Mesothelioma Lawyer

Even though asbestos has been a known carcinogen since the early 1900s, its extraordinary effectiveness in flame retardation and heat insulation made manufacturers and the construction industry accept the risk of harm it caused to workers throughout the 20th century. Because of its widespread use, millions of workers across the United States have been irreparably harmed by the inhalation of asbestos fibers in chemical plants and commercial buildings across the country. After billions of dollars of litigation, the construction industry finally stopped the widespread use of asbestos in the 1980s. Although this has been a victory of sorts for the American worker, there will still be many workers and average citizens that will be affected by asbestos in the coming years.

Despite the fact that the construction industry has stopped using asbestos in new construction, there are still hundreds of facilities and abandoned buildings throughout the U.S. that are riddled with asbestos and a long and expensive abatement process is on the horizon. One example of this is in Fort Worth, Texas, where they are planning to use a new, and experimental method of asbestos abatement. In that city there is an abandoned apartment building called Oak Hollow, which is right in the middle of a fairly dense area of town. Demolishing the building as it stands, would possibly contaminate everyone in the area with asbestos.

To thwart this, the EPA has devised a new experimental method for the demolition. Prior to the demolition the demolition team will saturate the building with foam that will theoretically wet the asbestos down and contain it during the demolition process. The asbestos will hopefully stay intact during the demolition and the dust will be mostly free of asbestos. After demolition the asbestos containing rubble will be taken to a special landfill that is authorized to contain asbestos waste.

Proponents of the plan are excited of the possibility of this foam replacing water as the standard means of wetting down asbestos inside buildings and will be a faster, more cost effective means of abating buildings prior to demolition. However, this plan is not without opposition. Opponents say that the EPA has inflated the costs of the standard methods in an effort to highlight this more cost effective method. It is still not determined what a safe level of asbestos in the air actually is, and that there is no doubt that asbestos will be released even if this method is used. There are plenty of fears that this method has not been tested enough to use in highly populated areas, and that its cost effectiveness is only realized in situations where buildings are heavily embedded with asbestos. Opponents also say that the labor costs will remain virtually the same with the old or the new method.

Despite the opposition the experiment is moving forward, and this method has been dubbed the “Fort Worth Method.” If the experiment is a success it will change the way the job is done, and will hopefully provide answers to city managers across the country who are trying to do away with old buildings that have outlived their usefulness. The success of this experiment will be hard to measure, because of the latent effects of asbestos exposure. It will likely be many years before it is determined if the residents in the surrounding areas of the demolition will have been harmed.

Whether or not there are old or new methods of abatement, asbestos is still going to be a problem well into the 21st century because of its pervasive use in the past. There are still hundreds if not thousands of buildings across the country that contain asbestos, and thousands of workers and citizens that will be harmed by breathing asbestos fibers. Hopefully, this method and more innovative ones in the future can stem the tide of harm, but it is likely that more litigation in asbestos will continue well into the future.

To learn more, contact the Mesothelioma Lawyers at Williams Kherkher at 1.800.220.9341.