Probe into asbestos poisoning widening beyond Libby

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Probe into asbestos poisoning widening beyond Libby

By CHRISTOPHER THORNE

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal health officials said Thursday they are

investigating whether vermiculite ore that was mined in Montana and shipped

across the country may have spread potentially fatal asbestos contamination.

The Environmental Protection Agency is looking at 240 sites in 40 states

where the vermiculite was shipped from the western Montana town of Libby.

Libby, which for decades was the world's largest supplier of vermiculite, is

at the center of what lawmakers and federal officials describe as a " public

health crisis. "

Now they are concerned that the crisis has spread to other places where the

vermiculite was taken for processing into soil conditioner or for use in

making home insulation.

Lung cancer and fatal asbestos poisoning rates in Libby are 40 to 60 times

higher than expected due to the asbestos contamination brought by breathing

in the dust from the vermiculite. W.R. Grace & Co. closed the mine in 1991

after 67 years of operation.

At least 22 of those 240 sites have been identified for cleanup, nne

Horinko, assistant administrator of the EPA's Solid Waste and Emergency

Response Office, said in testimony before a hearing of the Senate Superfund

subcommittee.

The one site at highest risk is the Western Mineral Products plant in

Minneapolis, which processed vermiculite into insulation and fireproofing

from 1936 to 1989.

" We are very concerned about the other sites that have received asbestos

contaminated vermiculite, " said Henry Falk, assistant administrator of the

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an office with the Health

and Human Services Department.

At this preliminary stage, however, Horinko said that the 22 sites other

than Libby have not experienced the levels of asbestos-related sickness as

seen in Montana, where as many as 200 deaths have been linked to the

vermiculite and another 750 people suffer from asbestos-related illnesses.

" We have not found a pattern of asbestos contamination that in any way

approaches what we've seen at Libby, " Horinko said.

The health data being examined at those 22 sites are being supplied by state

health departments, Falk said.

The sites are in New Jersey, New York, land, Pennsylvania,

Massachusetts, Kentucky, Minnesota, Colorado, North Dakota, Arizona,

California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pressed Horinko to explain why the 22 sites aren

't already designated for Superfund status, as was Libby. During the

hearing, which was called by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Murray displayed a

map of the United States sprinkled with orange dots - each dot marking a

town where vermiculite from Libby's was shipped.

" This map should tell every single senator that this isn't a problem that

somebody else has. It's a problem they have, " Murray said.

Asbestos fibers are a byproduct of processing the vermiculite into soil

conditioner and insulation, carried into the lungs through the dust that

mine workers breath in.

The fibers wedge into the lining of the lungs like javelins, where they

develop into cancer and a condition called asbestosis, an often fatal

scarring of the lungs.

The sickness in Libby was pervasive in part due to the pervasiveness of the

dust from the vermiculite. W.R. Grace, which filed for bankruptcy in January

2001, offered the vermiculite free to homeowners for use as insulation. The

company donated piles of vermiculite to the high school, where it was used

under the running track.

And workers unknowingly sickened their own families - embracing their wives

and playing with their children after returning home from the mine, covered

with dust.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not

be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Friday, June 21, 2002