Soon after Sept. 11, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was quick to assure New Yorkers the air they were breathing — even with the still-prevalant poisonous gas and dust — was safe. An internal investigation later found that the White House Council on Environmental Quality “convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones,” says an article published by Inter Press News Services.

During a short time after the Trade Center attacks, the EPA helped clean and test about 4,000 apartments in the area, but tens of thousands of other sites have yet to be officially checked for toxins such as asbestos, mercury and lead.

According to Mount Sinai’s occupational health clinic’s most recent figures, about half of the 9,000 rescue and recovery workers still suffer from respiratory problems.

In March, a group of recovery workers and downtown residents sued the EPA to demand further testing and cleanup, as well as the creation of a fund to pay for medical monitoring of affected people.

A woman who lived one and a half blocks from Ground Zero says she had her home tested and found relatively high levels of fiberglass, asbestos and other toxins. She claims that on the day of the attacks, “thick gray dust mixed with burnt papers pervaded the apartment though open windows.” As a result, she contracted a rash on her face and had severe headaches, sinus problems and a deep cough, she says.

Recently, two Congress members proposed expanding federal health insurance to downtown residents and workers to cover their physical and psychological treatment and the cost of prescription medications. And the bill would increase the number of people being monitored from 12,000 to 40,000.

Dennis Kavanaugh worked as a carpenter for more than 30 years, often coming home covered in a snow-like dust — breathing it in, spitting it out — that would kill him slowly, bit by bit for the rest of his life, says an article in the Palm Beach Post.

Kavanaugh lived through two trials against Union Carbide, the company that manufactured the asbestos used in the joint compound Kavanaugh sealed wallboard with daily. The first ended in a mistrial, but the second jury found that the company was liable for his illness because it knew the hazards of asbestos and failed to warn its users.

“Who would think the profession you choose could cause you to die?” Inge wonders now.

On June 24, the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld the jury’s $1.153 million award in damages to the Kavanaughs, but the case still isn’t over.

“We respectfully disagree with the opinion that was made, because we feel we did adequate warning,” said Union Carbide Spokesman Scot Wheeler. “While we’d rather not prolong this for the family’s sake, we do believe there are several solid grounds for rehearing, and we most likely will avail ourselves of that option.”

But nevertheless, Inge celebrated the jury’s decision.

“I was actually happy,” she said. “I went to church and thought about him. He never got to hear this verdict. I tell him the words, I know he hears me. It’s a shame it didn’t come when he was alive, because it meant a lot to us for him to know. ... It gives my husband peace in heaven.”

The decision upholds a lower court ruling that barred about 2,000 former railway workers from adding manufacturers to their separate lawsuits against nearly 60 companies that made, sold or used asbestos, according to the Associated Press. The workers say they were exposed to the substance while working in or maintaining rail cars.

The decision wasn’t a comment on the validity of the workers’ claims, but the justices said, “claims against locomotive manufacturers are wholly futile.” In making the decision, the justices cited the Federal Locomotive Boiler Inspection Act, saying it pre-empts state-law tort claims against railroad manufacturers.

They also said trial courts have great discretion in deciding whether to add new defendants to an existing lawsuit. A plaintiff challenging the use of that discretion must show the decision was “unreasonable, arbitrary or unconscionable.”

Disagreeing, one justice said the claims were not in danger of intruding into federal domain because they dealt with products no longer used, not current railroad equipment.

More than 40,000 cases are pending by Ohioans exposed to asbestos.

But a new type of treatment has been introduced to the mix. Photodynamic therapy uses light to kill cancerous cells after a drug is administered intravenously to target and render the cells more sensitive, says a press release put out by PRWeb.

The drug has no affect on normal cells, so no additional harm will be done. After cells have been properly exposed, a special frequency of light laser beams are directed toward the mesothelioma. Although there have been cases of eye irritability and nausea, side effects have been minimal.

For more information, visit the Mesothelioma Help Web site.

About $30 million of the settlement will reimburse EnPro for payments it has already made on asbestos-related claims, and the rest will go into a trust for resolving other asbestos claims.

Several EnPro subsidiaries such as Garlock Sealing Technologies and The Anchor Packing Co. manufactured products containing asbestos, and EnPro has been involved in many lawsuits concerning death and injury as a result.

Lloyd’s of London underwriters hold about $130 million of EnPro’s insurance for such claims, and Equitas reinsures the company. The settlement resolves all of EnPro’s claims against Lloyd’s underwriters.

"Resolution of the dispute brings our insurance reimbursements from Equitas up to date, while establishment of the trust ensures we will continue to receive cash payments of the Equitas portion of our remaining insurance in a timely and efficient manner," says Ernie Schaub, an EnPro chief executive.

The government-funded group determined that in 1968, 77 people died from asbestos, compared with the 1,500 people who died from it in 2000 -- almost a 2,000 percent increase.

Furthermore, they say, the casual nature in which death causes are designated on death certificates for many years complicates the accuracy of the CDC’s report.

It can take up to 40 years between the time a person is exposed to asbestos and the time they die from it. Because asbestos use in buildings increased substantially after WWI and peaked in the late 1970s and ‘80s, death from the material will probably increase during the next decade, said Michael Attfield, a CDC epidemiologist.

“We’re paying the price now for the use of this mineral in almost every construction insulation product used back in the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, all the way to the ‘70s.

Government regulations and thousands of lawsuits in the ‘80s and ‘90s curbed the wide use of asbestos, but it is still found in more than 3,000 products, including brake linings, engine gaskets and roof coatings. And it is still present as insulation in older buildings.

Government efforts to ban asbestos were defeated by the Asbestos Information Association of North America and the Canadian asbestos industry, which said asbestos can and is used safely today. However, most Western countries have banned the import, use and manufacture of asbestos.

While asbestosis -- an incurable disease caused by the fiber -- has been on the rise, black lung, which is caused by coal fiber inhalation, has sharply declined.

The sixth annual ride lasted eight days, beginning in Buffalo, N.Y., and wrapping up in Albany, N.Y.

While there is no known cure for mesothelioma, family members of those suffering from the disease hoped the tour would raise awareness.

“We think of them (the victims) in their best ways, in their best moments,” said Bob Good, who lost his sister and brother-in-law to the disease last year. “Doing some things that are positive and upbeat is a great way to capture the spirit they had, that they gave to everyone they came in contact with.”

Halliburton Co.’s DII Industries and Kellogg Brown & Root, which handles the engineering and construction services for Halliburton, were approved for a restructuring plan that includes a $4.2 billion settlement of asbestos claims.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh approved the plan, along with the almost 400,000 claimants suing the company.

Most asbestos lawsuits against Halliburton stemmed from its 1998 $6.2 billion purchase of Dresser Industries, which was renamed DII, says Bloomberg.

Nicholas Byron ruled the Madison County Circuit Court that handles the country’s largest asbestos docket for about 10 years. In 2003 alone, he presided over 953 such cases. As a result, Madison County is notorious for its plaintiff-friendly reputation.

Upon announcing his plans to hand over the docket, Byron -- who is in his 70s -- left for a vacation and was unavailable for comment. His associates declined to speak for him.

Although the recipients of the eye-popping awards surely appreciate Byron’s courtroom, tort-reform groups are less than pleased with his practices. In April, former U.S. Attorney Griffin Bell criticized the county responsible for 25 percent of the nation’s asbestos suits, says the Belleville article.

Gretchen Schaefer, a spokeswoman for the American Tort Reform Association, says: “Madison County is a magnet for asbestos litigation that has no connection to that jurisdiction. We hope to see fairness and balance in whoever takes over the asbestos docket by putting the citizens and taxpayers of Madison County first.”

Chief Judge Edward Ferguson says Byron will handle other types of lawsuits, with Circuit Judge Phillip Kardis taking over the swelling asbestos docket. Ferguson says handling the docket is “very, very time consuming because they’re all multiple-party cases with a lot of lawyers and litigants.”

The proposal includes $42 billion to be paid during the first five years by companies facing asbestos lawsuits and their insurers, and $4 billion from assets of bankruptcy trusts.

“On the key issue of funding, we remain concerned that while it’s a step forward, it is still short of the mark based on the last discussions on projections of future claims,” says Peg Seminario, director of occupational safety for the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Operations.

In April, Democrats blocked a $124 billion Republican plan to fund litigation that has bankrupted more than 70 companies, saying asbestos makers and their insurers should have to contribute at least $30 billion more for workers exposed to asbestos.

Seminario says that while Daschle’s proposal addresses many unresolved issues, she wonders if a deal is possible given “how far apart the parties remain.’

The Palm Beach Post reports that more than 730,000 asbestos claims costing more than $70 billion have already made their way through Palm Beach County, and some lawyers are only encouraging the free-for-all.

They are advertising at as a safe haven for all wayward — and not so wayward — asbestos claims. Which leads many to believe South Florida needs a dose of legislation reform.

There, a “plaintiff can hop on what lawyers call the asbestos ‘rocket docket’ and stand a better chance of getting a settlement without going through trial,” the article says. Each of the three counties has a separate asbestos division and a set of rules, called an omnibus order, for processing the claims.

Plaintiff lawyers like the system because it lets them schedule hundreds of cases for trial at once, which pressures defendant companies to offer settlements to avoid the costs of a trial. And naturally, defense lawyers dislike it for the same reason.

Lawyers argue that if asbestos cases were on every judge’s docket, they would be in court "four days a week, crowding out everybody else,” says a defense litigator. But some attorneys say the system worked fairly well when claims were fewer and represented people who clearly had asbestos-related cancers and lung damage.

Some say the system has broken down in recent years under thousands of lawsuits by people who have no symptoms and are simply staking out a claim in case they do get sick, or before more defendant companies run out of money, the article says.

Some suggestions offered to better the legislation system include placing the claims of those without symptoms on an inactive docket until they qualify as an active case and dismissing or transferring cases that have no connection to Palm Beach County.

If all goes as planned, the the pact would be one of the largest settlements in asbestos-legislation history, the article says. Travelers insured the Johns-Manville Corp. (which no longer exists) for more than 30 years while it produced and sold asbestos.

But before approving or denying the agreement, Lifland must consider other issues, such as whether the mechanism for setting up the settlement fund meets the requirements of the bankruptcy code, the article says.

Under the proposal, about $445 million will go to the individuals and families who filed wrongful death and personal injury claims against Travelers for insuring Johns-Manville and not disclosing that asbestos was hazardous. Another $57 million will be used to cover legal fees.

“Travelers failed to disclose information that it is alleged to have learned from its insurance relationship with Manville, including from Travelers’ defense of asbestos-related lawsuits,” the victims said in court papers.

Lifland did not say when he expects to rule on the claim.

Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are sought after filing locations because each has a separate asbestos division and case management system that forces 99 percent of claims into settlements, the article says.

But McCarthy asked, “What do I tell the taxpayers of Palm Beach County? Why should they be burdened?”

He gave lawyers 20 days to submit solution proposals and set a hearing on whether to disband the asbestos division and spread its 1,500 cases among other judges. According to the Palm Beach Post, Miami-Dade County has 1,750 asbestos suits pending, and Broward County may have between 4,000 and 8,000.

A lawyer for the Miami firm suggested that the court system could actually make money from the legislation because the majority are settled outside of court without trial, he says. But McCarthy argued the $206 filing fee doesn’t add up to much in a two- to three-week trial.

It cost $3,000 a day to provide a courtroom, staff and jurors in a recent Alabama man’s asbestos lawsuit, he says. The claim was rejected by the jury.

Defense lawyers suggested that a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. company was being used as a "sham defendant" to get past the venue hurdles and keep asbestos litigation in South Florida. Bigham Insulation and Supply, which also does business in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, is named in 3,000 current lawsuits, according to its attorney, John Liebman of Orlando.

In court filings, the company says it objects to being sued in Alabama or another state because it doesn't do business anywhere else, the article says.

“It is all Bigham can do to keep up with the cases filed against it here in Florida,” Liebman wrote in his objection to transferring the 72 cases. “Bigham does not and will not agree to be sued anywhere outside the state of Florida.”

The law, which likely will take effect in early September, makes Ohio the first state to establish a medical threshold plaintiffs must meet to sustain a suit against firms that mine sand and quartz or make the safety equipment for sand blasters, glass makers and other workers.

Unlike a separate asbestos bill awaiting Taft's signature, the silica bill will not retroactively remove active silica cases from court dockets until the plaintiffs meet the new medical criteria. More than 40,000 asbestos suits have been filed in Ohio to date.

According to the article, insurers have been vocal in support for the idea, as 50 percent of asbestos compensation awards are absorbed by legal costs. Under such a central fund, victims of asbestos-related diseases would receive a maximum compensation of $1 million without the courts becoming involved.