| Asbestos: Armley's Mesothelioma sufferers offered 17% of due ...
Asbestos victims who suffered from the deadly asbestos cancer mesothelioma though working in or proximity to a Leeds factory will receive just 17p in the pound of compensation awarded by the courts if they accept a "final" settlement from the factory's owners. The J W Roberts factory in Armley spewed out deadly asbestos dust for decades before closing in 1958 with the dust affected not only hundreds of workers, but also their families and people who lived around the site. Hundreds of victims contracted asbestos-linked lung cancer mesothelioma, creating what came to be known as the Armley asbestos tragedy after the Yorkshire Evening Post exposed the scandal in the late 1980s. Mesothelioma is incurable and victims usually die within three years of diagnosis. A ground-breaking court action against the factory's US owners, Turner Newall, by Leeds cancer victim June Hancock in the 1990s resulted in a compensation award which was seen as a precedent for hundreds of victims.
Nuclear Test Rules out Radiation
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A recent study from the University of Adelaide in South Australia reveals cancer rates among Australian men involved in the 1950s British nuclear tests are 23-percent higher than those of the general population. Despite the increase in cancer rates, research has found no link to radiation exposure. Data from this study did suggest probable asbestos-related cancer in navy personnel. The three-year study investigated the health effects of 11,000 men, all of whom took part in the British nuclear tests in Australia from 1952 to 1963. Twenty-six men had cases of mesothelioma, a cancer strongly associated with asbestos. Of the 26, 16 were involved in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) -- nearly three times the amount researchers expected. Researchers also discovered higher than average rates of lung cancer, which is also asbestos related, in RAN personnel.
In UK Treatment Restricted for Asbestosis & Mesothelioma Patients
Asbestos was a wonder fibre of the first half of the 20th century. It was a great insulator; protective clothing was made from it; it revolutionised the construction industry and car brake pads. During the war, no kitchen was complete without asbestos mats that saved power by being inserted between the bottom of a kettle or saucepan and the source of heat.And then asbestos, the wonder material, revealed its dark side. There are, it was found, a host of unpleasant conditions that can follow the inhalation of asbestos fibres. People don't have to work in a haze of asbestos debris to suffer, and the exposure needed to cause serious trouble varies from person to person and depends on the type of asbestos. .
Union leader represents more than labor in state
BIRDS LANDING - With a cigar between his lips and a shotgun slung over his shoulder, state labor leader and Contra Costa native Jim Kellogg is the very picture of a man's man. In the testosterone-charged morning, Kellogg joined 90 shooters blasting away at fist-sized clay discs whirring over the grassy landscape in this Central Valley hunting preserve. "After we're done shooting, I'll have a beer and then I'll be a real man," joked Kellogg, a tall and well-built 62-year-old wearing blue jeans and a state Fish and Game T-shirt and cap. The scene, like Kellogg, is deceptively simple. "People have a tendency to underestimate Jim," said longtime friend and Contra Costa Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier. "He doesn't say much and he doesn't have a formal education.
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