The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled against a prosecutor representing a Mrs. Boley who passed away due to the “take home” effects of her husband’s work. Her husband, an employee of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, allegedly introduced dangerous asbestos fibers into their home which he was originally exposed to at his workplace.

Asbestos has been known to cause an array of serious health complications since the early 1920′s. While it has taken nearly a century to cut through the smoke-screen of misinformation deployed by a profitable and booming asbestos industry, it’s now well understood and accepted that asbestos fibers cause several different respiratory ailments, asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma, an aggressive and terminal cancer.

Asbestos has been completely banned throughout the European Union, is closely regulated and controlled by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States, and is recognized by the World Health Organization as a toxic workplace hazard that causes terminal illnesses.

While litigation against companies which expose their employees to asbestos fibers is generally becoming more and more successful, the Ohio Supreme Court drew the line at “take home” asbestos contamination.

The prosecutors of the Boley versus Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company case were aware that Ohio law limits a company’s liability for a hazardous workplace to the injuries or damages which occur in the workplace itself, but believed that the law would not apply to the “take home” effects of asbestos.

The Ohio Supreme Court did not agree, stating:

“When the provisions of [Ohio Revised Code] 2307.941 are read in their entirety, it is evident that the General Assembly intended the phrase ‘exposure to asbestos on the premises owner’s property,’ as used in R.C. 2307.941(A), to refer to the location of the asbestos to which an individual is exposed, not the location of the exposure…

“Thus, R.C. 2307.941(A) applies to all tort actions for asbestos claims brought against premises owners relating to exposure originating from asbestos on the premises owner’s property, and R.C. 2307.941(A)(1) applies to preclude a premises owner’s liability for any asbestos exposure that does not occur at the owner’s property.”

After four years of deliberation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the city of Marco Island, Florida, and a Marco Island contractor have come to an agreement concerning a Clean Air Act infringement involving asbestos. Quality Enterprises, a contractor hired to improve Marco Island’s sewer systems among other things, came under investigation by the EPA after an anonymous tip alleged that they were improperly handling old asbestos laden piping.

Asbestos has been linked with a variety of illnesses and ailments from respiratory complications to aggressive, terminal cancers such as mesothelioma. The effects of asbestos were downplayed dramatically for nearly a century, a feat accomplished by a rich, successful chemical and sealant industry backed by manufacturing needs and defense contracts. Asbestos, well known for its abundance and its insulating and fireproofing properties, was used in a wide variety of industries throughout much of the twentieth century.

The EPA’s decision in the 1980′s to completely ban the substance in the United States was overturned by the asbestos industry’s most powerful companies in a matter of years. The following decades saw the development of state and federal restrictions intended to safeguard industrial employees and the general public from asbestos exposure, restrictions which continue to be developed and enforced to this day.

Contractors such as Quality Enterprises which work with asbestos contaminated materials are required to acquire special licenses and abide by safe handling regulations. The investigation which followed the anonymous EPA tip-off found that the Marco Island contractor failed to follow several regulations, potentially creating a hazardous workplace for its employees and placing Marco Island residents in danger.

The violations of the Clean Air Act included improper inspection of an asbestos containing area, failure to remove asbestos materials before aggravating waste debris, failure to provide a properly trained asbestos hazard staff member on-site, and failure to dispose of asbestos as quickly as practically possible. Additionally, Quality Enterprises failed to wet the asbestos materials before handling them, a violation of state safe handling regulations.

While the EPA has required neither the city of Marco Island or Quality Enterprises to admit guilt to the Clean Air Act infractions, Quality Enterprises has been fined $82,772.

The chairman of the Marco Island City Council, Frank Recker, was happy with the outcome, saying that he just wanted it to be clear that the city wasn’t responsible. “It was Dr. [interim City Manager Jim] Riviere’s and my mission,” he said, “to get the world to understand we didn’t think the city was financially responsible for anything.”

While bodily harm, injury and even death due to extreme heat, lack of breathable oxygen, falling debris and collapsing buildings are all risks which firefighters are well aware of, it turns out that there may be less obvious and equally dangerous risks associated with their heroic work.

Firefighters face countless toxins due to the smoky, superheated conditions in which they work. It’s already been discovered that many firefighters are subjected to airborne asbestos, formaldehyde, and more on the job, but research regarding the long term affects of such poisons has never been conducted.

A new study which the NIOSH, or National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, is embarking on hopes to change all of that. Working with the United States Fire Administration, the ambitious new undertaking will collect data from nearly 18,000 current and retired firefighters to learn more about their long term health conditions.

One of the facets of the new research will aim to better understand the risks to firefighters posed by airborne asbestos fibers.

It’s long been established that asbestos fibers cause an array of devastating illnesses and conditions. Respiratory complications, asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma are a few of the dangerous and even terminal illnesses caused by the dangerous mineral.

Unfortunately, asbestos saw plenty of use as fire retardant insulation throughout the twentieth century, meaning that its presence is a fairly commonplace occurrence for most firefighters. The tiny asbestos fibers cannot be burned up, so instead become whisked away in the incredible heat of the fire, lacing the already dangerous smoke and broiling hot air with an unseen, and often unmitigated, danger.

Mesothelioma, one of the most dangerous diseases caused by accidental inhalation of asbestos fibers, can take decades to develop after contamination occurs. The disease develops as the tissues around the lungs and other organs begin to scar as a reaction to the presence of microscopic asbestos fibers. This scarring, in time, could develop into malignant tumors that spread to the body’s vital organs causing swelling, pain, and eventually death. The presence of asbestos fibers in burning buildings could mean that firefighters face serious, daunting risks to their health far beyond the dangers of putting out fires, dangers that could haunt them beyond their retirement.

The NIOSH working together with the USFA hope to learn more about the unseen dangers of firefighting to help protect local heroes after their day’s work is done.

A small demolition company working out of Surry, B.C. Canada has been charged with several counts of improperly disposing of hazardous materials. The company, Speedy Excavation, allegedly disposed of several truckloads of asbestos contaminated materials at a waste facility that wasn’t intended to able to handle hazardous waste.

Often, waste and recycling centers operate on the honor code, expecting construction, renovation or demolition companies to follow the guidelines concerning appropriate waste to be dumped for processing. The recycling center in New Westminster, Canada, was unaware of the nature of the waste, which not only meant putting the general public in harm’s way through inappropriate disposal methods, but also meant directly risking the health and welfare of their employees.

Illegal dumping of asbestos and other toxic materials is a serious problem due to the fact that it’s so lightly policed. Often, illegal dumping goes unnoticed and unpunished, especially when the toxic material in question is one that’s not easily detectable like asbestos. Asbestos fibers can not only contaminate the areas around landfills and waste processing depots if not properly handled, but could potentially affect water supplies or remain in open air, constantly aggravated trash piles where its fibers could become an airborne hazard.

Asbestos contamination has been linked to the development of several serious and even fatal diseases. Respiratory difficulties, scarring of the lungs, asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma – a terminal cancer of the tissues surrounding the body’s vital organs – are all caused by exposure to asbestos. Almost one hundred thousand people worldwide are believed to develop mesothelioma each year, and that number is likely to continue to rise until asbestos regulations are sufficiently tightened.

A B.C. conservation officer, Jack Trudgin, said that it was Speedy Excavation’s first offense. He believes that small companies may ignore regulations to gain a competitive edge when bidding for projects, a problem that could be aggravated by the recent economic downturn. The asbestos materials which Speedy Excavation disposed of at a New Westminster depot, for example, should have been shipped much farther to Alberta using more expensive hazardous material transportation services.

“It is a terrible situation,” says Gary Zappone, the owner of a hazardous materials transportation service, “and with the recession people are trying to cut corners and this is what has been happening. It is dangerous. Airborne fibers from asbestos are hazardous to people’s health.”

The Orange Public Library in Orange, New Jersey closed earlier this year unexpectedly due to lead and asbestos materials found inside of the building. Originally, the library had announced that it would reopen towards the end of May, but the doors have remained closed without a word from library or state officials. Considering the current atmosphere around asbestos related health issues, the lack of communication has certainly caused some concern.

The library building, an exemplary specimen of Beaux Art and Classical Revival architecture, is a well known historical landmark of the Orange, New Jersey. With more than 150,000 books, the library used to see plenty of patrons each day, and its closing went far from unnoticed.

The asbestos issue is one that’s fairly common in buildings constructed throughout the twentieth century. At one time, asbestos was used very often as cheap, effective insulation as well as a strengthening material and a fire retardation additive. While the dangers of asbestos have been well understood since the 1920′s, it’s only in recent history that the general public has been made aware of its potential health hazards.

Organizations like the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization maintain that asbestos causes terminal cancers like mesothelioma as well as respiratory diseases, and in the United States federal and state laws mandate that asbestos materials must not be exposed in public buildings or other areas.

The asbestos in the Orange Public Library was discovered by an employee and later confirmed by an official investigation. The library was given until March to hire licensed asbestos abatement contractors to take care of the issue, but the deadline was then moved to June as nothing was done to correct the problem. Later, upon failing to begin making arrangements when the extension was granted, the Director of the Library was suspended.

The library remains closed and neither library nor state officials have released any information about its status or planned reopening date. In today’s atmosphere of increasingly frequent asbestos related lawsuits, it’s possible that the library has put itself in harms way by failing to handle the asbestos issue properly in the past. Employee’s and patrons of the library may have been subject to some negligent inaction, exposing them to dangerous asbestos fibers that can cause serious and incurable diseases.