Note: Dr. Merewether’s medical description of asbestos disease mirrors exactly the description of the disease today. His recommendations, if fully implemented by the asbestos industry, would have saved tens of thousands of lives and injuries to American workers since 1930.
In the 1930s The UK instituted Regulations on asbestos factories. However, these regulations did not apply to workers in other industries who installed of handled asbestos as part of their job.
In 1933 Asbestosis was first reported in the United States, though it is speculated that the disease had simply been misdiagnosed as tuberculosis or other pulmonary diseases before then. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. found asbestosis in 29 percent of workers in a Johns-Manville asbestos factory, leading to settlements in lawsuits filed by 11 sick employees.
In 1934 a link Between Workplace Asbestos Exposure and Cancer was discovered. Researchers report cases of asbestosis and lung cancer in an asbestos factory. Many of the workers had less than six months of exposure to asbestos. Reports were also published of asbestosis from workplace exposure to products, including boiler workers, custodians and insulators.
In 1942 there were Warnings of Cancer Risk from Asbestos Exposure. Researchers report that lung cancer in building trades workers is likely caused by asbestos. Dr. W.C. Heuper, a noted occupational physician and the first chief of the environmental cancer section of the National Cancer Institute, suggests that asbestos causes Asbestosis as well as cancer in the manufacturing process as well as through finished building products such as insulation and packing materials. In 1949, Dr. Heuper warns that asbestos was a cancer risk to the general population. By this time there were over 200 references in the widely available literature regarding asbestos and disease.
In 1943 the first Mesothelioma-Like Tumor Reported. The first case of a mesothelioma-like tumor is reported by Dr. Welder in a German study.
In 1947, I was born. Also, more Links Between Asbestosis and Lung Cancer were established. Also, Dr. Merewether finds that 13% of asbestosis cases also had cancer of the lungs or pleura.
In 1948 the Encyclopedia Britannica lists asbestos as a recognized cause of occupational and environmental cancer. The Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that asbestosis is probably linked to occupational cancer.
In 1953 I started school at Fallston School. Mesothelioma is reported in an asbestos worker.
In 1955 it was determined that asbestos workers have a 10-fold risk above the general population of contracting lung cancer.
In 1960 the link between Asbestos exposure and Mesothelioma was strengthened. This study also found that children and wives of asbestos workers were at risk as the asbestos fibers at work could be carried home on the clothes of workers.
In the 1960s the Asbestos Industry ignores warnings of the asbestos health risks. The medical literature continued to identify asbestos as a major carcinogen and environmental hazard, with over 200 publications describing the hazards of asbestos by the end of the 1960s. Notwithstanding this knowledge, and the many deaths that resulted from breathing in the dust from these products, the manufacturers and installers of these materials continued to sell and install asbestos products without warning workers, reducing the dust or substituting equally effective materials in place of the asbestos. Tragically, many companies had secured additional knowledge regarding the connection between asbestos and cancer as early as the 1930s. Instead of protecting the public, these companies chose profit over the health of citizens and altered research reports to hide these findings from the public.
From the 1940s through 1989 the use of cheap asbestos applications skyrocketed in construction materials; pipe, kiln and refractory insulation, paint, automobile parts etc. It is estimated that every home, building, school, and other structures intended for human habitation that were constructed in this time frame used some component containing asbestos.
In 1989 the US EPA attempted to phase out asbestos use in almost all products in the USA.
In 1991, under pressure from asbestos industry lobbyists, US Courts overturns the EPA’s ban on the use of asbestos and products using asbestos. Asbestos substances can still be found in dozens of products manufactured today.
2021-Later lawsuits against the asbestos industry has resulted in multi-billion-dollar awards that have bankrupted the asbestos industry. Today and everyday now, commercials from lawyers are aired seeking those exposed to asbestos to come forward for a piece of the asbestos multi-billion-dollar trust fund class action awards.
It should be noted here that asbestos abatement in buildings have progressively gotten more and more expensive. Wise property owners in Cleveland County and elsewhere have often chosen to demolish houses and building that contain asbestos before the cost of remediation increases even more. But Not the nitwits running Cleveland County Schools.
At the April 12th 2021 School Board meeting the school board voted unanimously to approve a sole-source contract with a Charlotte firm to spray “Rhino-Shield” over some damaged asbestos bearing materials at North Elementary School to “encapsulate” the asbestos. School Board Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen recommended the Rhino-Shield application because it was “cheaper” than removing the damaged asbestos materials.
Clearly Luke Queen, the other school board members and the incompetent Jennifer Wampler and Dr. Stephen Fisher did not do their research in the hazards of asbestos and the newest EPA regulations. Much less the health hazards to our children and teachers at Cleveland County Schools.
EPA regulations require an analysis of asbestos abatement methods, including “encapsulating” of asbestos products. The use of Rhino-Shield type products is discouraged because of a multitude of reasons. First, the underlying asbestos containing material has to be of sound construction so that the encapsulating material will not soon flake off and again become a source of asbestos containing “dust” that students and school children might breath into their lungs. The documents Luke Queen produced regarding the Rhino-Shield application spoke not one word that any kind of inspection and evaluation had been conducted to determine if the asbestos containing materials at North Elementary School were amenable to encapsulation.
The EPA rules and guidelines also tend to discourage the application of encapsulation materials for use as planned at North Elementary because the encapsulation process leaves the Asbestos in place. Eventual demolition of the North Elementary School will then expose workmen to the asbestos containing materials and the encapsulating materials will hinder the recovery and burial of the asbestos. Causing a large increase in the cost of recovery and disposal of the asbestos containing materials. Luke Queen and the School Board obviously ignored EPA safety recommendations in lieu of short-term cost savings. Something the asbestos industry did that cost them billions of dollars in jury awards and eventual bankruptcy.
Not to mention the potential of exposing students and teachers to the dangerous asbestos fibers if the Rhino-Shield products do not hold up well if the underlying surface is unstable. Which is probably the case since the materials are damaged, generating a work report in the first place. Remember the incompetent “chain of command” organization described in the first part of this article???
Folks, I don’t know about you, but if I were a teacher and parent of a child attending North Elementary School, or any of the many schools within CCS that contain asbestos, I would be filling out employment applications or attendance applications to Pinnacle Classical Academy as soon as possible. Or anywhere out from under the incompetence of the Cleveland County School Board and administration under Robert “Luke” Queen. ASAP, if not before. Asbestos is just too dangerous to human health to be entrusted to the buffoons running CCS!!!
Editor’s Note: “Rhino-Shield” is a tough plastic material typically used as an application to produce a “liner” for pick-up truck beds to enhance the “appearance” of the vehicle. The Rhino-Shield coating depends on the metal truck bed for its structural integrity.