Mesothelioma Blog

The Hill has an article today on Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy still trying to get Senate passage of a bill to replace the asbestos-litigation system with a $140 billion trust fund. Specter is quoted as saying this is the last chance for this bill, and there are significant obstacles to passage, including [...]

Paul Gleason was a character actor, most well known today for his part in the cult firm The Breakfast Club. He died of mesothelioma on Saturday. He joins Steve McQueen as actors who have died of this disease.
Gleason played minor league baseball before becoming an actor. He was 67.

There is a new page over at the always excellent Mayo Clinic website about angiogenesis inhibitors and their possible use as cancer therapy. There was considerable excitement about angiogenesis inhibitors back in the late 1990s. This excitement faded somewhat when early tests did not produce the kind of miracle results people were hoping for. But [...]

Anyone who follows the asbestos tragedy is surely aware of the Libby, Montana situation. This mining town has experienced an epidemic of asbestos disease due to a vermiculite mine that W.R. Grace & Co operated there until 1990. The Libby residents have been battling for some redress and the Social Security Administration just announced that [...]

Stunning article (opinion piece) out of The Herald (Scotland). Writer Joan McAlpine lays out the case for mesothelioma patients: the fact that asbestos companies knew of the hazards and continued to produce this hazardous material.
“Mesothelioma sufferers already know what is killing them: exposure to asbestos dust. So they know who is to blame: irresponsible employers. [...]

Some controversey in the UK and a little tension between the medical establishments in Scotland and England. The Scottish Medicines Consortium approved alimta for mesothelioma treatment last year, but now the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, based in England, is saying the drug is too expensive. According to this article, “It is [...]

The Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia (ADFA) is holding a conference this weekend. One thing they are talking about is the legacy of the Baryulgil asbestos mine which operated between 1944 and 1976. There are all sorts of health problems in the area even today. Story here.

A few days ago we mentioned the SS Norway wandering the seas in search of a place to be dismantled. Asbestos and other hazards on board are scaring potential host countries. Now we see out of France, a naval ship in a similar situation. The aircraft carrier Clemenceau pulled into the port at Brest after [...]

There is an article in the journal Respiratory Medicine about mesothelioma tumors extending along the area where the doctors insert instruments for diagnosis and treatment. These researchers were able to prevent the metastases by applying targeted radiotherapy with no catheter damage. Encouraing news.

This story from The Age notes that government official Richard Marles refers Australia having the most sufferers of mesothelioma per capita in the world. ” “In many respects Australia is lagging behind other parts of the world and we need to lift our game,” Mr Marles said.”