As news of asbestos-related diseases spread across the United States, the American public started to become increasingly suspicious of asbestos companies that had, for so long, denied the dangers of asbestos exposure. Asbestos companies that had known about the long-term health risks began to experience social and legal scrutiny, with families across the country filing mesothelioma claims. Learn more about the start of asbestos legal fights and the mineral’s continued use in the present day. Tracking the Impacts of Asbestos In July 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced ..read more

Linda Reinstein’s story is one of adversity, transformation and hope. Currently, she is the President and CEO of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), the largest advocacy group for asbestos victims. She routinely serves as a congressional witness and speaks around the world about the science underpinning the dangers of asbestos. But it wasn’t always this way — at the time of her husband Alan’s mesothelioma diagnosis in 2003, Linda knew nothing about mesothelioma. As she educated herself and began to educate others, she grew to understand that awareness, when coupled with action ..read more

“I have not received a penny…I should have had nine weeks wages now through no fault of my own,” said Nellie Kershaw — a young, hard-working British woman who died in poverty from asbestosis in 1924. Nellie was a wife and mother who unknowingly went to a job for 14 years that slowly poisoned her. She, and later her husband, begged for rightful compensation as she lay on her deathbed, but ultimately received nothing. Her death would become the first documented case of occupational asbestos exposure in medical literature — but Nellie never knew that exposure to asbestos could cause life-threaten ..read more

Every year, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) dedicates the first full week of April to Global Asbestos Awareness Week (GAAW). From April 1 to April 7, Simmons Hanly Conroy will join advocates across the world in the fight to ban asbestos. For 20 years now, the ADAO has dedicated itself to generating much-needed awareness of the dangers of asbestos, preventing exposure to the carcinogen and fighting to ban all use and imports of asbestos in the United States. This year, GAAW falls just weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a ban on the importation and ..read more

On March 18, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the agency would be banning the use of chrysotile asbestos. An asbestos ban was first passed in 1989, but it was overturned in 1991. Since then the government has failed to protect the public from asbestos and its resulting health issues like mesothelioma. As a result, 40,000 people die from asbestos-related diseases every year. One of the few options for justice victims have had is through mesothelioma lawsuits filed long after the damage was already done. The EPA’s asbestos regulation is a historic move to protect workers ..read more

As soon as asbestos became an industrial commodity in the late 19th century, the clock began ticking. Sooner or later, the public would find out just how deadly this carcinogenic substance really was. The only question was how long it would take — and how many people would have to suffer needlessly before asbestos companies were no longer able to hide or deny a growing body of medical research proving the health hazards of asbestos. From the early 1900s through the 1970s, the asbestos industry would find itself in a golden era, hailing asbestos as a “miracle mineral” due to its strength and na ..read more

For thousands of years, asbestos remained in the margins of ancient society, bewildering onlookers with its magical fire-resistant properties while concealing its more harmful ones. But as civilization matured, so did its use of asbestos. In our previous installments, we learned how ancient and medieval societies used this mysterious, naturally occurring mineral to protect cremated remains, clean fabrics, mystify travelers and besiege castles. However, asbestos use reached new heights in the 19th century, when ambitious industrialists found ways to make extraordinary profits from mining the ..read more

Asbestos is a known health hazard and is highly regulated by both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Damaged or worn-down asbestos-containing products may release fibers that can be inhaled or swallowed. Once asbestos particles enter the lungs or digestive system tissues, they can remain there forever. Over time, asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, as well as other deadly diseases. “Although the use of asbestos and asbestos products has dramatically decreased in recent ..read more

On February 1, 2024, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), in partnership with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), launched a new campaign to broadcast the dangers of asbestos and urge lawmakers to ban asbestos in the United States. Asbestos is a highly toxic mineral that causes mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer. Despite more than 70 countries banning the material, asbestos is still legal in the U.S., putting innocent lives at risk. “ADAO and IAFF’s message in Times Square is clear: Asbestos remains a killer, and our firefighters are disproportionatel ..read more

In our last post on the history of asbestos, we explored how ancient civilizations made use of this seemingly unthreatening fibrous mineral. Centuries ago, before asbestos was found to be the primary cause of mesothelioma, asbestos mining could be traced back thousands of years to before the construction of the Great Pyramids. For most of that ancient history, though, asbestos was used for one of two purposes: To keep ashes from mixing with the funeral pyre during cremations, when the body would be wrapped in a flame-resistant asbestos cloth To impress visitors from foreign lands with fire-re ..read more