Trial Lawyers for Public Justice

[Guest guest]

Ellen McCrady (abbeypub@...)

I would like for the listmembers to know about a group of honest

lawyers who have been working to establish justice where there is

none: Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. I don't know how they

select their cases, or whether they would take on a mold case because

of the principle involved, but I bet they would not lie like the CDC

and other government organizations do.

I thought you would want to know that Trial Lawyers for Public

Justice has just helped expose -- and is working hard to prevent --

an illegal and unethical asbestos experiment planned by the City of

Fort Worth, Texas. This outrageous experiment, which is planned as a

model for massive work throughout the nation, would violate federal

law and endanger the public health and safety. That's why senior

scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blew the

whistle and leaked internal documents about it to TLPJ and the

Natural Resources Defense Council.

Here's what's happening: asbestos is so dangerous -- there is no

safe level of exposure to it and even tiny amounts can cause cancer

decades after the exposure -- that federal regulations issued under

the Clean Air Act protect workers and the public from exposure when

buildings that contain asbestos are going to be demolished. The

asbestos must be carefully and properly removed before any demolition

takes place. The City of Fort Worth, however, doesn't want to do

that. It just plans to soak the asbestos-laden Cowtown Inn with

water from a firehose as it knocks the building down -- and it's

asking the U.S. EPA to approve the plan and promise this blatant

violation of the law won't be prosecuted!

TLPJ has obtained internal EPA documents written by EPA's own

senior scientists that condemn this " Fort Worth Method " as a

dangerous human experiment. One scientist states, " The proposed

residential exposure limit . . . represents an asbestos exposure

level commonly considered to require emergency response on behalf of

U.S. EPA. " Another scientist, who co-chairs the EPA's Asbestos

Coordination Team, wrote that since " this government research is

being conducted in a populated area and may result in increased

exposure and resultant health risks to a known human carcinogen for

the surrounding community, " the experiment should be, but has not

been, subjected to a review by an ethics panel. In addition,

according to EPA's own summary of comments from peer review

scientists, the Ft. Worth method documents " do not ensure that

releases will be detected, " " do not ensure that releases will be

controlled, " " do not ensure sufficient and fully informed community

involvement, " and " do not have adequate remediation plans. "

Yet the City of Fort Worth, with a wink and a nod from EPA Region

VI, is planning to go forward -- and promoting its proposed

demolition method as a model for other communities across the

country.

To read TLPJ's press release about this outrage -- along with

eight leaked EPA documents -- click here:

http://www.tlpj.org/pr/asbestos_cowtown.htm

To read media coverage -- including articles in the Fort Worth

Star-Ledger, Dallas Morning News, and Environment News Service, click

here: http://www.tlpj.org/In_news_detail.htmCRLF##CRLF# At the

moment, Fort Worth is scheduled to demolish the Cowtown Inn in July

2004. The next open house meeting regarding the proposed demolition

is scheduled for June 3, 2004 at the Handley-Meadowbrook Community

Center at 6201 Beaty Street in Fort Worth. TLPJ and NRDC are working

with local Fort Worth residents, TLPJ Foundation members Steve

Baughman Jensen and Frost of Baron & Budd in Dallas, and other

environmental advocates, public health experts, religious leaders,

and union leaders to make sure that the press and the public get the

facts about this unethical, illegal and dangerous experiment.

It is your support that enables TLPJ to expose the truth. To make

a special gift to support TLPJ's Environmental Enforcement Project

and its work against this " experiment, " click here:

https://w1261.securedweb.net/tlpj_org/joinatty.htm

Thanks very much.

Arthur <br>Executive Director

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice<br> & The TLPJ Foundation

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email: abryant@...

voice: 510-622-8150

web: http://www.tlpj.org/

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TLPJ | 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 800 | Washington | DC |

20036-2001

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by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice<br> & The TLPJ Foundation.