Judge Judith Fitzgerald on Friday approved Halliburton’s $4.2 billion asbestos settlement plan and signed the Chapter 11 restructuring plans for its business units KBR and DII Industries.
KBR and DII Industries filed for bankruptcy protection in December after about 400,000 individuals filed claims against Halliburton over asbestos and silica exposure.
The majority of claims stem from Halliburton’s […]

More Americans die each year from asbestos-related diseases than from fires and drowning combined, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group.
From its analysis of federal mortality records, the EWG concluded that 10,000 Americans die each year from asbestos exposure. They project 100,000 people in the United States will die in the next decade […]

The Food and Drug Administration today approved Alimta by Eli Lilly and Company for use in combination with cisplatin for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma-a rare type of cancer. Alimta is the first drug approved for this condition.
Cancer of the mesothelium, a membrane that covers and protects most of the internal organs […]

Lester Brickman, a leading critic of asbestos litigation, says that 90 percent of all asbestos-related injury claims filed each year are bogus. He contends that more than half-million asbestos claims have been without merit, which resulted in payments to plaintiffs and their attorneys totaling more than $28.5 billion.
“Asbestos litigation has become a malignant enterprise which […]

Do the brakes on your car contain asbestos fibers? The U.S. Geological Survey reports that domestic imports of asbestos brake materials have increased by 300% in the past decade. Last year, the country imported $208.9 million of asbestos products, of which $124.6 million were of asbestos brake materials, according to figures released by the U.S.G.S.
Asbestos […]

Asbestos companies and insurers have agreed to a proposed $114 billion asbestos fund, which would eliminate all asbestos litigation and instead compensate asbestos cancer victims from a set schedule based on their disease.
The office of Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist brokered the plan, after support for an asbestos bill eroded among Republicans, who questioned whether […]

After The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) concluded that former employees of Western Minerals Products Company facility in Denver were exposed to elevated levels of asbestos, the EPA has begun to replace soil with clean fill where soil contains 1 percent or more of asbestos.
Libby Asbestos was found up to 12 inches […]

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) concludes that former employees of Western Minerals Products Company facility in Denver were exposed to elevated levels of asbestos.
ATSDR, a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommends that former employees of this facility and those who lived in their households […]

ATSDR, a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommends that former employees of W.R. Grace/Zonolite Company site at 12340 Conway Road in Beltsville, Maryland and those who lived in their households learn more about asbestos and see a physician regarding potentially adverse health effects.
The former W.R. Grace/Zonolite Company site […]

General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler have filed a lawsuit to block Honeywell International Inc. from selling its Bendex brake unit to bankrupt Federal Mogul Corporation. The automakers accuse “Honeywell of trying to avoid its asbestos-related obligations,” Reuters reported.
Honeywell is attempting to avoid its asbestos-related liabilities by selling its Bendix brake unit, which faces about 47,000 […]