Category: Veterans

Asbestos At Former Naval Base Highlights Health Risk to Navy Vets, Demolition Workers

• Nancy Meredith
• Asbestos Exposure, Veterans

Demolition work at the former Charleston Naval Base was halted after work safety inspectors found asbestos wrap on steam pipes at the site. Exposure to asbestos causes serious respiratory disease including mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen.

Asbestos, a mineral fiber, was widely used in building materials and insulation such as pipe wrap in the decades after World War II. It was used in navy ships, military bases and shipyards such as the Charleston Naval Base, Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York Shipyard and Todd Shipyard. Much asbestos remains in older buildings and houses, posing a health hazard to demolition workers and construction workers during remodeling and demolition projects if the asbestos isn’t handled properly. People who worked in shipyards and served on Navy ships are at elevated risk of developing mesothelioma as a consequence of inhaling asbestos fibers decades ago.

According to The Courier and Post newspaper, South Carolina Health and Environmental Control officials last week visited the work site, a fenced-in yard near the former Charleston Naval Base power plant and found what appeared to be asbestos. They shut down the demolition operation.

The Noisette Company, which currently owns the site, had hired AAA Metal Company to remove obsolete pipes. The company will now need to hire a licensed asbestos abatement contractor to remove asbestos materials and clean up the site.

Since the 1940s, millions of American workers have been exposed to asbestos, according to the National Cancer Institute. The people most likely to be diagnosed with mesothelioma are older workers, retired workers or veterans who were exposed to asbestos fibers in the workplace or military service. Mesothelioma typically takes 20 years to 40 years before sufferers notice symptoms such as pain beneath the ribs and difficulty breathing. The cancer often has reached an advanced stage before doctors diagnose it correctly.

Researchers continue to seek more effective treatments for mesothelioma and more accurate diagnostic tools to determine which patients will respond to which treatments,including chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

Memorial Day is Time to Honor America’s Veterans

• Nancy Meredith
• Veterans

The long Memorial Day weekend is one of the most popular holiday weekends in the United States. Celebrating the start of summer, many families head to the beach or to the shopping malls for special bargains. However, it is important that Americans not forget the meaning of Memorial Day and take the time to honor our fallen soldiers, whether it was on the battlefield or long after from injuries or illnesses, such as mesothelioma, suffered from their service.

MemorialDay.org reminds U.S. citizens: “On Memorial Day we need to stop and pay with sincere conviction our respects for those who died protecting and preserving the freedoms we enjoy, for we owe those honored dead more than we can ever repay.”

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer, affecting the lining of the lungs, caused by exposure to asbestos. Although nearly 3,000 new cases are reported annually in the U.S., statistics show that military veterans account for over one-third of those cases. Unfortunately, mesothelioma is extremely difficult to treat and is virtually impossible to cure.

Between the 1940s and 1970s asbestos was popular with the military. During that time asbestos was used for insulation in both military buildings, including mess halls and barracks, and ships. It was also used as an insulator around hot water heaters and cooling systems, and in the gaskets placed inside airplane engines and large machinery.

The New York mesothelioma law firm of Belluck & Fox, LLP has seen the devastation a diagnosis of mesothelioma can cause to veterans and their families, and they are committed to helping these families get compensation for their disease. In August 2011, Belluck & Fox, LLP represented a Navy veteran diagnosed with mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos aboard ships. The firm won the man a $32 million verdict, which ranked among the five largest New York verdicts of 2011.

Mesothelioma has a long incubation period, so now, veteran’s over the age of 60 are beginning to show symptoms.  Contracting mesothelioma is a life-time risk for some of our veterans, and Memorial Day is just one day when Americans can take the time to thank veterans for all they endured for our freedom.

Following is an excerpt from President Barack Obama’s 2012 Memorial Day address:

“No words can ever bring back a loved one who has been lost. No ceremony can do justice to their memory. No honor will ever fill their absence.

But on Memorial Day, we come together as Americans to let these families and veterans know that they are not alone. We give thanks for those who sacrificed everything so that we could be free. And we commit ourselves to upholding the ideals for which so many patriots have fought and died.”

Thank you to all who have bravely served our country!