Asbestos.com

Recent studies report a positive impact of progressive muscle relaxation for cancer patients experiencing sleep problems. The results indicate practicing progressive muscle relaxation helps reduce sleep issues after surgery and while receiving chemotherapy. Having personally worked as a therapist with people diagnosed with mesothelioma and other cancers for more than 30 years, I’ve heard from clients many times over the years that they struggle with sleep during and after cancer treatment.

The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act was the most significant update to the nation’s chemical safety laws in 40 years. Signed into law on June 22, 2016, it strengthened the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to evaluate dangerous chemicals based on health risks and reshaped federal oversight of asbestos after decades of limited action under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The law didn’t produce an immediate asbestos ban.

A West Virginia company faces a $500,000 criminal fine and 2 years of probation in Michigan federal court for illegally demolishing a building known to contain asbestos. The company was sentence to pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act’s asbestos work practice standards. The violations occurred at a former automotive manufacturing site in Saginaw, Michigan.

A Los Angeles jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $32 million to the family of Maria Lozano. The lawsuit accused the company of manufacturing a defective product and failing to warn consumers about the dangers of asbestos-contaminated talc in its baby powder. Lozano used Johnson’s Baby Powder daily for more than 50 years, applying it to herself and her children regularly. Her husband also used the product.

The Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, Montana, will cease operations on Aug. 31, 2026, ending 25 years of care for a community still living with the consequences of one of the worst industrial asbestos disasters in U.S. history. The clinic will close after losing its federal grant, leaving more than 500 patients a year without access to free asbestos and lung cancer screenings and ending a research program that contributed to more than 150 scientific papers.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled more than 121,000 children’s squeeze toys after testing found tremolite asbestos in the sand inside them. The toys, sold under the Orb Funkee brand at Walmart and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet stores nationwide, are soft, stretchy, sand-filled monkey-shaped toys. Parents who bought them should stop letting children use them immediately and contact the manufacturer for a refund.

Dr. Michele Carbone, who directs thoracic oncology at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, is the 2026 recipient of the Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research. The National Foundation for Cancer Research presents the award annually to honor scientists whose discoveries change how the field understands cancer and inform clinical practice and public health. The NFCR established the prize in 2006, and a panel of 13 leading cancer researchers and clinicians selects each recipient.

Researchers in Japan have identified new chemical compounds derived from a fungus that showed the ability to kill mesothelioma cells in laboratory testing. The findings, published this month in the Journal of Antibiotics, are early-stage but add to a growing body of research exploring natural sources for new mesothelioma treatments. The compounds, named paramyfurans A and B and paramylactone, were extracted from a fungal strain called Paramyrothecium sp. BF-1049.

The American Chemistry Council and allied industry groups have withdrawn a major part of their legal challenge against a landmark federal asbestos ban. In a filing with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the industry told the court it won’t argue that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s asbestos risk evaluation overestimates risk. The groups also said they don’t plan to present oral arguments on that issue when the Fifth Circuit hears the case on June 1.

A Minnesota couple has won $10.2 million after a jury found that decades of exposure to asbestos-contaminated talc products caused the husband’s mesothelioma diagnosis. The verdict is believed to be the second-highest mesothelioma-related personal injury award in Minnesota history. The defendants manufactured talc products under some of the country’s most recognizable brand names.