC knowingly was aware and left us to
suffer in the hazardous environment. ... Take care of the men and their
families who have given everything they had to support the Congress." When
asked by Members for some explanation as to how the men and tunnels
were ignored for seven years by AOC managers, Ayers - who joined the
agency as chief operating officer 18 months ago before taking over the
agency - blamed "management breakdowns" and, more specifically, poor
internal communications, a lack of independent third-party oversight
and a lack of a prioritization system in which life-safety issues could
rise to the top."
On August
1, 2007 the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization was proud to
announce the creation of the Asbestos Video Library (AVL). This Library
will become the video voice of the organization allowing ADAO to
broadcast important conferences, news on developments related to
asbestos-disease, announcements of upcoming events, updates on medical
treatments and support for asbestos-related disease victims 24 hours a
day seven days a week. The AVL and will have an interactive feature to
allow viewers to discuss issues with the ADAO as well as post important
information for the organization to share with other viewers. We are
excited with this new ADAO program for outreach and are sure this will
advance the awareness of asbestos-related disease and allow a mechanism
for support of those with questions up to now hard to find answers to.
We invite all to tune in, learn, and share your input with ADAO.
Q: How
does it feel to be chosen as volunteer of the month? J:
Considering how many people give so much of themselves to this cause,
it's an honor. Q: What
is it that you do for ADAO as the national spokesperson? J: As the
spokesperson I try to make people aware of the dangers that are around
them. I try to raise funds and do whatever possible to forward the
cause of Asbestos awareness. There are so many incredible doctors and
researchers that we work with all the time that what I try to do is to
give the human aspect as someone who has suffered the loss and as
someone who is terrified of the lack of knowledge. Q: How is
it that you go about doing that? J:
Through fundraising and by spreading the word to any voice that will
listen. For example I acquired the web address, www.adao.us, that
forwards to our original address,
https://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org, in the hopes that this
easier-to-remember web address would get more people to come to the
site and enlighten themselves. As strange as it sounds, It's almost as
if I'm selling a product, the difference here is that the product I'm
selling is information that could save lives. I perform every year at
the ADAO conferences, I publish the address in my CD booklets and I
mention it in every interview. Q: What
plans do you have in the future? J:
Eventually when I go on tour, I would like to have an information booth
representing ADAO. Q: So you
and Linda went to Washington DC to educate Members of Congress and the
national media about Senator Spector's trust fund legislation and for
Asbestos Awareness Day? J: Yes,
it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, to meet with the
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and it felt amazing to have a direct
voice into an influential ear. And now April 1st is the official
Asbestos Disease Awareness Day. Q: Will
continue to perform at the annual ADAO symposium? J: As
long as my schedule allows, I will do whatever Linda asks of me. I'm at
her beck and call. She says "jump," I ask "how high?" Q: What
do you see for the future of ADAO? J: To
find the best ways possible to spread the message about this. For many
people, Mesothelioma is just a long, difficult to remember word, that
they've seen in a late night infomercial where as I like to make people
aware and inform them that this isn't a selective killer. My father was
not a factory worker, we have no idea how he got the disease so there's
nothing to say that anybody is immune. And after the tragedy of 9/11
that caused the clouds of toxic dust to pour through the streets of New
York, trapped in the atmosphere and deposited around the world, from
what I've learned in my work with ADAO, I'm horrified for the future.
This is one case where saying "I told you so" brings me no joy. Q: What
is your ultimate goal with ADAO? J: To
bring awareness to the level of so many other causes that have been
struggling for awareness and ultimately a cure. We have a long road
ahead of us and I want to help build a freeway to the cure. It seems
that the entertainment industry is such a fixation of the general
public nowadays that the best thing I can do is to try and recruit
other entertainers for concerts, PSAs or anything possible. Like I said
before, it feels strange because I'm almost treating this as a product
but whomever takes a moment to look at this product will understand
that they can't live without it because that product is awareness.
The first
anniversary of a landmark Asian conference (Bangkok, Thailand) is being
marked with the publication of a dossier exposing the devastating
repercussions of Asia's increasing consumption of asbestos, an
acknowledged carcinogen. Information
and data previously unobtainable in the English language form the core
of: Killing the Future - Asbestos Use in Asia. An overview of asbestos
issues in several countries is presented and regional trends are
analyzed, all of which lead the author to conclude that: "The
transference of asbestos technology to industrializing countries is an
imperialist act which exploits the world's most at-risk populations.
The continuing use of asbestos is a crime against humanity and cannot
be justified."The text of this report highlights the work of asbestos
victims' groups, pioneering non-governmental organizations and global
labor federations in the fight to expose the lethal machinations of the
industry lobby. Photographs showing chaotic and hazardous working
practices throughout Asia reveal that the reassurance of asbestos
stakeholders that asbestos can be used safely under "controlled
conditions" is a bald-faced lie."Millions of global asbestos victims
have learned that when it comes to asbestos the polluter rarely pays;
the real costs of using this toxic substance are borne by individuals,
families, communities and countries. The best way to reduce the burden
of asbestos-related disease is to ban asbestos; asbestos is yesterday's
material and should be relegated to the dustbin of discredited
technologies and discarded materials," said author Laurie Kazan-Allen,
Coordinator of the IBAS. For
further information, contact Laurie Kazan-Allen, the IBAS Coordinator
by email: laurie@lkaz.demon.co.uk or phone: + 44 (0) 208 958 38 87.
The
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, a leading comprehensive cancer
center in the U.S. will be the venue of the ADAO Conference, Global
Mission: Call To Action To Prevent, Detect Treat Asbestos-Related
Diseases & Trauma. This event is being made possible by the
co-sponsorship of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, the
National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancers, also
based at Karmanos, and the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat
(IBAS). National
Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancers Co-Directors are
internationally renowned physicians Karmanos President and CEO John C.
Ruckdeschel, M.D. and Michael R. Harbut, M.D.,MPH, FCCP, and chief,
Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Conference
participants will learn about the most advanced medical, occupational
and environmental information available about asbestos related
diseases. Presentations will focus on occupational and non-occupational
exposure, public health and environmental aspects, early warning
symptoms, treatment, trauma and end of life issues.This important
international conference is being held to increase awareness of
asbestos-related diseases, which kills at least 100,000 workers
globally every year. This
important international conference is being held to increase awareness
of asbestos-related diseases, which kills at least 100,000 workers
globally every year. Watch for
more conference agenda and registration in the fall. For more
information contact : AAD@AsbestosDiseaseAwareness.org
The
Collegium Ramazzini, an organization named after the "Father " of
Occupational Medicine, Bernadino Ramazzini, an Italian physician born
in Carpi in 1633, is represented by no more than 180 active Fellows, by
its charter, and attempts to serve as an educational resource for
occupational and environmental issues. One topic that has been of
active interest has been the subject of asbestos, and trying to educate
the world about its dangers. Two active participants in the Collegium's
activities and writings have been the ADAO Science Advisory Co-chairs
Drs. Richard Lemen and Dr. Arthur Frank. The Collegium has written
several times and adopted statements regarding the hazards of asbestos,
including chrysotile, and has urge the banning of the use of this
material. Various Fellows regularly participate in asbestos related
activities around the world and include, but are not limited to T.K.
Joshi in India, Fernanda Giannasi in Brazil, Elihu Richter in Israel,
as well as others. Collaborating with other groups the Collegium, like
ADAO, has also had influence in Japan, Thailand, India, and other parts
of the developing world. Others have helped with support for Senator
Patty Murray's ban asbestos activities in the U. S. Senate. Many
Fellows were signatories to an Amicus brief filed with the Supreme
Court of Michigan which lead to a favorable decision about the hazards
of asbestos in brakes. It is good to know that ADAO is not alone in its
fight to bring to a halt the dangers of asbestos.
ADAO
reunion information will be posted on our homepage on October 1st.
In the
small town of Libby, many hundreds of people are sick or have already
died from exposure to asbestos, a notorious industrial toxin that many
Americans would consider long banned or under control. Visit the
P.O.V. website and watch additional scenes not included in the film,
listen to an interview with journalist Andrew Schneider, who broke the
story in Libby on the pages of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and
watch, or read an interview with filmmakers Drury Gunn Carr and Doug
Hawes-Davis (video, podcast and text).
As of the
September eNewsletter, Herman Hamilton will no longer be the editor. If
you have suggestions or comments, please email
info@AsbestosDiseaseAwareness.org. Thanks to Herman, we have an
exciting new eNewsletter format!
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