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Australian asbestos exporter lobbies Congress for "no fault" legislation before American victims can be compensated
The company has hired Washington influence peddling firm Shea and Gardner – a subsidiary of Goodwin Proctor – to push its powerful Republican contacts for legislation establishing President Bush’s $140 billion scheme to eliminate asbestos lawsuits.
Hardie’s newfound interest in American politics comes after The Australian broke the story last week of Hardie’s asbestos dealings, plus a secret payout to an American victim from one of Hardie’s former subsidiaries. Just before Christmas, Hardie also agreed to a $1.5 billion (Australian) fund for Australian victims of products it manufactured until 1987.
Unfortunately for Hardie, that will likely not be enough to cover the potential American lawsuits, said Steve Kazan, whose Oakland-based firm has decided to pursue this case. Kazan said, however, that he and his colleagues will be “quite happy” to sue Hardie’s registered U.S. subsidiaries on behalf of the sick and dying when and if the trust fund is exhausted. This move should help to prevent Hardie from hiding behind the Australian government, which the company is lobbying for protection through legislation allowing only Australians to covered by the compensation fund.
For more information on asbestos and industry’s efforts to avoid caring for those it poisoned, please see EWG’s studies A Slow Death in Texas and Asbestos: Think Again.
Fire retardants found in Canadian foods
Though the effects of these chemicals, called PBDEs, on humans are uncertain, in animal tests they affect memory and learning, and can alter thyroid hormone levels, which may stunt growth. Toddlers and breast-feeding infants are most at risk.
Fire retardants were found in almost all the 13 foods tested, including farmed rainbow trout, farmed Atlantic salmon, sausage, butter, cheese and milk. The chemicals were not found in chicken. Fire retardants and other environmental toxins accumulate in fat, so leaner foods generally have lower levels of chemicals.
The levels in individual foods were low, but because fire retardants accumulate in the body, exposure over a long period of time could lead to developmental problems, possibly including disorders such as ADHD. PBDEs may pose the same threats to humans as a related family of chemicals, carcinogenic PCBs, which were banned in the 1970s after they were found to cause birth defects and neurological disorders and increase the risk of some cancers.
The Environmental Working Group performed tests for PBDEs on household dust in 2004, finding three prevalent fire retardants: Octa, Penta and Deca. The federal government removed the first two from the market at the end of 2004, but EWG’s results found the third, Deca, to be the predominant contaminant in half its sampled homes. Deca also breaks down into the other two forms of PBDEs, rendering their removal useless without their cohort.
To view EWG’s studies on toxic fire retardants, please visit EWG's reports In the Dust and Mothers’ Milk.
New Hampshire Determined to Limit Mercury Emissions, Despite Federal Stalling
New Hampshire’s clean-up efforts come in response to a federal proposal allowing a cap-and-trade for mercury emissions that was expected in December, but delayed. Conservationists will likely challenge the rule in court if it’s enacted, but nothing can be done until then, conveniently leaving mercury up in the air — and continuing to seep into our water.
New Hampshire and a coalition of other Northeastern states on the receiving end of pollution from power plants in the West want plants held to the emissions standards of the Clean Air Act, which requires them to install pollution reduction equipment. Other bills in the state legislature deal with banning mercury in landfills and consumer goods.
The Environmental Working Group performed a year-long study that found a signature metabolic link between mercury and autism. The group has also studied mercury in seafood, finding dangerous levels in several types of fish, particularly canned albacore tuna.
Mercury exposure causes neurological and developmental problems in children, but kids and pregnant mothers aren’t the only ones who should limit their consumption. A new Finnish study found that eating fish with high mercury levels puts middle-aged men at greater risk for heart attack and stroke.
View EWG’s studies on mercury and autism, mercury in seafood, and mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants.
Farmed Fish Consumption Rising – Along With PCBs
The Washington Post reports that half the fish consumed worldwide will be farm-raised instead of wild-caught by the year 2025, exposing Americans to more fish with plenty of healthy omega-3s—and dangerous levels of toxic PCBs.
With an eye toward the U.S.’s $8 billion seafood trade deficit and increasing worldwide demand, the Bush administration is pushing to quintuple aquaculture yields by the same year. While fish farming provides more affordable seafood and takes the pressure off tapped-out wild stocks, current practices too often ignore aquaculture’s health and environmental costs.
The Environmental Working Group conducted studies on farmed salmon from grocery stores and found on average 16 times the dioxin-like PCBs found in wild salmon. Farmed salmon is likely the most PCB-contaminated protein source in the U.S. food supply. PCBs cause cancer and were banned in the United States in 1976.
Fish farming also harms ecosystems by releasing nutrients, waste, chemicals, and escaped domestic fish into oceans.
To read EWG’s study on farm-raised salmon, please visit www.ewg.org/reports/farmedPCBs/es.php.
More health problems for asbestos victims?
Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered a possible link between asbestos and autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
It is well-documented that asbestos exposure leads to fatal diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, but this new information raises even more questions about health problems related to asbestos. There is currently an effort afoot in Congress to pass a bill that would bail out asbestos companies and their insurers by creating an inadequate trust fund for asbestos victims and take away their right to sue companies that knowingly exposed them to asbestos for decades.
The asbestos epidemic should be considered a health problem, not a financial one. Any solution to the asbestos epidemic, be it litigation, a trust fund, or a combination of the two, must help everyone hurt by asbestos.