9/11 - In Memory of Those Who Lost Their Lives

More FDNY members have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed in attack
by Avery Lotz, axios.com, 11 September 2024

(Photo):  annual ''Tribute in Light'', which is a solemn display to commemorate the tragic events of 2001 and honors the nearly 3,000 lives lost, is tested ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York on Sept. 9. Photo: Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images

The number of New York City Fire Department members who have died from 9/11-related illnesses in the decades since the attack now surpasses the number who died that day.

Documentary "Dust to Dust - the Health Effects of 9/11"

In memory of those who lost their lives.

“Dust to Dust”, a 58-minute documentary produced by Bruce Kennedy and Heidi Dehncke-Fisher, is a tribute to the first responders of 9/11.  It describes their very serious health problems following clean-up of the toxic wreckage of the World Trade Center and the cover-up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the extreme hazardous contamination in the days immediately following the attacks “in order to get Wall Street – and the economy – up and running”.  Attention, the film shows the towers on fire and collapsing.  (The film is available on You Tube).)

Asbestos Cancer Victim Gives Advice on Workplace Safety for Tech Students

We thank Virgil Anderson for having contacted us to let us know about this excellent site on asbestos exposure and mesothelioma.  He shares his story to warn others of the risks of being around asbestos and help keep people safe.  

Asbestos Cancer Victim Gives Advice on Workplace Safety for Tech Students
mesothelioma.net

As young men and women choosing to work in the skilled trades you have bright futures ahead of you. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics, and other skilled workers will always be in demand. My name is Virgil Anderson and I spent my career working in construction, demolition, and automotive work. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was working around asbestos.

Today I am suffering the consequences of that exposure and living with a diagnosis of mesothelioma cancer. Although the risks of being exposed to asbestos are not nearly as great as they were in my day, I want to address young people going into the kinds of trades that could include working around asbestos. I want you to have the information that I didn’t have. You can work safely in any of these trades, but you need to be aware that asbestos may be around you and that you have a right to a safe workplace and proper training for recognizing and working safely with asbestos.

Petition: Asbestos: Bring Stephan Schmidheiny Before the International Criminal Court for "Crimes Against Humanity"

[Note by Blog Editor:  We have no idea why this petition is not gathering more signatures.  More than 1,900 persons have visited this post on the English blog, and 1,500 persons on the French blog!]

Please sign this petition to the Italian Government and Ministry of Justice

to bring Stephan Schmidheiny, the person directing the Eternit asbestos fiber-cement factories in many countries of the world, before the International Criminal Court in the Hague for "crimes against humanity". Although condemned to 18 years in prison by a court in Turin and a fine of 100 million Swiss francs, Schmidheiny was recently acquitted by the Court of Cassation in Rome.

François Iselin, spokesperson for CAOVA, an asbestos victims' group based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has asked me personally to support this petition. My interest in this issue is very personal. My companion, Adon, died of mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos. I have experienced first-hand the terrible suffering of people who have asbestos-related diseases.

During the recent 10th anniversary Paris Appeal symposium, organized by Professsor Dominique Belpomme, President of ARTAC (Association for Research  on Treatment Against Cancer) and ECERI (European Cancer and Environment Research Institute), he and scientists, researchers, and legal experts, including Marie-Odile Bertella-Geffroy (the French judge in charge of the asbestos affair), discussed bringing polluters before the International Criminal Court for “crimes against humanity”.

Facing Lawsuits Over Deadly Asbestos, Paper Giant Launched Secretive Research Program

Chrysotile asbestos

The following article is one in the Center for Public Integrity series, Toxic Clout: how industry uses well-paid experts to minimize the hazards of toxic chemicals and fend off liability, regulation, or both. The Atlanta-based company, Georgia-Pacific Corp., faced a nearly $1 billion in liability from its product, Ready-Mix, a putty-like building material, known as joint compound, containing the cancer-causing substance, asbestos. Named in more than 60,000 legal claims, the company sought salvation in a secret research program it launched in hopes of exonerating its product as a carcinogen.

The article also describes Daniel Stupino’s fight against the company. He regularly used the Georgia-Pacific joint compound, among other brands, in renovating apartments, sealing joints between sheets of drywall with the product. When he sanded it, he said, it was “like a snow … that penetrate[d] all over … in my body, my head, you know, my clothes.” His case against Georgia-Pacific settled mid-trial. He died of mesothelioma on Dec. 14, 2012, just before his 64th birthday.

Chrysotile asbestos, is the only type of asbestos still imported to the United States, with some 2.3 million pounds entering the country from Brazil in 2012. More than 107,000 people die of asbestos-related diseases each year, the World Health Organization estimates. “All types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, cancer of the larynx and ovary, and asbestosis (fibrosis of the lungs),” it warns. In all, 55 countries — but not the United States — have banned all forms of the mineral.

Facing lawsuits over deadly asbestos, paper giant launched secretive research program
by Jim Morris email, publicintegrity.org, 21 October 2013

In the spring of 2005, Georgia-Pacific Corp. found itself facing nearly $1 billion in liability from a product it hadn’t made in nearly three decades: a putty-like building material, known as joint compound, containing the cancer-causing mineral asbestos.

Switzerland: Victims of Asbestos Speak Out - Part 1

Renate Howald, widow of Hans Moor, former employee at
ABB who died at age 58 from cancer of the pleura
(mesothelioma) due to asbestos exposure.

Switzerland, headquarters of Eternit, and the home country from which the tentacles of the asbestos-cement industry spread, does not recognize, or only with great difficulty, its victims. The country has invoked a statute of limitations of 10 years in labor law. In Switzerland, the victims of asbestos are living an ordeal of resentment, suffering and painful memories. Sometimes in total indifference. Here are their testimonies (in two separate posts). The Radio-TV Suisse Romande will be devoting a series of radio programs about the victims of asbestos ("Vacarme": 8-12 April 2013). In order to contact organizations assisting asbestos victims in Switzerland: : www.caova.ch et www.asbestopfer.ch.

On the eve of the 4th anniversary of the death of my companion, Adon, victim of mesothelioma, I thank all these people for their courage to speak about the terrible ravages of asbestos. (See: "Mesothelioma:  A Personal Testimony")

Testimonies : The Forgotten Swiss of Asbestos
by Xavier Filliez, L’Illustré, 22 February 2012 (translated from French)

Eternit in France

Asbestos demonstration Paris, October 2012
("Asbestos kills = 3,000 deaths a year)

Eternit and the Great Asbestos Trial 

Editors: David Allen and Laurie Kazan-Allen

On 13 February 2012, the verdict of the “trial of the century” was delivered against Stephan Schmidneiny and Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, the principal directors of the Swiss asbestos-cement company, Eternit.  The book, “Eternit and the Great Asbestos Trial” was published by associations for the defense of asbestos victims in 11 countries. It describes Eternit and its owners, the Schmidheiny family, the activism in Casale, Italy, which led to the trial, the implications of the trial, and what is happening in other countries where Eternit factories were located and judicial actions there. Following is an excerpt from the book on Eternit’s asbestos-cement factories in France. The book is available for free on Scribd.com and has been translated into other languages. (See also International Ban Asbestos Secretariat which describes what is happening regarding asbestos worldwide.)

As introduction, here is a brief portrait of the asbestos tragedy in France:  In 1976, asbestos was classified as carcinogenic in France, but its use was banned only in 1997.  Some 2,000 persons died in 1996 from asbestos-related illnesses.  The number could reach 5,000 by the year 2020.  Mortality continues to increase in younger people:  between 1990-93, over 138,000 workers were exposed to asbestos in the building, naval construction, metallurgy and other industries.  (Ref: "La Société Cancérigène" by Geneviève Barbier and Armand Farrachi, 2004.)

Eternit in France (Extract from “Eternit and the Great Asbestos Trial”)

by Marc Hindry

Mesothelioma - A Personal Testimony

The recent conviction of two directors of the asbestos company Eternit by a court in Turin has a great deal of personal meaning.

My companion, Adon, died on 1 April 2009 from mesothelioma (cancer of the pleura) caused by exposure to asbestos.  He believed he had been exposed to the substance nearly 40 years ago while working in a factory in Belgium.  He was diagnosed with the disease in July 2008, after two months of investigations, including invasive procedures.  Shortness of breath while climbing stairs led him to consult his generalist in May who mentioned a possible diagnosis of mesothelioma.  

At the time of the definitive diagnosis, we felt we could not get through this on our own.  We needed friends, family, sound advice, support, and especially the opportunity to share experiences.  We were met with a culture of silence from medical personnel and the Swiss Cancer League.  No one could or would put us in touch with others, including family members of persons diagnosed with mesothelioma.  By the time I started sharing my thoughts on the Internet cancer forum, Adon was within days of dying.  Just a few persons helped us:  the compassionate surgical team;  the palliative care nurse at the Cancer League;  and a lady in the United States whose husband Steve had been diagnosed with the same cancer several months after Adon’s diagnosis;  he died in July 2009 after complications from radiotherapy.  Steve’s father had been exposed to asbestos in a factory in England.  Each evening, he would return home with his clothes covered in dust.  Both his son, Steve, and his wife were diagnosed with mesothelioma around the same time, nearly 40 years later.