Madison County Mesothelioma Law Blog

With all the attention that has been paid to asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, it would be logical to assume that products containing asbestos are no longer available in the United States. While many countries around the world have banned asbestos, the U.S. is not one of them. In fact, while more than four dozen nations have banned the mineral, the United States imported more than 2 million pounds of asbestos in 2012 -- all of it from Brazil.

According to people who track asbestos-related illnesses, an average of at least 30 people in the U.S. and nearly 300 around the world die every day of asbestos-related causes. While the U.S. is a major importer of asbestos, it is produced mainly in Russia, China and Brazil.

When someone is diagnosed with an asbestos-related illness such as mesothelioma, it is usually devastating news. In some cases, the ill person may not have realized they even had any exposure to asbestos, at least directly. This seems to be the case with a West Virginia woman -- who has since died -- in a lawsuit that alleges her mesothelioma was brought on via asbestos exposure in two ways: from the remodeling of her home as well as from fibers her husband inadvertently brought home from his job.

It is uncertain how the suit will be decided; it was just moved from a county circuit court to federal court. There were multiple defendants originally but several of them had their claims dismissed or settled them out of court. One of the remaining defendants is one that the plaintiff alleged made products containing asbestos that were used in the renovation of her home.

With the recent trend in professional sports to discard older facilities in favor of new ones, most professional sports facilities have either been replaced or renovated in the last 25 years. Even venerable institutions such as Yankee Stadium have been torn down and replaced with newer versions. In the National Hockey League, Brooklyn's Barclays Center, a facility that opened last fall, is poised to become the home of the New York Islanders starting in the fall of 2015.

For now, however, the Islanders play their games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island. The facility, which opened in 1972, is regarded as perhaps the worst in the NHL due to its age, limited amenities and lack of luxury boxes. And now it appears that many workers at the facility may have developed lung cancer or mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos in the facility.

To many people, asbestos might seem like a thing of the past. While thinking about its use might conjure thoughts about diseases that can develop from asbestos exposure -- such as mesothelioma -- most people might think that it is a problem that is unlikely to be encountered today. Unfortunately, this is simply not true.

Many buildings constructed before tighter standards on asbestos very frequently have large amounts of the substance in walls and floors. In many cases, building owners elect to leave the asbestos in place rather than remove it, provided there is not major renovation taking place. This could be a safer alternative as long as the asbestos is well-secured where it is.