Asbestos exposure is known to cause serious health problems including the non-cancerous lung disease asbestosis, which causes a build up of scar tissue in the lungs.  Worse, asbestos also causes a deadly cancer known as mesothelioma. There are three primary types of mesothelioma: pleural mesothelioma, peritoneal mesothelioma, and pericardial mesothelioma, which attack the lungs, abdomen, and heart lining, respectively.

The Y-12 National Security Complex

The Y-12 National Security Complex, which operates under the US Department of Energy’s Nuclear Security Enterprise, is in the business of developing safe and reliable US nuclear weapons deterrent, retrieving and storing nuclear materials, fueling the US naval reactors, and performing other government and private functions.

In operation since 1943, the Y-12 National Security Complex has historically used a number of dangerous toxins including asbestos.  Asbestos was prized by the Y-12 Complex for its fireproofing, insulating, and durability.  In 1970, the organization became concerned with asbestos, PCBs, lead paint and other risks.  The company implemented new policies to reduce the risks posed by these toxic agents; however asbestos continues to be a problem at the complex.

Y-12 currently has an asbestos program designed to reduce the risk of asbestos exposure on the job.  This department is charged with ensuring that all operations involving asbestos-laden materials are carried out as safely as possible.  This program must comply with federal, state, and organization specific codes regarding asbestos disturbance, remediation, and removal.

Despite these efforts, the risks of asbestos exposure continue to pose ongoing formidable challenges to those who work at the Y-12 National Security Complex.   The risks associated with asbestos are made more complex by the fact that diseases caused by this material do not often develop until years, if not decades, after exposure.

If you or a loved one has worked at the Y-12 complex and subsequently developed an asbestos related disease, such as mesothelioma, please contact us to learn more about your legal rights and options.  Our experienced attorneys can listen to your story and determine the best way to help you.

Unfortunately, many of the fossil plants operated by TVA are known sites of potential asbestos exposure.  Asbestos exposure in the workplace of any of these plants can cause serious and even fatal health problems, including an aggressive type of cancer called mesothelioma.

The potentially dangerous plants operated under the Tennessee Valley Authority include:

Fossil plants:

• Allen
• Bull Run
• Brownsville
• Caledonia
• Colbert
• Cumberland
• Gallatin
• Gleason
• John Sevier
• Johnsonville
• Kemper
• Kingston
• Lagoon Creek
• Marshall
• Paradise
• Shawnee
• Southhaven
• Widows Creek

The Tennessee Valley Authority also operates the following nuclear plants:

• Browns
• Ferry
• Sequoyah
• Watts Bar

If you or a loved one has worked at any of these facilities and you are concerned about the asbestos risks or have developed an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma or asbestosis, it is important to learn about your rights and options.  Contact our Tennessee asbestos lawyers today for a free consultation of your case.

The Kingston Steam Plant, located on the Watts Bar Reservoir of the Tennessee River, is a large coal-burning power plant.  In fact, it was the largest power plant of its kind when its construction was completed 1955.

To create energy, Kingston’s nine coal-fired generating units heat water in a boiler to produce steam.  Put under extreme pressure, this steam flows into a turbine that spins to produce enough electricity to power 670,000 homes each year.  This plant consumers 14,000 tones of coal every day when at its full operational capacity.

The Kingston Steam Plant, like many coal power plants in operation in the last 100 years, used asbestos extensively in their building facilities and equipment due to this material’s insulating abilities.  The heat generated by power plants like the Kingston Steam Plant is so great that superior protective insulation is required to prevent fires and other problems.

However, while asbestos proves an excellent insulating material, it is extremely toxic.  When this material is compromised in any way, invisible asbestos particles can be inhaled or ingested.  This asbestos exposure can lead to serious health problems including asbestosis and a rare but deadly cancer called mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma attacks the lining of the abdominal cavity, the lungs, or the heart.  Sadly, this aggressive cancer often proves fatal in months.  Interestingly, there can be a long span between the time of asbestos exposure and the development of a related disease.  In fact, it can take up to 50 years for mesothelioma to develop after exposure to asbestos.

The Kingston Steam Plant is not required by the EPA to report on emissions of asbestos into the air, though in 2008 it reported toxic release of 9 million pounds of dangerous compounds including arsenic and lead.

It is known that the Kingston Steam Plant used asbestos extensively in their operations and may have put their employees at risk for serious asbestos related disease.

If you or a loved one worked at the Kingston Steam Plant and developed an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma, you may be entitled to compensation for your disease, your medical expenses, and your pain and suffering.  Please contact us today to speak with our qualified attorneys who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.

While asbestos was long prized for its durability, insulating properties, and fireproofing ability, this material can cause serious and irreparable bodily harm.

Asbestos can be inhaled or ingested in any environment where this material has been compromised or subject to the natural aging process.  Once exposed, people can develop serious asbestos related diseases, including asbestosis and mesothelioma.  Mesothelioma is a rare but aggressive cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, heart, or abdominal cavity.

If you or a loved one has worked at the Johnsonville Fossil Plant and have developed an asbestos-related disease, it is important to learn more about your legal rights and options.  Contact us to speak with a qualified Tennessee asbestos attorney.  Read on to learn more about the Johnsonville Fossil Plant.

The Johnsonville Steam Plant

Johnsonville Fossil Plant is located near Waverly, on the east bank of the Tennessee River.  This plant is one of the oldest fossil plants in the Tennessee Valley Authority system and supplies power to 400,000 homes in Tennessee.

To produce electricity, this plant uses 10 coal-fired units, which consume about 9,600 tons of coal every day.  In these units, water is heated in a boiler to produce steam.  Under high pressure this steam is forced into a turbine and then into a generator that produces energy.

In the past, asbestos use was crucial to the operation of these coal-fire plants: asbestos helped to fireproof the equipment and reduce the risk of unwanted fire.  It was also used in several other applications.

For a long time, organizations that used asbestos argued that it was safe.  However, numerous scientific studies concluded that asbestos used in coal power plants like the Johnsonville Steam Plant could cause cancer.  While plants no longer actively use asbestos in their operations, these materials can still be present in older equipment and materials.  In fact, their age makes them all the more dangerous.

If you are concerned about asbestos exposure at the Johnsonville Steam Plant, please contact us to learn more.

Exposure to asbestos at the Dupont Chemical Plant in Memphis may not cause health problems immediately.  In fact, many asbestos-related diseases do not present any symptoms for years, if not decades, following asbestos exposure.  Mesothelioma is the most serious asbestos disease, which often remains latent for up to 50 years before becoming symptomatic.

Mesothelioma is a cancer that affects the cellular lining of the lungs, heart, or abdominal cavity.  While rare, this form of cancer is aggressive and often proves fatal within months.

Chemical plants, such as the Dow Memphis plant, often used chrysotile asbestos, which companies long argued was harmless.  However, numerous scientific evidence have found that this type of asbestos can cause cancer.  While the dangers of asbestos are well known, this material is still present at sites such as the Dow Memphis Chemical Plant and continue to present serious health risks.

Dupont has a long storied history of environmental problems. For example, a team of researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts Amherst ranked DuPont as the largest corporate producer of air pollution in the U.S.  At one point, Dupont was producing 150,000 pounds of ammonia annually, which is also harmful to human health.

If you or a loved one have worked at this Memphis chemical plant and subsequently developed an asbestos related disease such as mesothelioma or asbestosis, you may wish to speak with a qualified and experienced Tennessee asbestos attorney who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.  If you are concerned about asbestos exposure, you may wish to speak with your doctor.

• Significant roof damage
• Floor damage making them structurally unsound
• Extensive fire damage from a fire a few years ago
• Extensive presence of lead based paint
• Extensive presence of asbestos

As a result of these numerous problems, experts determined that it would be more cost-effective to tear down the existing structure rather than attempt to repair all of these problems.

The latter two problems associated with the church—lead-based paint and asbestos—prove the most dangerous in terms of human health. Lead-based paint has been connected to:

• Brain and nervous system damage
• Hearing problems
• Stunted growth in children
• Digestive disorders
• Muscle and joint pain
• And high blood pressure.

Asbestos, an invisible fiber used extensively in building materials, is even more deadly. This material, when airborne can be inhaled or ingested by those who have attended the Old Baptist Church in the past decades. Once in the body, asbestos can cause serious harm, including:

• Asbestosis—a disease characterized by scarring of the lung tissue
• Mesothelioma—a deadly cancer that targets the lining of the heart cavity, abdomen, or lungs.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that is difficult to diagnose and treat. Moreover, this disease can lie dormant for up to 50 years following asbestos exposure before symptoms manifest. Tragically, most victims of mesothelioma die in less than two years after a mesothelioma diagnosis. Approximately, 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer every year.

The last time the Central Baptist Church had been used for services was in 1958, though people who attended the church at this time, as well as those in close proximity to the church since that time, may have been exposed to these serious health dangers.

It takes decades for the symptoms of mesothelioma to become apparent, meaning that many people who do not yet know it, may have been exposed to asbestos and could be at risk for mesothelioma. Some of the most common work sites that used asbestos are:

• Factories
• Powerplants
• Refineries
• Chemical Plants

Asbestos exposure has occurred in at least 57 Tennessee cities. Chattanooga, TN is the Tennessee city with the most asbestos exposure sites at 29.

Here is a list of the 162 known sites of asbestos exposure in Tennessee:

• The mesothelioma morality rate in Tennessee is 7 people per million.

• Between 1979 and 1999, 650 Tennessee residents died because of asbestos-related disease. Two-thirds of these people died of mesothelioma, while the other third died from a non-cancerous disease called asbestosis.

• Industrial work appears to be the main cause of asbestos-related deaths in Tennessee.

• There is a higher prevalence of asbestos-related deaths among people who live in bigger Tennessee cities, such as Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville.

This study adds valuable insight into the treatment of mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos. Because of the nature of mesothelioma progression, this cancer is very difficult to treat. This study aimed to better understand the value of PET and CT scans in revealing tumor response to chemotherapy, thereby predicting the survival of patients with plural mesothelioma.

This study was set up to evaluate several parameters of the PET and CT scans to determine whether they might assist in predicting survival rates. Each of the 41 pleural mesothelioma patients involved in this study were first treated with a combination pemetrexed and platinum-based chemotherapy. Because there is no known cure for mesothelioma, such chemotherapy treatment is intended to be palliative rather than curative.

The researchers administered both CT and PET scans to all patients at baseline (before chemotherapy commenced) and following three cycles of chemotherapy. The researchers found that none of the baseline testing was predictive of survival for the patients studied. However, based on the PET scan following chemotherapy, 14 patients were deemed responsive to treatment. This scan also revealed stable disease in 23 patients and 4 patients as having progressive disease. Based on the CT scan following chemotherapy, 10 patients were deemed responsive to therapy, with 30 categorized as having stable disease and one having progressive disease.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that, after three rounds of chemotherapy, the CT-response was significantly predictive of overall survival rates. However, they reported that other parameters of the scans were not helpful in predicting overall survival rates for mesothelioma patients.

In conclusion, the researchers report that both PET and CT scans are helpful in predicting the overall survival of pleural mesothelioma patients following chemotherapy.

To learn more about mesothelioma treatment, please click here.