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September 8, 2012

John S. Lyons Memorial Banquet

This year marked a milestone for the JOHNS who celebrated today’s Labor Leader of the Year at their 30th Annual Memorial Banquet. The event was held on September 8, 2012 in San Diego, CA and raised $5,000 for mesothelioma research! As you may recall the JOHNS meet every year to honor an old friend, John S. Lyons, by recognizing the Labor Leader of the Year, and to raise money for cancer and leukemia research with local charities. Since its inception the JOHNS have donated nearly $1,300,000.00 to local charities! The Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America is honored to be chosen as one of the benefactors of this year’s event and in years past.

 

Local 230 Pipetrades Business Manager, Kirk Crosswhite, and Retired Local 230 Business Manager, Nico Ferraro, shared a table with the Foundation’s Founding Board Member, Jerry Neil Paul, Executive Director, Elizabeth Paul, and Medical Director Dr., Parkash Gill. After thanking everyone in attendance Dr. Gill spoke about the development of new cancer fighting drugs that he and his team are working on at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. He highlighted the development and submission of EPH-B4 to FDA Phase I Clinical Trials as being a direct result of the donations received from events such as the JOHNS.

Everyone at the Foundation would like to thank the President of the JOHNS and this year’s Labor Leader of the Year Tom Lemmon as well as Art Cantu, Councilwoman Marti Emerald, Kirk Crosswhite, Nico Ferraro, Bill Stuckey, Art Lujan and the rest of the JOHNS for their commitment to making mesothelioma a disease of the past. THANK YOU!

Asbestos is a Silent Killer part 1 of 3

June 30, 2002, legislation was passed in British Columbia by the Campbell Liberals such that no one over age 65 would receive a disability award for a work related disease or injury. The effects of asbestos are not noticeable until 15 to 40 years after contact.

 

Thirty-five (35) people in B.C. Living their remaining years in extreme pain and suffering as a result of exposure to asbestos. Doug Jones, president of Local 480 United Steel Workers in Trail, B.C. Asbestos exposures are relevant through out the region, in factories, schools, hospitals, ferries, ship yards, and all through the building trades. Workers cut sheets of asbestos to make insulating blocks. Lots of asbestos dust particles being breathed. This type of labor work was done 2-3 times per month, and many people did this for twenty years. Asbestos dust cuts the lining of the lungs which induces scar tissue, and the scar tissue reduces lung capacity, damages the air-sacs in the lungs, so this is a very painful death. These people with Asbestosis or Mesothelioma can't do much of anything since they can't breath and they have to rest all the time to catch their breath. Their pain, their chemical therapy for pain, their breathlessness, their quality of life is ruined. The Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America believes that the work being done in the development of Veglin can bring mesothelioma cancer and the suffering of this disease to an end.

Asbestos is a Silent Killer part 2 of 3

June 30, 2002, legislation was passed in British Columbia by the Campbell Liberals such that no one over age 65 would receive a disability award for a work related disease or injury. The effects of asbestos are not noticeable until 15 to 40 years after contact.

 

Asbestos is an extremely toxic and dangerous material that needs to be eradicated, and taken out of the stream of consumer and worker access. It has been replaced by modern technology with improved formulas that are equally capable of prevent fire retardant and prevention. The complete use of non-asbestos modern fire prevention building materials is the future in which all peoples need to move into. Still today, so many workers in many industries are exposed to asbestos. Many of these workers don't even know they are being exposed to this harmful product. Workers are also doing their jobs in old buildings created with asbestos and these buildings have been tested and determined to have high concentrations of asbestos particles floating in the air as a result of the old insulation breaking loose withing these buildings.

Companies using buildings made with asbestos materials need to stop 'fixing' the problem and once and for all remove all asbestos from the buildings in order to protect all workers, present and future. Asbestos exposure is terrible to individuals, it causes severe pain and suffering, it kills the victim, it is an exposure that does not need to happen, and government as well as underwriters such as workers compensation need to promptly address this harmful issue.

Asbestos can be eradicated and it is going to take conscientious effort and some money, but the cost to humanity, the cost to society and people is in the long-term going to make better the quality of life for everyone. It is very hard to tell your kids that their father is going to die from asbestos exposure at the age of 50 years, and it is only a few years before he is gone, and the last few years are miserable to live. Some companies, who have required their employees to work with and around asbestos, and the employee has died from exposure, will require the remaining family of the deceased to sign a paper of release-of-responsibility about asbestos before the company will pay the last paycheck owed to the deceased.

The Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America believes that the work being done in the development of Veglin can bring mesothelioma cancer and the suffering of this disease to an end.

Asbestos is a Silent Killer part 3 of 3

June 30, 2002, legislation was passed in British Columbia by the Campbell Liberals such that no one over age 65 would receive a disability award for a work related disease or injury. The effects of asbestos are not noticeable until 15 to 40 years after contact.

 

It is just not right that people can be exposed to asbestos, they are allowed to get asbestosis or mesothelioma, and there is no accountability or compensation for the destruction and loss of life. As a family, having a member with asbestosis or mesothelioma effects all of us. The quality of life for the victim with this disease is miserable.

Legislation has taken the 'compensation' out of workers compensation. Victims have no future, and employers who put the worker in harms way are getting a holiday from their responsible compensation obligation while the dieing worker is spending their last days in pain and agony. This travesty needs to be corrected. The victims have no future.

Many victims just hope to have another year, even with suffering. And their families are spending the last days fighting a system that is against compensating for this work related injury. Consider this story and what has happened to these good people and that asbestos exposure has been called one of the worse industrial mistakes of the 20th century, and not compensating the victims needs to be stopped.

It is about time that the governments of the world recognize that these workers deserve and require disability compensation for the work they did. The Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America believes that the work being done in the development of Veglin can bring mesothelioma cancer and the suffering of this disease to an end.

 

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