Posted on Monday, February 24, 2020
ADAO 16th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference
“Where Knowledge and Action Unite”
April 3 – 5, 2020
Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel
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The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is proud to present a new weekly series “Meet the Speakers and Honorees,” which will highlight esteemed participants of our highly anticipated 16th Annual International Asbestos Awareness & Prevention Conference! The ADAO conference, which will take place on April 3-5, 2020 in Washington, D.C., combines 30 expert opinions, victims’ stories, and new technological advancements from nearly 10 countries across the globe into one united voice raising awareness about asbestos. ADAO is the only U.S. nonprofit that organizes annual conferences dedicated solely to preventing asbestos exposure and eliminating asbestos-caused diseases. Register Here Today!
Session IV “Advocacy: Global Ban Asbestos Action” Speakers: Harminder Bains, Dr. Barry Castleman, Sue Faivor, Fernanda Giannasi, Ehi Iden, Carmen Lima, and Barry Robson
Session IV Moderator: Brent Kynoch
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Harminder Bains, JD is a partner at Leigh Day, a law firm in London, UK. Her father died from mesothelioma and as a consequence she has campaigned and successfully used the law to protect the rights of victims of asbestos related diseases. Many of her cases have been reported as a result of setting precedents and have shaped current legislation for other lawyers in the UK. She has a formidable reputation as one of the country’s leading litigators. Due to this reputation, she is currently representing the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK pro bono in their application for documents dating back to the 1960s which they say will reveal what the international asbestos company, Cape, really knew about the dangers of asbestos.
Barry Castleman, ScD, is an Environmental Consultant trained in chemical and environmental engineering. He holds a Doctor of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He has been a consultant to numerous agencies of the US government and other governments, international bodies, and environmental groups dealing with a wide range of public health issues. He has testified as an expert in civil litigation in the US on the history of asbestos as a public health problem and the reasons for failure to properly control asbestos hazards. Dr. Castleman has spent the past. 40 years working on asbestos as a public health problem.
Sue Faivor will forever remember, Monday, October 31, 2016, as being the scariest Halloween and day of her life. Ghosts or goblins couldn’t have shocked her more than hearing the doctor tell her that she had “Cancer”. Not only did she have cancer, she had a RARE cancer called Mesothelioma, a cancer caused solely by the exposure to asbestos. Since being diagnosed, she has discovered there are many products containing asbestos that she was exposed to. Her fear only amplified more when she realized that her children, spouse and all 9 of her siblings, which are 3 brothers and 6 sisters were also exposed and could potentially be ticking time bombs to develop this government inflicted disease. From the very beginning, Sue knew she had to put her trust in GOD and prayed for the strength she needed to go through the grueling 11-hour HIPEC surgery and 4 Chemotherapy treatments. When time allows, Sue is educating people about the dangers of asbestos, the misconception that it is banned, and attending events, such as Miles for Meso. “This is what I feel I need to do”, she says. She created two t-shirts with her daughter, Jen, that are available for purchase on-line at Lakeside Custom Tee’s & Embroidery located in North Carolina. She is very pleased to be invited to be a part of the 2020 ADAO conference, here in Washington, DC.
Fernanda Giannasi, founder of the Brazilian Association of People Exposed to Asbestos (ABREA), is a Civil and Safety Engineer and ex-Labor Inspector for the Ministry of Labor and Employment for 30 years, currently retired and acting as an expert advisor for the Labour Prosecutors (Federal Labour Public Ministry) as well the asbestos victims’ solicitors. She is the coordinator of the Virtual Citizen Ban Asbestos Network for Latin America, and Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini. She serves as an expert witness in judicial cases related to asbestos, nuclear and other toxic chemicals such as Mercury, POP´s (Persistent Organic Pollutants). She also led thousands of workers who have filed lawsuits against the asbestos industry. In charge of a Federal Labor Inspector, she staunchly defended the public interest on workers’ safety and health and was pressured by the asbestos lobby in Brazil and Canada, and endured all kinds of pressures, harassment including death threats, offensive campaigns and criminal charges by her detractors. Despite of these, she has been awarded in Brazil as the Engineer of 2012 and internationally in Canada (Ray Sentes Award), USA by the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), and Japan by the Tajiri Muneaki Memorial Fund. She was awarded by both the State of São Paulo Appeal Court and the High/Supreme Labour Court with the Judiciary Order of Merit. She is internationally well known and highly respected for her proficient and persevering campaigning to save lives from asbestos. Fernanda Giannasi is the personification of the fight against asbestos in Brazil. She isn’t called ‘The Brockovich of Brazil’ for nothing. Last November, all her efforts to ban asbestos in Brazil as well the fight for Justice for the asbestos victims and their families were granted with the important decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court (STF) that declared asbestos banned in the whole country. Recently, she was indicated by the O GLOBO, one of the most important daily newspapers in the country to be one of the finalists of the Prize “FAZ DIFERENÇA” in 2017 (Make the Difference) in the category of Economy and was awarded in South Korea with the 2017 Rachel Lee Jung-Lim Award.
Ehi Iden is an Occupational Health and Safety Consultant with over 20 years’ work experience spanning through healthcare, patient safety and Occupational Health and Safety Management. He holds professional certificates in Industrial Hygiene, Community Change in Public Health, Mobile Phone for Public Health, Society and Health, Global Social Entrepreneurship, Behavioural Medicine, Patient Safety, Health and Wellness, Population Health and an Advanced Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Management. He also holds an MBA and M.Sc. in Workplace Health and Safety and currently a Doctoral Fellow doing a study on Workplace Health and Wellness Promotion. Ehi is a versatile trainer and conference speaker in high demand. He is the founding CEO of Occupational Health and Safety Managers (OHSM), a West African Regional Chair, Patient Safety Movement and Coordinator, OSHAfrica. He is a Member, Board of Trustees in Occupational Safety and Health Africa Foundation (OSHAfrica) and Occupational Health Research and Development Initiative (OHRDI).
Brent Kynoch is the Managing Director of the Environmental Information Association, headquartered just outside of Washington, DC in Chevy Chase, MD. He has been the Managing Director of the Association since 1996, but previously had served EIA in other volunteer roles on the Board of Directors as an officer, and ultimately as the President of EIA in 1988 and 1989. EIA has spent over 30 years at the forefront in providing its members with the information needed to remain knowledgeable, responsible and competitive in the environmental health and safety industry. Mr. Kynoch is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering. He is called upon frequently as a speaker, as a writer and as an expert regarding environmental contaminants. He has testified before both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate regarding asbestos, and has written numerous articles on asbestos management and control.
Carmen Lima is coordinator of the Quercus’s Waste Information Center, founder and Coordinator of SOS AMIANTO – Portuguese Asbestos Victim Support Group. She has a degree in Environmental Engineering, a postgraduate degree in Environmental Management and Sustainable Construction, and a Master in Planning and Sustainable Construction. She is attending the PhD course in Environmental Engineering, dedicated to the issue of Asbestos. She has participated as a speaker and moderator in several conferences and auditions in Portugal, Cape Verde, Belgium, Brazil and the USA. She frequently participates in television programs, interviews and articles for the media.
Barry Robson, the President of the Asbestos Disease Foundation of Australia (ADFA), became a Union delegate of the Waterside Workers Federation in 1970 and was elected as Senior Vice President of that Union in 1988. In 1995 he was elected Assistant Branch Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, a position he held until retirement from the workforce in 2003. From 1991 to 1995 he was a Councilor on the Blacktown City Council. He became a delegate to ADFA in 1996 and was appointed President in 2002 and elected President in 2003, a position he holds today. He has been appointed to the following, Asbestos Research Institute in 2004, Federal Government Asbestos in Telstra Infrastructure in 2013 and Federal Asbestos Safely and Eradication Agency (ASEA) in 2013. Barry has been awarded three Life Memberships, Maritime Union of Australia, St Mary’s Baseball Club and Blacktown Mt Druitt Cardiac Support Group.
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Check back next week for the fifth installment of “Meet the Speakers and Honorees” featuring our 2019 Session 5 Speakers.
In Unity,
Linda