POB 1483, Baltimore, MD 21203-1483, 410-243-5864
WLA Home
Asbestos Watch
British Asbestos
Newsletter
News from India
Legal Information
Publications
News Reports
Paul Safchuck's Alerts
Jim Fite's Alerts
WLA Alerts & News
World Trade Center Health
Links
 

Asbestos Watch Newsletter
May 1994

Featured Articles:

Report to Asbestos Victims
Public Symposium: Asbestos, the Persistent Plague

Other Articles:

Paul--We Will Get You and the WLA!!!
Mesothelioma Victims Win Three Million Dollars Each
CCR Settlement Is No Good for Asbestos Victims
Turner and Newell Sued by Chase Bank
Lloyds of London Threatened by Asbestos
Edith Ford and Volunteers Honored
Manville Trust Still Fights Against Victims
Chrysotile Asbestos is Deadly
Italy Issues Ban On Asbestos
Open Letter to Health Professionals
Brazil Hosts Anti-Asbestos Conference
World Movement to Ban Asbestos Gain Strength


Paul--We Will Get You and the WLA!!
by Michele Hax

Paul Safchuck, WLA President, stands beside his vandalized automobile
Paul Safchuck, WLA President, stands beside his vandalized automobile

Since August, 1993, Paul Safchuck, WLA President, has been repeatedly attacked by vicious goons. The WLA has offered a $1,000.00 reward for information leading to the arrest and convictions of these goons.

It is 3 a.m. in the morning. Most families are sleeping peacefully, but a telephone is ringing in Paul Safchuck's house. Paul states "this is happening many nights during the week. You see they are just checking to see whether I am awake or not."

It started one morning in August when Paul came outside and found his van windows spray-painted. Since then, the vandals have spray-painted more of is van, written threatening messages on his shed and cut the wires to outdoor lights he hung to protect his family.

Paul has spoken out on behalf of asbestos victims in both the courts of Judge Weinstein and Judge Weiner. Paul has denounced settlements which have defrauded and delayed compensation to victims.

Paul has distributed information to asbestos victims so that they know their legal rights both with the asbestos companies and the insurance companies and their own lawyers.

The most recent attack came in early April while Paul was conducting an interview with "The Money Program" from BBC.

All members and friends of the WLA are asked to send their support and donations for additional security now being installed in the national office and the President's residence.

 


Mesothelioma Victims Win Three Million Dollars Each
by Paul Safchuck

A court in Baltimore Maryland has found several asbestos companies responsible for the death and disease of three mesothelioma victims. Two widows and a living victim were awarded three million dollars each in a jury trial ending in December 1993.

Throughout the country victims of mesothelioma frequently are awarded one million dollars or more by jury trials. Mesothelioma is a fatal cancer of the lining of the lung which is caused by all types of asbestos.

 


CCR Settlement Is No Good for Asbestos Victims!
WLA Campaign Wins
Over 250,000 Opted Out
by Paul Safchuck

Twenty asbestos companies and some large plaintiff attorneys have reached a proposed settlement known as Georgine vs. Achem. This proposed class action is before Judge Weiner in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pa. (No. 93-CV-0215).

The settlement is not in the interest of asbestos victims because: it forbids them a jury trial, it projects the number of asbestos victims as far below what actually exists, it requires proof of 15 years exposure, it sets payments to victims far below average settlements, it drops all punitive damages, it forces many victims to be represented by attorneys who have already made agreements with CCR and it is being stuffed down the victims throats just like the Manville Trust was done.

 


Turner and Newell Sued by Chase Bank
by Paul Safchuck

The Chase Manhattan bank, one of the largest in the United States, is suing Turner and Newell, an English business, because the Chase Manhattan bank building is sprayed with TN asbestos.

Chase claims losses of 185 million and Chase has uncovered very damaging evidence against TN. The most damning of this evidence was the subject of a special British Broadcasting Corporation program. Copies of the BBC broadcast can be ordered from the WLA for $20.00 while they last.

 


Lloyds of London Threatened by Asbestos
by Paul Safchuck

Reports from London, England show that Lloyds of London faces huge losses due to insurance policies which they held. Lloyds will go broke trying to pay for the destruction asbestos has caused in the United States. This could effect the government as many of the Tory Party are Lloyds' Names and might go bankrupt. This would force them to resign their position in government as one cannot be bankrupt and a member of Parliament.

 


Edith Ford and Volunteers Honored
by Michele Hax

Matthew Weaver sits at the computer and runs off banners and signs for the WLA demonstrations. He and Olivia Fite are teenage volunteers for the WLA. They have showed up for demonstrations--rain or shine--and helped make banners and posters asking for justice for those who have been wrongly treated by the system.

Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of Matt's participation is that it is being done from a computer in John Hopkins Hospital where he is being treated for his leukemia. He has sympathy for the many asbestos victims who must endure countless medical procedures, take endless amounts of medicine and feel powerless to disease.

Edith Ford has been selected by the Board for a special thanks for the volunteer work she donated to the WLA in the spring and summer of 1993. Thanks to all volunteers.

 


Manville Trust Still Fights Against Victims
by Jim Fite

The Manville Trust, set up seven years ago to pay compensation to people who were injured and killed by John Manville Company asbestos, continues to dodge its responsibility to victims.

The Trust has agreed to pay over 10,000 claims at 77 cents on the dollar and offers to pay 10 cents on the dollar to everyone else.

The White Lung Association has opposed the Trust's secret deals with some lawyers and has opposed the Trust reorganization. The Trust is protected by Judges Lifland and Weinstein in the Federal District Court located in Brooklyn, New York.

The Trust has moved, its new address is:

Manville Trust
8260 Willow Oaks Corporate Dr.
Fairfax, Virginia 22031
Phone: (703) 204-9300
FAX (703) 205-6249

To submit a Proof of Claim:
Manville Trust
P.O. Box 426
Merrifield, VA 22116-0426

If you have a hardship you might get the Trust to pay you 10% of the value of your claim under the Exigent Health Claim.

The White Lung Association is currently preparing a report on the legal fees which have gone to attorneys and been approved by Judge Weinstein.

 


Chrysotile Asbestos is Deadly!!!!
by Jim Fite

Millions of people have died from asbestos exposure in the last century. The majority of deadly asbestos used in the world is Chrysotile. Asbestos, including Chrysotile, has been banned, shunned and isolated throughout the United States. Asbestos is widely recognized as one of the most powerful cancer causing agents found in our environment.

It was one of the fist things regulated under U.S. work place and environmental law.

The Asbestos Industry in the Unites States, including Owens Corning, Owens Illinois, Westinghouse, Metropolitan Life Insurance, W. R. Grace and others wants to evade the responsibility for sale of the deadly Chrysotile Asbestos. The Chrysotile Defense. This defense is based on the lie that Chrysotile asbestos is safe and only the other forms of asbestos are harmful.

The "Chrysotile Defense" has been raised for over thirty years and has been soundly rejected by OSHA, the EPA, the Consumer Product Safety Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Justice.

There are millions of workers with deadly Chrysotile fibers in their lungs causing disease, infections and cancers each minute. Chrysotile asbestos has killed more people and caused more property damage than any other type of asbestos, it represent 95% of the asbestos now used in the U.S. and about 80% of asbestos found in U.S. buildings.

 


Italy Issues Ban On Asbestos
International Report

The Italian Government should be congratulated for its ban on asbestos and closing of Italian asbestos mines in 1993.


Open Letter to Health Professionals
by James Fite

The mass trails now being prepared for asbestos victims are setting some very bad medical standards for definition of asbestos related disease.

The White Lung Association is calling on medical professionals to stand up for ethical standards and to help us investigate these events.

Proposals to classify plural placs as a non-disability condition, to eliminate lung cancer compensation in those without asbestosis, to classify different ethnic groups in discriminatory manners and others, have been announced in several mass settlement actions.

This is allowing insurance companies, asbestos companies, the courts and plaintiffs attorneys to agree on disease categories based on economics, not medicine. In the Manville Trust, if you die of cancer, you do not get paid.

This trend is complicated by the harvest of industry paid medical consultants who spew garbled and unethical confusion on the general public. We invite the medical community, particularly those whose financial and educational careers have established the scientific evidence about asbestos, to join with us the battle to maintain science in the face of crude economic forces. For more information on the medical committee contact Jim Fite

 



Brazil Hosts Anti-Asbestos Conference
By International Agent

The Funda Centro, a government agency sponsored a conference on the dangers of asbestos on March 28-30,1994.

The conference was supported by major labor unions in Brazil, including those whose leaders may become the new government of Brazil this year.

The conference introduced anti-asbestos movement throughout the world and announced an agreement between the Brazilian Industry, Unions and Government to phase asbestos out of friction products.

 


World Movement to Ban Asbestos Gain Strength

A recent announcement from Japanese consumer groups shows the anti-asbestos movement in Japan is gaining strength.

The White Lung Association welcomes all Japanese environmental groups to gain information on the ugly asbestos experience in the United States.

Dick Jackson, of the Hull Group in England, represents one of the many growing groups of asbestos victims in England. The WLA issues a fond "hello" to them and Nancy Tait (Society for the Prevention of Industrial Disease).

The Clydeside Action on Asbestos support group has recently gained news coverage for their attempts to get compensation of shipyard asbestos victims in Glasgow, Scotland.

Some compensation has been obtained by the Australian victims with the help of the Asbestos Disease Society.

The Consumers Coalition of Malaysia deserves world wide support in the efforts to control and ban asbestos use.

 



White House Phone #
If you think ASBESTOS VICTIMS should have justice, then call the White House Opinion Line. The number is 202-456-1111.

 


Front Page, Week Of:

4/16/05: Spectre to Introduce U.S. Asbestos Bill This Week

5/22/05: Individuals Injured by Asbestos Exposure Oppose Specter's Trust Fund Legislation

10/16/05: Victim's Organizations Form Asbestos Victims Coalition in Opposition to Asbestos Trust Fund Legislation

11/17/05: White Lung Mourns Jose Jesus Pessora

12/18/05: Frist Introducing Asbestos Bill in January

12/04/06: Asbestos Watch Newsletter: Help Celebrate the 27th Anniversary of the WHITE LUNG ASSOCIATION

Jim Fite's Alerts:

Asbestos Victim's Superfund Compensation Program

Asbestos Watch March 14, 2005 (Maryland chapter of the White Lung Association meetings)

Directorate of Safety, Health, and Environment (open letter)

(more...)


Joe Oliver's Alerts:

Joe Oliver, National Board Member and former President of the White Lung Association, has issued a call to all persons to help gather evidence on the conspiracy by asbestos trade organizations to suppress the knowledge about the hazards of asbestos exposure.

If you know anything about this horrific history or have documents which can be used to further prove their heinous crimes, please contact Joe Oliver, WLA, POB 1483, Balt. MD 21203.

Leonard Makowski's Alerts:

The White Lung Association stands in opposition to The Specter Bill (S.852)


WLA Alerts & News

S.1115: Bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to reduce the health risks posed by asbestos-containing products - This bill is supported by the WLA.

Meet Mr. Asbestos

Proceedings of the Asbestos Symposium for the Asian Countries - now available for purchase.

Australia Bans Asbestos!

(more...)

News:

Senator Specter Breaks Promise to Mesothelioma Patient and Research Community

Senate Judiciary Committee returns to Mark-Up on May 11th: Proposed asbestos trust fund legislation will further penalize victims of asbestos-caused diseases

(more...)


World Trade Center Health:

In May 2003, the Global Environment & Technology Foundation developed the "Asbestos Strategies" report.

British Asbestos Newsletter:

The latest issue is Spring 2005

(more...)

News from India:

The latest issue is January 4, 2007

(more...)

Features:

December 17, 2000 is Asbestos Hazard Awareness Day

(more...)

Current Projects:

Asbestos Museum

 

Articles & Publications:

Occupational Respiratory Diseases: Asbestos Associated Disease -- Reprinted from: Maxcy-Rosenau Public Health and Preventative Medicine 11th ed. (John M. Last, Ed.) 1980, Appleton-Century-Crofts

Asbestos Victims Deserve Compensation Not Betrayal: position release by the Board of Directors, White Lung Association

(more...)

Links:


In Memoria:

Paul Safchuck May 21, 2003

Dr. William Nicholson Dies at 70

Ray Sentes Brave Fighter For Asbestos Victims


For more information please contact info whitelung org.