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Mesothelioma and Ovarian Cancer Victims See Baby Powder Recall As Proof
Consumer product companies have pushed back against lawsuits accusing their talc-based products of causing malignant mesothelioma and other cancers, but victims’ arguments were strengthened this week when the Food and Drug Administration revealed it had found chrysotile asbestos fibers in a recently-sold bottle of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder.
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United Kingdom Mesothelioma Researchers Begin Targeted Strategy Trial
Patients diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma have few treatment options available to them, and those that exist deliver results that are marginal at best. Most patients die within two years of being diagnosed. In an effort to extend survival time, researchers at three different United Kingdom medical centers have begun a trial that takes an
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UK Hairdresser’s Mesothelioma Diagnosis Blamed On Hairdryers
When you think about professions that are at risk for malignant mesothelioma, the ones that come to mine include factory workers, firefighters, and construction workers. You imagine boiler rooms clouded with dust, or insulation being installed. The last occupation you would picture would be a hairdresser in a salon, cutting and curling hair and wielding
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Stagehand’s Mesothelioma Claim Blames Power Cables for Asbestos Exposure
When Peter Tytell worked as a stagehand, hanging stage lighting in the 1960s, he never dreamed that doing so would end up leading to a diagnosis with malignant mesothelioma. But in February of 2017 he got confirmation that he was suffering from the rare and fatal asbestos-related disease, and by December of that year he
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Occupational Medicine Expert Publishes Study Linking Talc Powder to Mesothelioma
One of the country’s top experts in occupational medicine, epidemiology and prevention has just published a study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine supporting the idea that talcum powder contaminated with asbestos is directly linked to malignant mesothelioma. The question of whether exposure to cosmetic talc can cause the rare asbestos-related disease, as well as
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Two Former EPA Administrators Pen Anti-Asbestos Op-Ed
In a move that will hearten victims of malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, former Environmental Protection Administration Administrators Gina McCarty and William K. Reilly have penned an op-ed in today’s New York Times urging Congress to ban asbestos in the United States.
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Australians Point to Chemoimmunotherapy As the Future of Mesothelioma Treatment
Mesothelioma is one of the rarest forms of cancer, and it is also one of the most frustrating. The disease has an extremely long latency period, only making itself known decades after patients were exposed to asbestos, and by the time its symptoms arise physicians have few options for effective treatment. The most common approach
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Mesothelioma Victim’s Quest for Justice Defeated By Delay
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How Physicians’ Poor Communication Skills Can Fail Mesothelioma Patients
Receiving a mesothelioma diagnosis is devastating. The rare, asbestos-related form of cancer has no cure and is so aggressive that most patients die within just two years of the disease being identified. While physicians and researchers are working hard to find effective treatments and methods for improving both survival and quality of life, a recent
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California Mesothelioma Victims Benefit From New Law
This week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 645 into law, and it marks a significant victory for victims of malignant mesothelioma. The new law will protect victims of the asbestos-related disease from physically and emotionally taxing deposition examinations by limiting the amount of time that defendant companies are permitted to take to question
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Owkin Labs Uses Artificial Intelligence to Improve Understanding of Mesothelioma Survival
A New York company dedicated to using machine learning to harness our understanding of medical data has announced the development of a new program to help predict mesothelioma patients’ survival and response to treatment. According to an article published in the journal Nature Medicine, the company’s artificial intelligence program successfully identified patient characteristics found in biopsy
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Electrician’s Case Against Asbestos Company Allowed to Proceed
When Philip A. Lattanzio chose to become an electrician, he never dreamed that his 42-year-long career would lead to being diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, a rare and fatal form of cancer. But once he was diagnosed in September of 2017 and learned that the disease is caused by exposure to asbestos, he set out to
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Asbestos Glove Manufacture’s Bid to Avoid Court in Mesothelioma Case Fails
Michael Rosen, M.D., Ph.D is a victim of malignant mesothelioma who blames his disease on exposure to asbestos that contaminated gloves and burner pads made by Fisher Scientific Company, which he used throughout his undergraduate and graduate school years, as well as when he worked as a medical technologist during summer breaks. Though Fisher attempted
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ESMO Attendees Hear of Success for New Mesothelioma Chemotherapy
Mesothelioma researchers are all-too aware that the disease they’re investigating is extremely resistant to treatment. They have to measure victories in small increments, and being able to offer patients even a few more months of life has significant value. So it is no wonder that attendees at this year’s European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO)
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California Jury Decides Johnson & Johnson Must Pay Mesothelioma Victim $40.3 Million
The company behind Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower Body Powder has suffered another legal loss, as a has ordered them to pay $40.3 million to a woman diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. This is only the latest in a series of claims filed against the company, accusing them of negligently allowing asbestos
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Conference Attendees Learn that Keytruda Yields Disappointing Mesothelioma Results
Keytruda is an immunotherapy protocol that has proven remarkably effective in treating many types of cancer, but attendees at an international cancer conference learned this week that a randomized phase 3 trial showed disappointing results in mesothelioma patients.
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For Best Mesothelioma Outcomes, Patients Need Specialized, Experienced Treatment
Every cancer diagnosis is serious and requires immediate and experienced medical attention, but when it comes to treating malignant mesothelioma, it is essential that patients get the right care. A new study published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery has revealed an enormous difference in median survival outcomes between patients who are treated at low-volume cancer
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Judge Rejects J&J’s Bid to Avoid Paying Award to Deceased Mesothelioma Victim
Last June, a jury in California found Johnson & Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive and Avon Products jointly liable for Patricia Schmitz’s malignant mesothelioma, and awarded the woman $2 million in economic damages and another $10 million in noneconomic damages. One month later Mrs. Schmitz succumbed to her cancer, and in response Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive filed
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Research Shows Chemotherapy Decision Should Consider Mesothelioma Cell Type
When malignant mesothelioma is diagnosed, one of the first steps that clinicians follow is the staging of the patient’s disease. This important step helps physicians better understand how far the cancer cells have spread within the body and is just one of many that helps to determine what protocol will serve the patient best. New
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Retrial Begins in California Mesothelioma Lawsuit Against Johnson & Johnson
It’s been just over a year since mesothelioma victim Carolyn Weirick told a California jury about her diagnosis with malignant mesothelioma, and why she believed that Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder had caused her development of the rare and fatal form of cancer. That trial ended with a deadlocked jury unable to agree on a
