Three Certified Environmental Services employees are facing prison time and fines after being found guilty of fraudulent reports in connection with asbestos removal. Nicole Copeland, Elisa Dunn and Sandy Allen face sentencing on February 25, 2011 for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act—the Environmental Protection Agency’s law to protect and improve the nation’s air.

The assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Cynthia Giles, stated in response, “Falsifying asbestos reports and air quality data is a serious crime and undermines our nation’s efforts to protect human health and the environment.”

For almost a decade these CES employees hid data and falsified reports after the company allegedly removed asbestos materials from homes and buildings. While the reports claimed the materials had been reduced to within approved healthy limits, harmful asbestos dusts and fibers remained. Many families and individuals have been living and working at risk from exposure to the remaining dangers.

Asbestos causes several chronic and fatal conditions including cancers. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lung lining which is caused solely by asbestos fibers. Always fatal, mesothelioma claims nearly three thousand lives in the US each year. Although this cancer can take decades to show signs or symptoms, the prognosis is much shorter—often between six months and two years.

In a press statement, Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice said, “Because of the dishonest and illegal practices of this company, many people were left unaware for years of their possible exposure to asbestos.” He continues, “Companies and employees will be fully investigated and prosecuted when they put the public’s health at risk by violating environmental laws.”

Cynthia Giles says in her statement, “Exposure to asbestos can be fatal, and the conviction shows that the American people will not tolerate illegal activity that puts the public at risk of cancer and other serious respiratory diseases.”

CES faces a maximum fine of $17.5 million as well as compensation to all victims. Copeland and Dunn, senior managers at CES, face 110 years and $3 million and 40 years and $1.25 million, in maximum prison time and fines respectively. Allen faces a maximum of 50 years in prison and $1 million in fines. Two other asbestos removal companies, Aapex Environmental and Paragon Environmental previously pleaded guilty to their involvement in the conspiracy with CES.

Diseases caused by asbestos exposure continue to reek physical and legal havoc internationally. Mesothelioma and other asbestos related illnesses claim thousands of lives each year in the US alone. Employment hazards are often the culprit. Two Texas families have recently brought charges against major oil companies for damages related to asbestos negligence, while thousands in the UK are in their fifth year of a similar suit.

Charles Arceneaux of Jefferson County, Texas reportedly died, “a painful and terrible death,” from asbestosis on August 8, 2010. Unlike the cancer mesothelioma, asbestosis is a chronic, non-cancerous lung disease. Arceneaux experienced continued exposure to harmful asbestos materials during his employment at a Texaco refinery, which allegedly led to his development of the disease. Arceneaux’s widow and children have brought charges against Texaco and Chevron, claiming the two oil giants knew the risks of exposure yet did nothing.

Everett and Cheryl Cannon of Galveston County, Texas have filed suit against BP North America, Inc. Everett was employed with Amoco (BP’s predecessor) for nine years, after which he developed lung cancer allegedly caused by work-related asbestos exposure. The Cannons claim the company knew about the presence of harmful asbestos materials without disclosing the risks to employees or providing adequate supervision to manage the risks.

Half-way around the world, some six thousand British families have been waiting more than five years for compensation in a related mesothelioma suit. Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer of the lung lining. Mesothelioma is almost entirely caused by exposure to asbestos fibers, which can also cause lung cancer, asbestosis and other chronic and fatal diseases. Most patients diagnosed with mesothelioma are given a prognosis of six to eighteen months, a time period often shorter than the associated legal proceedings.

The big question in the UK case is whether damages provided should date back to the onset of symptoms or beginning of exposure. Victims and their families are claiming payment owed in accordance with the latter. As the British case drags out many widows of the mesothelioma victims fear they have lost all chance for payment. Insurance companies that once existed are now out of business and policies have been hard to qualify. A three hundred and sixty-six page judgment has caused additional setbacks, leaving attorneys confused with the complicated document.

The short prognosis for mesothelioma patients puts an agonizing pressure on the proceedings both in the US and the UK. The Arceneaux family is living what many hope to avoid–a fight for compensation after the alleged exposure has claimed the life of their loved one. Many of the victims still living are concerned with the well-being of their families after they are gone, wondering if the needed financial security will ever come through.

Rachel Ostroff, the director of clinical research at the Colorado based company Somalogic Inc, recently presented new findings concerning the diagnosis of mesothelioma at an American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Denver. According to Ostroff, Somalogic has developed a new screening technology which could be able to detect both pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma in its early stages.

Early detection could make a huge difference to those suffering from pancreatic cancer or mesothelioma. The diseases are well known for their tendency to remain undetected until they have spread dangerously throughout the body. Mesothelioma patients, who contract the cancer from asbestos exposure, are often told they have just six to eighteen months remaining to live by the time they are diagnosed.

“Currently these cancers are detected at an advanced stage,” Ostroff said, “where the possibility of cure is minimal.”

“Detection of these aggressive cancers at an earlier stage would identify patients for early treatment, which may improve their survival and quality of life.”

Pancreatic cancer takes the lives of some 30,000 Americans each year, while mesothelioma is responsible for about 3,000 deaths in the country annually. Together, the diseases kill about as many Americans as traffic accidents do each year.

Somalogic was funded in part by the NEC Corp of Japan, a company which sank $5 million into the project as part of a partnership aimed at improving the detection methods for the diseases.

The new technology relies on the detection aptamers, which are detectable traces of genetic materials that cling to certain proteins in the bloodstream. Somalogic worked to develop a mechanism whereby the genetic markers preferred specific proteins, making them easier to detect and interpret.

The study compiled results gathered from both patients who had been diagnosed with one of the diseases, and patients who were suffering from symptoms similar to those which present with cases of pancreatic cancer or mesothelioma. While the method appeared to distinguish between the patients successfully, Somalogic researchers say that more testing is required to hone a usable and reliable testing method.

“It’s very easy to discover biomarkers,” said Ostroff, referring to the genetic markers her company was researching, “it is very hard to validate them.”

She went on to say that the study’s next steps would involve eliminating factors which could cause false positives, and refining the accuracy of the tests.

“We’ll look at enough of these parameters to make sure we are looking at disease biomarkers,” she concluded.

Calretinin, a vitamin D-dependent calcium-binding protein, has been identified as a possible biomarker for malignant mesothelioma. Biomarkers, or substance anomalies in the bloodstream which correlate to certain health conditions, often help doctors to recognize diseases before other symptoms fully develop. In the case of calretinin, researchers are hoping that better understanding its properties and its connection to mesothelioma could help to warn victims of the cancer earlier than a traditional diagnosis.

Mesothelioma is a terminal cancer of the mesothelium, a soft tissue lining which lubricates and protects the body’s vital organs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos dust, fibers or products, and can take some ten to fifty years to fully develop. Microscopic particles of asbestos enter the body following accidental ingestion or inhalation, where they pass through the intestinal or lung walls and become entangled in the mesothelium. Once stuck in the soft tissue, they cause a scarring reaction in some people which develops into a malignant tumor over the course of years or even decades.

Mesothelioma is incredibly difficult to detect. Due to its relative rarity, the vague and general nature of its symptoms, and the fact that it requires a biopsy for successful diagnosis, many patients are not even aware of the disease until they only have six months remaining to live.

Blood screens which account for biomarkers such as calretinin could change all that. If certain substances in the blood are correlated with mesothelioma, they could help doctors to recognize the possibility before its too late to operate. Calretinin studies have yielded optimistic results so far, although researchers are hesitant to announce definite findings.

“Calretinin is one of the well-established immunohistochemical markers in the diagnostics of malignant mesothelioma,” explained calretinin researchers in a recent study. “Its utility as a diagnostic tool in human blood, however, is scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human calretinin in blood and to assess its usefulness as a potential minimally invasive diagnostic marker for MM.”

The study showed markedly increasing occurrences of the biomarker in asbestos workers versus normal, healthy volunteers, and also in mesothelioma patients compared to asbestos workers.

“On the basis of our initial results,” the researchers said, “we suggest that the measurement of calretinin in human serum and plasma might be a useful marker for the diagnosis of MM, alone or combined with other markers such as soluble mesothelin. However, these results are based on relatively small numbers and further studies on more patients, including subgroups of subjects with other tumors and non-malignant lung or pleural diseases, are needed to confirm our initial data. Such a study is presently ongoing.”

Eighteen people in West Virginia are preparing to sue one-hundred and forty-seven separate companies for asbestos related health issues according to Kanawah Circuit Court records. The complaints filed with the court claim that the companies’ negligent practices have caused serious health problems for the plaintiffs including mesothelioma among other asbestos related illnesses.

Mesothelioma, a terminal cancer caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos, attacks the soft lining of the body’s vital organs known as the mesothelium. When asbestos fibers are accidentally inhaled or ingested, they pass through many of the body’s tissues with ease due to their microscopic size and unique, hair-like shape. The fibers eventually become tangled in the sticky mesothelium, a tissue which lubricates organs to allow natural shifting and bending. The asbestos fibers cause a scarring reaction in the mesothelium which over years, decades or more, can cause the development of malignant tumors. Mesothelioma is a terminal disease with a grim prognosis averaging eighteen months of survival beyond diagnosis.

Asbestos products have been banned in much of the developed world. The United States, however, was unable to uphold a complete ban on the substance although it was attempted in the late 1980′s. The ban was lifted just two years after it was passed following a legal battle in which an asbestos manufacturing and distributing giant attacked and overturned the EPA’s asbestos ban on the grounds that it prevented the company from rightfully pursuing profits.

In spite of the failed asbestos ban, asbestos litigation in the United States has met with much success. Many companies who manufacture, distribute, supply, or purchase asbestos materials were aware of the substance’s dangers as early as the 1960′s, but failed to properly protect their employees. Individuals who have developed asbestos related diseases often pursue compensation from their former employer or their employer’s suppliers, and many have had favorable results.

While there is no cure for mesothelioma, increasing awareness in both the public, legal and medical sectors is working towards improving the disease’s prevention. Tightening state and federal restrictions, increasing pressure on asbestos product manufacturers, and an increasing public outcry concerning the production and distribution of asbestos materials are contributing towards eliminating mesothelioma in the United States and abroad.

The eighteen plaintiffs in West Virginia have claimed that the defendants failed to tell them about the dangers of asbestos, and knowingly put their health and well-being in danger.