On September 25, at simultaneous events in Amsterdam at the IMIG meeting and in India, the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat’s latest publication, India’s Asbestos Time Bomb, was presented to the world. We are pleased and proud to announce that copies are available for reading and in downloadable .pdf format on the WorldAsbestosReport.org web site at no cost. Our firm has sponsored the presentation of complimentary copies to all IMIG attendees and has been given exclusive North American rights to publish this volume online. We encourage people to read this volume. As you will see from even a brief review, this is an excellent work that cost a great deal to prepare. I am sure that IBAS would welcome contributions of any amount to help defray those costs and to support similar work in the future. Information on direct contributions can be found on the IBAS web site. For those in the United States who would prefer to make contributions in dollars, they can be sent to The Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Oberman, Satterley & Bosl Foundation, Inc,, which will collect such contributions and forward them intact to IBAS.

This work contains articles placing India’s asbestos debate into its appropriate political context, both with respect to Indian government complicity in the asbestos scandal and with respect to the discussion about the true hazards of chrysotile asbestos. There are articles discussing the extent of exposure in India, the problems related to the ship-breaking industry, as previously discussed at length in another IBAS publication, Killing the Future, also available on WorldAsbestosReport.org in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Bangla. There are articles dealing with the hazards of asbestos cement roofing materials used in the construction of homes for India’s poor, the problems inherent in attempting to monitor asbestos exposure in a society like India, the extent of asbestos-related disease in India and the degree to which it has been unreported, the frustrating struggles of Indian workers and unions to obtain fair and efficient compensation for asbestos victims, and the scandalous history of western multinational corporations like Turner & Newall which have done massive asbestos business in India, leaving behind a legacy of death and disease.

This book is a credit to its authors and the organizations with which they work. It is a demonstration of courage and perseverance against appalling odds that this work could be done and done so well. It is also a credit to India’s great democratic traditions; one can only hope that the Indian government will be strong and responsive enough to deal with these problems for the benefit of all its citizens.

The 9th Biennial Conference of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group will take place September 24-26, 2008 in Amsterdam. This is the world’s largest medical conference devoted to medical and scientific research into the biological mechanisms which are the causes of, and treatment options for, mesothelioma and will bring together 300 of the world’s leading experts. We are pleased and proud to support this year’s IMIG Congress, just as we did for the 8th International Conference held in Chicago two years ago. This conference will feature multi-track programs devoted to mesothelioma biology, epidemiology, pathology, and various treatment modalities including radiotherapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and various surgical approaches. As sponsors, we were entitled to an exhibition table in the meeting hall, but since we will be attending to learn and not to sell anything, we have donated our exhibition space to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat and the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization so that those wonderful groups will have space to make available materials relating to their work and a place to visit with the attendees.

One of the most interesting features of this conference will be the display and presentation of 100 or more abstracts of new research work, presented during poster sessions where blown-up abstracts are displayed on easels and partitions for viewing by the attendees. During specific times, the authors will be standing at their posters and available to discuss the contents with the attendees. Each afternoon, the senior faculty at the conference will select for discussion approximately five of these posters for a more extensive presentation. We are particularly proud that the IMIG Organizing Committee has accepted our additional financial support to sponsor two €2,000 “outstanding young investigator” awards, to be presented at these poster discussion sessions in honor of and by representatives of both the IBAS and ADAO.

In addition, we are sponsoring two €500 “best poster” awards as well. I hope to be able to post additional notes from the conference, so come back and check in with us again soon.

On August 6, we posted news of the availability of this monograph in Bangla. Now available online at WorldAsbestosReport.org is a translation of this work into Chinese which will make it more accessible to the largest currently at-risk national population in the world.

Coming soon will be a new monograph edited by David Allen and Laurie Kazan-Allen of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat titled India’s Asbestos Time Bomb. Look for this on September 25. Our firm, through its Foundation, is proud that our support of IBAS over the past 10 years has helped make it possible for it to publish works of this quality. As always, your comments are welcome.

Each year, the Stanford Law School sponsors a two-day student-organized conference for over 250 law students, attorneys, and academics from around the country devoted to building a community of those committed to using the law for positive social change. This year’s conference, titled "Shaking the Foundations: The West Coast Progressive Lawyering Conference," will be held at Stanford October 3 and 4. We are pleased and proud to once again be a financial sponsor of this event and participate in the proceedings, including the career forum on Friday, October 3.

The conference features an opening keynote address by Vincent Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who has led the legal battle over events at Guantanamo, with panelists including distinguished faculty from U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law and Duke University. Also featured is Henry Weinstein, a distinguished and nationally respected reporter on legal matters for the Los Angeles Times.

For additional details of the program and how to register, click here.

Over the last 30 or so years, I’ve represented family members of mesothelioma patients who themselves develop mesothelioma, and so have other plaintiffs attorneys.

Doctors and researchers working with the victims of mesothelioma began to publish reports of clusters of the disease. A 2004 survey of 610 pleural mesotheliomas (Bianchi, Ind Health 2004 Apr 42(2):235-9: Familial Mesothelioma of the Pleura) found 40 familial cases.  While it is likely that shared asbestos exposure is a major factor, researchers are now exploring the possibility that genetic factors might play a role in determining the susceptibility to asbestos-related cancer. A recent article explores this possibility (Ugolini, Mutat Res 2008 Mar-Apr 658 (3):162-71: Genetic susceptibility to malignant mesothelioma and exposure to asbestos: the influence of the familial factor).

Ugolini analyzed cases of clustering in reported medical literature and concluded that the available medical literature supports the hypothesis that familial clustering of malignant mesothelioma is largely attributable to shared asbestos exposure.  The additional contribution of factors dealing with genetic susceptibility may also play a role.  This is important as the understanding of the genetic profiling of malignant mesothelioma may lead to new preventive and therapeutic treatments for this devastating disease, at least in some cases.

Anything we can learn about mesothelioma’s development can only be helpful in the worldwide effort to find a cure.  It remains true, however, that the best treatment is still prevention, so efforts to ban asbestos and protect workers and their families from all exposures must remain our goal.

Last year, we posted on www.WorldAsbestosReport.org a new monograph titled "Killing the Future: Asbestos Use in Asia," written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published by an international consortium of unions, victims’ groups, occupational health and safety organizations, and university groups under the overall coordination of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat. Published in July 2007, this monograph reviewed the experiences of China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Korea, and Japan in dealing with the problems of asbestos contamination. It documents the West’s dumping of contaminated ocean-going vessels into the ship-breaking industries of India and Bangladesh, and addresses the impact of natural disasters on the scope of asbestos contamination. This work built on the work begun at the 2004 Global Asbestos Conference in Tokyo and at subsequent meetings in Asia. In January 2008, we posted a Japanese translation and are delighted to now make available a translation into Bangla (Bengali), the primary language of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. We hope to continue adding newly published materials to the www.WorldAsbestosReport.org web site as they become available. Our firm, through The Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Oberman, Satterley & Bosl Foundation, Inc, is proud that our support of IBAS over the past 10 years has helped make it possible for it to publish works of this quality. As always, your comments are welcome.

A recent article published in The Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals (and a fan of our website!), once again demonstrates that there is as yet no really good treatment for Mesothelioma. The article focused on an analysis of a multicentre randomized trial to determine whether adding chemotherapy to active symptom control in the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma made any difference. It noted:

"Malignant pleural mesothelioma is almost always fatal, and few treatment options are available. Although active symptom control (ASC) has been recommended for the management of this disease, no consensus exists for the role of chemotherapy. We investigated whether the addition of chemotherapy to ASC improved survival and quality of life."  

Regrettably, the authors concluded:

"We observed no between-group differences in four predefined quality-of-life subscales (physical functioning, pain, dyspnoea, and global health status) at any of the assessments in the first 6 months."  

which means that "The addition of chemotherapy to ASC offers no significant benefits in terms of overall survival or quality of life."  

It still seems that the best hope for mesothelioma patients and their families is renewed efforts to understand how this disease evolves and find new treatment methods. This further highlights the overwhelming importance of eliminating future asbestos exposure in an effort to prevent future cases of this as-yet-incurable disease.  

Read the abstract on this trial of 409 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

In October 2006, our firm was pleased to be a major sponsor of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group’s 8th Biennial Congress 2006 in Chicago. We are again pleased to sponsor this year’s IMIG Congress 2008 in Amsterdam, being held at the end of September. This Congress brings together the world’s leading experts in mesothelioma research from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with hundreds of attendees taking part in an extensive three-track educational program.

The program includes extensive sessions on the basic science of mesothelioma, developments on the imaging of tumors, the pathologic diagnosis of the disease, developments in the various methods of treating the disease, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and various forms of surgery, as well as developments in the epidemiology of mesothelioma and prevention. The program will also include presentation of scores of posters submitted by researchers from all over the world.

We remain committed to working with the medical profession in the hope that they will continue to better understand the way that mesothelioma develops and find effective methods of treatment and, we hope sometime soon, a cure. We hope to be able to bring you additional news about IMIG’s Congress 2008 as plans develop. In the meantime, please visit IMIG’s web site and drop in on our IMIG congress page.

We are delighted to announce that effective January 1, 2008, we have two new partners. Phil Harley has returned to the Firm after practicing elsewhere for the last five years, and will resume his position as one of the leaders of our case trial efforts. The Firm’s name has changed to reflect his return. Jim Oberman, who was an associate and then Counsel to the Firm since 1998, has also become a partner. Jim is a Certified Appellate Specialist and will head up our appellate and legal research and writing efforts. Reach their biographies by clicking on their names above. The addition of Phil and Jim to the partnership further enhances our ability to provide the very best possible representation for asbestos victims and their families, which continues to be our focus and our mission. Please contact us if we can be of any assistance or if you have any questions about these changes. Steven Kazan

I am very pleased to announce a new addition to the resources available on www.WorldAsbestosReport.org. We have just posted a new monograph titled "Killing the Future: Asbestos Use in Asia," written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published by an international consortium of unions, victims’ groups, occupational health and safety organizations, and university groups under the overall coordination of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat. Published last month, this monograph reviews the experiences of China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Korea, and Japan in dealing with the problems of asbestos contamination. It documents the West’s dumping of contaminated ocean-going vessels into the ship-breaking industries of India and Bangladesh, and addresses the impact of natural disasters on the scope of asbestos contamination.

This work builds on the work begun at the 2004 Global Asbestos Conference in Tokyo and subsequent meetings in Asia. Copies are being provided to key members of both the House and Senate leadership to help them better understand the magnitude of the asbestos problem in the hope that such knowledge will improve the chances for S.742, the current version of Senator Patty Murray’s oft-proposed and until now ignored bill to finally ban asbestos in the United States. We hope to continue adding newly published materials to the www.WorldAsbestosReport.org web site as they become available, and also to begin to accumulate and post relevant materials from past seminars and research projects in order to make that as comprehensive a resource as possible.

Our firm, through The Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Oberman, Satterley & Bosl Foundation, Inc, is proud that our support of IBAS over the years has helped make it possible for them to publish works of this quality. As always, your comments are welcome.

To download a .pdf of the full report, click here.