According to a press release issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Albania DeLeon, the owner of Environmental Compliance Training, a Massachusetts asbestos training school, and Jose Francisco Garcia, an employee of the company, were charged on August 22 with one count of making a false statement to the EPA.

As alleged in the indictment, DeLeon owned and operated a certified asbestos training school in Methuen, Massachusetts from approximately 2001 to 2006. Under federal and state law, individuals interested in working in the asbestos abatement industry must complete a 32-hour introductory training course. DeLeon's company offered such courses and issued certificates to participants upon completion.

According to the indictment, the company falsely reported that the school had trained dozens of individuals to conduct asbestos removal work. Many untrained people were issued certificates which allowed them to obtain authorization from the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety to perform asbestos removal work. The indictment further alleges that many of the individuals were directed to work for Methuen Staffing, a temporary services company also owned by DeLeon which specializes in asbestos removal. If convicted, both DeLeon and Garcia could recieve up to five years in prison followed by three years supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

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HALIFAX, UK/August 23--Halifax lawyer, Paul Glanville, 40, is cycling 2,000 miles to raise money for mesothelioma. Glanville is a partner at John Pickering and Partners, LLP, Solicitors in Halifax where his work predominantly consists of representing victims of industrial diseases such as mesothelioma. Upset by the lack of money and research into mesothelioma, Glanville decided to do something. His trek from Paris to Marakesh, Morocco will begin on September 9. Glanville plans to ride 80 miles per day through four countries and hopes to finish in six weeks.

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In answering a certified question from the Fourteenth District Court of Appeals of Texas, the Michigan Supreme Court considered whether a defendant property owner had a legal duty to protect a third party non-employee who had never been on or near its property from exposure to asbestos fibers carried home on a household member's clothing.

In Miller v. Ford Motor Co., the Court determined that the relationship between Carolyn Miller and Ford Motor Co. was "highly tenuous", such that it did not warrant the imposition of that duty. The Plaintiffs had alleged that Miller, who died from mesothelioma in 2000, contracted the disease from washing the work clothes of her stepfather Cleveland "John" Roland. From 1954-1965 Roland was an employee of independent contractors who were hired by the defendant Ford Motor Co. to reline the interiors of blast furnaces used to melt iron ore at the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The materials used to reline the furnaces were alleged to have contained asbestos. Miller herself had never been on or near the defendant's property or had any further relationship with the defendant.

Citing the insubstantial nature of the relationship between Miller and the defendant, the Court found the harm to plaintiff "unforeseeable" and further concluded that to impose a duty on the defendant to protect "every person with whom a business' employees and the employees of its independent contractors come into contact, or even with whom their clothes come into contact, would impose an extraordinarily onerous and unworkable burden" and "create a limitless pool of plaintiffs." Having concluded that defendant owed no legal duty to Miller to protect her from "take-home" asbestos fibers on her stepfather's clothing, the matter was returned to the Texas court for further proceedings.

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SOMERSET, NJ/August 22/PRNewswire-First Call/--Alfacell Corporation announced the findings of a paper published in the International Journal of Oncology (2007; Vol. 31, Issue 3: 663-669) which reported that treatment with the cancer drug ONCONASE (R) substantially decreases intracellular oxidative stress by suppressing reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) in normal cell types and tumor cell lines. ONCONASE is a first-in-class product based of Alfacell's proprietary ribonclease (RNase) technology. Derived from a natural protein isolated from the leopard frog, ONCONASE has been shown in labratory and clinical tests to target cancer cells while sparing normal cells.

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The Pioneer Press reported on Tuesday that Minnesota's Department of Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach will resign her post effective October 2nd; Mandernach's last day on the job will be September 20th. Although no official reason has been given for Mandernach's departure, the announcement comes just months after several Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party lawmakers called for her resignation in June. Iron Range lawmakers pushed for Mandernach's dismissal on the heels of news reports that she delayed the release of important new data regarding the deaths of 35 Iron Range workers from mesothelioma. The Health Department learned of the deaths in March of 2006 but failed to release the information until March 2007, one year later. At the time, Mandernach took sole responsibility for the delay citing the departments' desire to await receipt of federal research money before releasing the information publicly. Previous deaths had raised questions about mesothelioma and mining but this new data has led to a formal study into the possible link between taconite mining and the deadly disease. (See below "University of Minn. to Study Link Between Taconite Mining and Mesothelioma" posted August 10th). Although she has apologized publicly for her decision to withhold the information, her handling of the situation raised concerns from lawmakers and others about her ability to manage the department.

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