NYC Mesothelioma Lawyer: Asbestos Exposure is No Laughing Matter
A comedy show’s spoof of a Canadian mine’s push to expand its asbestos production has shed some much needed light on a serious issue, New York City personal injury attorney Joseph W. Belluck said this week.
Belluck, one the country’s leading advocates for the rights of mesothelioma victims, said he hopes The Daily Show’s recent segment on the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec, conveyed the dangerous consequences of asbestos exposure to a wide audience.
The mineral has been linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma, an aggressive and deadly form of cancer which results from breathing in asbestos fibers that become lodged in the thin membrane encasing the lungs.
Each year, more than 90,000 people die from asbestos exposure– many of them workers who were exposed to the mineral decades before the illness manifested itself.
“There is nothing humorous about the devastating impact that asbestos has had on countless workers and their families across the United States and around the world,” said Belluck, a partner of the New York City personal injury law firm, Belluck & Fox, LLP.
“The millions of people who watched this TV program hopefully took away from it an understanding that there are no safe ways to handle or use asbestos, and that it is completely outrageous that this toxic mineral continues to be produced,” he said.
The Jeffrey Mine has received, in principal, a $58 million loan guarantee from the Quebec government that will allow it to expand into underground operations, according to the Montreal Gazette.
The expansion could result in the mine eventually producing up to 225,000 tons of chrysotile asbestos per year, with most of the exports going to India, the newspaper said.
In The Daily Show segment, called “Ored to Death,” Jeffrey Mine Inc. president Bernard Coulombe tells astounded correspondent Aasif Mandvi that chrysotile asbestos is “safe – relatively.”
Later in the segment, Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, deputy editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, rejects Coulombe’s assertions about the safety of the mine’s product.
“All forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, cause cancer and other harmful lung effects,” Stanbrook says. “Unquestionably, the mine should shut down.”
Asbestos was once widely used in a variety of products in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere, including insulation, automotive brakes, fireproofing, pipe covering, cement mixtures, joint compounds and floor tiles. Construction and industrial workers have been especially exposed to the mineral.
Although it is still not banned, asbestos use is significantly limited in the United States. However, it is used around the world in developing countries.
“As an attorney who has seen up close the impact of asbestos exposure on the lives of mesothelioma victims and their families, I can’t imagine how anyone would support expanding this mine’s operation,” Belluck said. “It’s time to put an end to asbestos production.”
