07/02/2010 // Chicago, IL, USA // Cooney & Conway // Chicago Mesothelioma attorneys: Cooney & Conway
(Chicago Mesothelioma lawyers News Report) – Residents in American Canyon, Calif., know there is asbestos at the site where the city is installing new water storage tanks. What they don’t know—and what concerns them—is whether proper precautions are being taken, and whether they are at risk from the deadly diseases that have been linked to asbestos exposure.
Those diseases—including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a nearly always fatal cancer of the protective lining that covers many of the body’s organs—can take decades after exposure to materialize. They’ve been the subject, too, of countless asbestos lawsuits, where mesothelioma lawyers have worked—often, with great success—to obtain compensation for those struck down by asbestos-related conditions.
In many of these cases, say mesothelioma lawyers, the disease and death were preventable—had proper precautions and mitigation steps been taken by those who knew, or should have known, of the asbestos risk. This has residents of American Canyon particularly concerned, because many say they are unaware of what preventive measures are being taken for dealing with asbestos, which is in the soil at the site.
At a recent City Council meeting, officials had mixed reactions.
“I’m sure they’ll mitigate it so that it’s not a safety hazard,” said the town’s mayor, Leon Garcia. He noted that for a previous project—a local high school under construction at another site where the cancer-causing material was found—steps were taken to keep residents safe from asbestos exposure.
In the case of the high school, Napa Valley Unified School District officials took great pains to eliminate the danger, according to Don Evans, head of the district’s school planning and construction department. The asbestos was encapsulated, he said, then moved to an empty 17-acre site the district owns, and buried six to eight feet deep, with a layer of clean fill on top, as required by state asbestos regulations.
“It was monitored, water was used to keep it from getting airborne, and if the wind was too high, we didn’t move it,” says Evans. “We also notified the neighbors.” Airborne asbestos is particularly dangerous, medical experts warn, since small asbestos fibers can easily be inhaled and lodge in the lungs—increasing the risk for diseases like mesothelioma and asbestosis, a scarring of the lungs that can cause severe respiratory problems.
Evans added that he is not sure what is being done at the water tank project, and local residents say they, too, don’t know exactly what steps are being taken.
Councilwoman Joan Bennett said that she is aware of the situation regarding the water tanks but lacks the technical expertise to say whether mitigation efforts are keeping residents safe from asbestos exposure.
This news story was brought to you by the hicago Mesothelioma attorneys at Cooney & Conway. For more than half a century, we’ve brought relief—and recovery—to those injured by the negligence or harmful actions of others. In the process, we’ve litigated some of the country’s most significant asbestos lawsuits, helping victims of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases get answers—and justice.
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