Emily Reinstein and I Share a Bond: And, I am Honored to Receive the Alan Reinstein Award for 2023.

Emily Reinstein and I share a terrible bond; that is, the death of our respective fathers to a terrible disease named Mesothelioma. Emily and her mom Linda, through the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), honors Alan’s memory each year by granting the Alan Reinstein Award. For 2023, I am honored to share this award with Chris Carberg. The honor is based on my endeavors to educate, advocate, and support those involved in the asbestos-related industries by creating weekly blogs, my website at “www.TheAsbestosBlog.com,” and providing assistance on asbestos history without charge to those who ask, whether they are individuals suffering, attorneys, or asbestos professionals looking for historical uses of asbestos as they perform their inspections.

My father passed from Mesothelioma at the age of 54 in 1981.  Although that may seem like a long time ago for some, I think of him often.  I understand the raw pain of those losing loved ones today and who will lose them tomorrow to this terrible disease and I urge those seeking laws and research in support of protecting workers and curing the disease to continue their endeavors as long as it takes.  Whether focusing on injuries in the United States and other advanced countries or, as my last thesis discussed, how asbestos impacts shipbreaking laborers in less developed countries such as Bangladesh, we have a chance to make a difference. 

The United States is now the only western industrial nation that doesn’t ban the importation of asbestos while, at the same time, studies show that those countries with complete import bans experience fewer cases of Mesothelioma. Further, most of the asbestos is imported to the United States from Russia and I am very much against the United States funding Russian exports. The time has come to address this importation head on.

Let me know what you think, either by leaving a comment or sending me an email at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. Thanks. Marty