Nationwide Asbestos Injury and Personal Injury Blog

A 28-year-old Missouri resident has been charged with felony drunk driving in connection with an Oct. 20 accident in Boone County that claimed the life of one of his two passengers and left the other seriously injured. The Columbia man was ordered held without bond because he is considered a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Police believe that the man lost control of his Subaru Impreza sedan in the vicinity of Blackfoot Road and North Stadium Boulevard near Cosmo Park at approximately 11:00 p.m. Accident investigators later concluded that the car had left the ground at a high rate of speed before striking several trees and coming to a rest. A 28-year-old man who had been traveling in the rear of the car was pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics transported the woman sitting in the front passenger seat to a nearby hospital.

Many people in Missouri and Southern Illinois are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. While there are some screening tests for people with known exposure to asbestos, such as X-rays or CT scans, most cases of the disease are discovered when a patient visits his or her doctor with symptoms of the disease.

Medical experts recommend that individuals who have been exposed to asbestos learn about the potential signs of mesothelioma. In most cases, these signs will end up being caused by some other medical condition, but it's important for people to be on the lookout for all new symptoms and report them to their doctors just to be safe.

You may have worked in a specific industry for your entire career and never really thought of your work as dangerous. However, there may have been some hazards lurking out of sight that have come back to haunt you years later, possibly even after your retirement. In particular, asbestos may have harmed you without you even realizing until years after your exposure.

In fact, cancer is a very real and not uncommon result from this type of exposure. Unfortunately, mesothelioma, which often stems from asbestos exposure, has no cure, and if you receive this diagnosis, you could face pain, medical expenses, mental distress and a number of other hardships.

Asbestos was used widely in the U.S. from the late 1800s to the 1970s until its use was banned in wallboard patching compounds and gas fireplaces. In 1989, the Asbestos Ban and Phase-Out rule prohibited all new uses of asbestos, specifically in flooring felt, commercial paper, corrugated paper, rollboard and specialty paper. Missouri residents should know, however, that the EPA is making a drastic change.

In June 2018, the agency enacted a Significant New Use Rule that allows manufacturers of new products containing asbestos to petition and seek approval for distribution. Opponents claim that the EPA is no longer concerned with potential exposure and is ignoring improper asbestos disposal, contamination, emissions and other risks to health and the environment.