The disposable respirator is a device that has been used for years to keep dust out of the lungs, but over the past years, experts have said that the disposable respirator did not work.

The company 3M made the 8710 mask which was a disposable respirator and government approved for use where there was deadly dusts including asbestos and was said to protect workers. It was a very big seller selling over millions.

Michael Leslie who worked with asbestos dust says that he thought it would be an excellent product when issued it by his employer and wore it for around a year in 1972. He has now been diagnosed with mesothelioma which is the deadly form of lung cancer usually caused by exposure to asbestos.

He says that the mask leaked as they did not fit properly and this was confirmed by experts but it was approved by the U.S. government’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 1972. However, by 1980, NIOSH had changed their stance and informed 3M that they did not think that the respirator would provide sufficient protection against cancer causing asbestos. The mask continued to be sold but in 1986 it was eventually banned in the U.S.

Leslie sued many companies, including 3M, who settled out of court. Although 3M maintain they have not lost a court case on the issue, saying usually the workers did not wear the masks properly, or all the time, according to their financial reports they have paid out over $150 million over the last four years on fees and settlements for respirator mask litigation.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

At an education meeting at San Francisco General Hospital Dr. Ray Tomkins made a report on the healthcare crisis in Bayview Hunter’s Point and the plans to blow up part of the Candlestick Park in their community.

In 1998 the twin 20 storey Geneva Towers, located just a few minutes away from Candlestick Park were imploded. The toxin laden dust cloud went over hundreds of homes and to this day, according to the doctor, Hunters Point residents continue to suffer from health problems.

Next to Hunters Point is the famous stadium, Candlestick Park which was built of reinforced concrete in 1958 and there are now plans to implode the building. The doctor says that if that is to happen, there would be an enormous dust cloud, full of asbestos which would then be breathed in by the residents in the area and could lead to asbestos related diseases and cancers.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

Going up into your attic could be putting you at risk of mesothelioma.

It appears that millions of older homes could have a type of insulation in their attic which contains Zonolite, which is known to contain asbestos. While not disturbed it poses no risk but if it is moved the small fibers can become airborne and then can be inhaled posing a risk of contracting mesothelioma and other asbestos related diseases.

The amount of asbestos contained in such insulation is very small, but there is no safe amount of asbestos, even inhaling a tiny amount can be eventually lethal.

The Zonolite brand of vermiculite insulation was sold from the 1940s through the 1990s and looks like small, lightweight silver grey pebbles. If you think that you may have this type of insulation in your attic, then this year, store your Christmas decorations in a closet, rather than taking the risk of disturbing the insulation in your attic.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

One of the most important Christmas traditions is the annual putting up of the Christmas tree and getting the box of decorations, lights and baubles out of the attic.

However, there is a possibility that some of your baubles which are family heirlooms could pose a serious health risk as they may contain asbestos.

Asbestos was used for Christmas decorations back in the 1930s and 1940s, often to make fake snow. People would actually buy packets of asbestos and strew them across the tree branches to look like snow, as in those days often the trees were lit by real candles and asbestos, being flame resistant, was thought to be safer than cotton wool. In addition asbestos was added to baubles, wreaths and other decorations which had fake snow on them.

If you have any decorations from that period, which have fake snow on them, the advice is to contact the authorities who will help you to dispose of them.

Newer baubles, those from the 1950s onwards, do not have the same problem.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

California really needed rain and that arrived in early December but it brought with it floods and mudslides as well as strong winds which caused damage to many properties.

In the Mission District in San Francisco the sanitation pipes overflowed causing some homes to be flooded with sewage, and although across the state there was two to four inches of rain, near the San Bernardino Mountains almost 10 inches was recorded.

However when residents begin to clean up they need to be aware of potential hazards, not only from the bacteria which can grow in standing water, and mold on the damp walls, but also those older properties which contain asbestos need to know the risk of the fibers becoming airborne during clean up and repair activities.

Homeowners should look at obtaining expert environmental advice before starting to clean up their homes, to ensure they are not exposed to anything which could be potentially harmful.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

Pier 70, nearly 70 acres large, is part of San Francisco’s waterfront and steeped in history.

The site was dedicated to the shipbuilding and manufacturing trades, with ships being built there as far back as the Gold Rush. In the 1880s it was the first site on the West Coast to build a Navy Ship and Union Iron Works built several famous ships there which went on to take part in the Spanish American War.

It continued to be involved in much heavy industry, including steelworks and it now to be the site for new investment preceded by a multimillion dollar environmental cleanup effort.

In the near future, the land south of Mission Bay could be developed as housing for 1,000 San Francisco residents, waterfront parks, new space for artist studios, and manufacturing and retail services.

Before work begins, however, an environmental review must be carried out, as an investigation by the Port several years ago revealed that soil contaminants could pose a risk to future site users because the decades of shipbuilding and heavy industry have contaminated the soil, which contains naturally occurring metals and asbestos from the previous operations.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

According to a new study, there are new areas of naturally occurring asbestos minerals which are more widespread than thought beforehand. They have been found in areas which were not thought to be at risk and not where people thought to look.

The areas contain natural asbestos which is called fibrous iron sodium amphiboles and fibrous actinolite. It has been discovered in Clark County, Nevada and it forms where several geographic features come together. In the case of Clark Country there was groundwater, which interacted with rock salt and a cooling body of magma way below the surface of the earth. These three things together created a type of rock and made its way to the surface as naturally occurring asbestos. Once affected by the wind and the rain it can be dispersed into the atmosphere and brings with it the risks of people breathing in the fibers which are known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other lung conditions.

There are many regulations created to protect people from exposure to mined and refined asbestos, but this naturally occurring asbestos is unregulated and nor it is classified as toxic under federal law even though it can be just as harmful.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

The world asbestos figures have been released by the United States Geological Survey with production in 2013 being 2,019,000 tons, roughly the same as 2011 and 2012. The major producers of asbestos kept the same market share more or less, with Russian staying as the biggest supplier of raw asbestos fiber. China and India have ceased their rapid growth in consumption but Indonesia continues to increase its consumption unabated. In addition consumption is on the rise in countries where the use of asbestos has been lower in the past, specifically Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan.

However there are indications that some countries are beginning to look for substitutes for asbestos with the number of countries consuming more than 500 tons a year down from 37 in 2012 to 33 in 2013. It appears that support is growing to ban asbestos with discussions taking place at government and judicial level in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brazil.

Asbestos consumption in Ukraine and Thailand are now falling rapidly following significant increases between 2000 and 2005. Annual consumption for both nations is now less than 30 percent of what they were in 2000 and 60 percent less than 2005.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

A recent study published the journal, Health Affairs, has highlighted which factors contribute towards our health.

It found that environmental factors contributed around 5 percent. It is estimated that 90,000 deaths a year are caused by microbial agents such as bacteria and 60,000, some 3 percent, by toxic agents such as asbestos. The World Health Organization estimates that 3 percent of deaths in high-income countries are attributable to environmental factors such as air pollution, unsafe water, poor sanitation, asbestos and lead exposure.

The study goes on to say that around 10 percent of the deaths in the U.S. were attributable to poor medical care, and about 20 percent to genetics, or at least some genetic component.

Around 30 percent of deaths were accounted for by social factors such as racial segregation and low education and about 35% to behavioral factors such as smoking, around 19 percent of deaths in the U.S., poor diet and physical activity 15 percent and alcohol 4%.

Although behavior, genetics and social and economic factor are key determinants of health, so is the environment we live in, and exposure to asbestos plays a part in that.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.

More than 95 percent of the asbestos used in the United States is the chrysotile type with the word chrysotile being derived from the Greek “krysos” meaning gold and “tilos” meaning fiber.

A few asbestos deposits were discovered at the Grand Canyon in 1872, and the first commercial production of asbestos in Arizona started in 1903 when the Hance Asbestos Mining Co. secured several tons at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, opposite Grand View.

Several years later, William Wallace Bass sold six tons of asbestos to China, France and the United States valued at $1,500 per ton.

Since 1913, over 160 asbestos mines have been in operation in Central Arizona, especially around the Salt River Canyon region, which produced a minimum of 75,000 tons of asbestos before the closure of the mines in the early 1980s.

The mines were closed as by the 1970s, scientific studies began to link respiratory issues including lung and mesothelioma cancer to high levels of exposure of microscopic fibers of asbestos.

Asbestos usage in the United States peaked in 1973 with 800,000 tons compared to only 1,000 tons in 2012 after the U.S. government passed laws strictly regulating its usage. The last asbestos mine to operate in the United States was the KCAC mine in San Benito County, California, which closed in 2002.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, contact the Law Office of Brayton Purcell, LLP  at  (800) 598-0314 immediately, or contact us online for a free consultation. You may be entitled to an asbestos payout as part of an individual or class action lawsuit.