Breaking News Medical - Legal Updates

• Mesothelioma Patients and Asbestos Exposed Citizens Need Advocates in Government (7/1/05)

• Committee Approves Asbestos Bill With Strings Attached (5/26/05)

• Battle Stations! Asbestos Advocacy Alert! No to Corporate Bail Outs. No to SB 852 RGW (4/18/05)
  Last Updated on July 18, 2005

• Asbestos Bail Out Bill is Back (and ugly as ever) RGW (4/11/05)

• Col. Jim Zumwalt Speaks Out: Declare War on Asbestos, Defeat the Bail Out Bill (3/17/05)

• Blood Test for Mesothelioma (3/3/05)

• Sen. Reid Proposes "National Asbestos Awareness Day" (2/9/05)

• Doctors/Scientists Propose Solution to Asbestos Public Health Crisis (1/24/05)

• MARF Applauds Long Overdue Acknowledgment of Need to Fund Cure for Mesothelioma (1/12/05)

• MARF Advocates Creation of CDMRP for Mesothelioma. RGW (12/13/04)

• Asbestos Defendants Oppose Sen. Specter's Asbestos Trust Fund Bill Proposal (1/7/05)

• "Rational Versus Radical Therapy For Mesothelioma: A New Approach," Dr. Robert Cameron, UCLA Medical School, presented at MARF Symposium in Las Vegas, October 16, 2004. Copyright of Dr. Robert Cameron. Do not copy without permission (11/18/04)

• Navy Veteran with Mesothelioma Urges Congress to Fund Medical Research for Long-known Orphan Disease: "It's never too late to do the right thing." (11/16/04)

• Curing Mesothelioma: Who Will Take the Initiative? As presented by Roger G. Worthington at the First International Mesothelioma Symposium (10/14/04)

• Sen. Daschle Comes Down to $140 Billion, But Deal Not Done. (9/16/04) (read Daschle's letter to Frist)

• MARF asks National Gypsum Asbestos Trust to Fund mesothelioma Medical Research: Ounce of Prevention Worth Pound of Cure. (9/9/04)

• Asbestos Prospects Dimming, But Frist ($140 billion), Daschle ($145 billion) Keep Talking (9/9/04)

• A Modest Proposal: Asbestos Bankruptcy Lawyers Must Invest Trust Money in A Cure. RGW,PC (8/27/04)

• Feinstein Offers Asbestos Fund Compromise (8/16/04)

• New Proposal for Asbestos Fund from Sen. Daschle (7/1/04)

• MARF Sponsors First Ever Mesothelioma Advocacy and Medical Symposium, Las Vegas, October 14-16 (6/13/04)

• Texas Courts Confirm Rights of Non-Texas Residents. RGW,PC (5/27/04)

• Celebrex Inhibits mesothelioma Cell Growth in Lab Studies (5/12/04)

• UCLA Proposes Comprehensive Mesothelioma Translational Research Program. RGW,PC (5/10/04)

• FDA OKs Lilly Drug for Asbestos-Related Cancer (2/5/04)
  RGW notes big discrepancy in statistics on total cases diagnosed per year

• Raising Hope - $500,000 Awarded for New Research to Cure Asbestos-Related Cancer (1/30/04)

• Funding the Cure for Mesothelioma. Major Donation Raises Hope, Issues Challenge (1/14/04)

• Worthington, P.C. Donates $200,000 to Mesothelioma Research in 2003 (1/12/04)

• Asbestos Brake Companies Promote Myth that Chrysotile is Safe. Letter to EPA by Dr. David Egilman (11/20/03)

• First-ever Blood Test for Mesothelioma Being Developed (11/14/03)

• Hatch Lays and Egg...For Now (10/2/03)

• PA Governor Proclaims Mesothelioma Awareness Day (10/1/03)

• Pittsburgh City Council Brings Vital Attention to Overlooked Asbestos Cancer (9/17/03)

• Drug Combination Extends Survival in Mesothelioma (7/16/03)

• ASCO Reports on Intracavitary Hyperthermic Chemo, FDG-PET Scan Prognostication, and Alimta/Cisplatin Quality of Life (6/12/03)

• British Editorial: Randomized Controlled Trial Needed to Verify Whether Radical EPP Surgery Best Option for Mesothelioma (6/03)

• Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) Re-Introduces Ban Asbestos Act (S.1115), Thanks MARF! (5/23/03)

• Senator Hatch Bill Ignores MARF Proposal (5/7/03)

• MARF Proposes Legislation to Create $135 Million mesothelioma Program (4/28/03)

• Supreme Court Allows Asbestos - Cancer Anxiety Claims (3/11/03)

• Asbestos-Cancer Treatments Expected to Improve with MARF Grants; Federal Government Asked to Assist in Developing Cure (12/16/02)

• MARF Doctor Hails Alimta as "A New Standard Therapy" for Treating Mesothelioma; Lilly Makes Drug Available through Expanded Access Program. Indianapolis, Indiana, November 14, 2002 (11/20/02)

• MARF's Third Round of Mesothelioma Research Funding Attracts Superb International Field (10/17/2002)

• Uniting Against the Common Enemy. Patients, Doctors, Trial Lawyers and Defendants Invest in Curing Mesothelioma (8/22/02)

• Ban Asbestos Act Funds mesothelioma Research! (6/20/02)

• MARF Executive Director Chris Hahn's Report from ASCO 2002 (5/31/02)
  • Phase III Single-Blinded Study Of Pemetrexed + Cisplatin Vs. Cisplatin Alone In Chemonaive Patients With Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma
  • Malignant Mesothelioma: New Biological and Clinical Advances

• LA Times' Lisa Girion Reports on Rising Incidence of mesothelioma in "New Generation" of Non-Occupationally Exposed Population (household exposure, part time summer jobs, home remodeling). (5/9/02)

• MARF Announces The Availability of Its Third Round of Mesothelioma Research Grant Funding (4/19/02)

• Unimpaired Claims Explosion Accelerates Bankruptcies (2/18/02)

• A.P. Green and Harbison-Walker File for Bankruptcy (2/15/02)

• Kaiser Aluminum Files for Bankruptcy (2/14/02)

• Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Surgical Roles and Novel Therapies, by Dr. Harvey Pass, preface by RGW (2/7/02)

• Judge Weiner Dismisses Unimpaired, Asymptomatic Asbestos Lawsuits from Federal MDL Action (1/22/02)

• A Blessing In Disguise: How a Painful Fall From an Ornery Horse Results in a Life-Saving Lung Cancer Surgery for 65 year old Asbestos Investigator. Dave "Punch" Worthington. Keizer, OR (1/14/02)

• North American Refractories Files for Chapter 11 (1/7/02)

• Insurance Companies Forecast Costs of Asbestos Claims

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Insurance Companies Forecast Costs of Asbestos Claims

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2001--The property/casualty industry may be facing a surge in asbestos claims that could Cumulatively cost the industry as much as $65 billion, according to a new report, ``Asbestos Claims Surge Set to Dampen Earnings for Commercial Insurers,'' released by A.M. Best Co.

This new estimate of ultimate asbestos-related losses is nearly two-thirds higher than A.M. Best's previous 1997 estimate of $40 billion for such costs.

Meanwhile, A.M. Best's estimate of the industry's ultimate environmental liabilities remains unchanged at $56 billion, pending further study later in the year. As a result, A.M. Best projects that the industry's ultimate asbestos- and environment-related losses are now expected to reach $121 billion, up 26% from A.M. Best's previous $96 billion estimate.

Asbestos has surpassed environmental to become the most significant and difficult mass tort issue for the property/casualty industry in terms of incurred losses to date, claims volume and ultimate dollar exposure.

Based on Footnote 27 data, the insurance industry's asbestos claims payments have increased dramatically, averaging nearly 15% during the past two years. Going forward, over the next three to five years, we expect this unfavorable payment trend to worsen, such that annual paid claims will increase by at least 20%. With asbestos-claim payments expected to grow for the majority of exposed insurers in 2001 and beyond, these trends portend significant future asbestos liabilities and earnings drag for the P/C industry for years to come.