Certain kinds of carbon nanotubes -- hailed as a new "wonder" material -- behave like asbestos and could lead to a lung cancer that appears decades after exposure, an international team of researchers said on Tuesday. The findings suggest that the lightweight building block, 100 times stronger than steel and used in a number of everyday products, could be dangerous if inhaled in sufficient quantities, the team wrote in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

A lawsuit was filed Friday by 178 people demanding

A FEDERAL Government department has admitted "potentially losing" detailed records of 1000 deadly asbestos-related disease cases required by researchers to better understand exposure risk. The details were collected in the 1980s for one of the world's most comprehensive surveys on mesothelioma, the fatal lung condition that killed asbestos crusader Bernie Banton last year.

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc plans to revise the relief law for asbestos victims so that people confirmed to have died of asbestos-linked illnesses will be entitled to posthumous benefits, according to party lawmakers. A ruling coalition team will meet as early as Wednesday to discuss the matter. The move comes amid increasing criticism over cases in which the government does not provide relief because victims were found to have been suffering from asbestos-caused mesothelioma or lung cancer only after autopsies were performed.

Probe on Baikal pollution: The Russian prosecutor's office has launched an inquiry into a paper and pulp mill suspected of polluting Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater reserve. The mill,

spoiling act

the Government of India is preparing a report to show the hazard to workers' health from white asbestos is manageable. This came out in a response of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

Some 85% of 151 surveyed local governments including Japan's 47 prefectures do not keep taps on the conditions of people who have developed mesothelial tumors due to asbestos exposure, a parliamentary research office said in a survey report Thursday. Of the 151 local governments, 76% were found to have not been exchanging information about the victims with labor standards inspection offices, which recognize situations of sufferers of work-related illnesses caused by asbestos.