New Asbestos Treatment, Research, Screening in Libby

By Amy Linn, 11-09-09

New studies and health initiatives are unfolding in Libby this fall, all of them tied to the former vermiculite mine operated by W.R. Grace & Co., which left the town contaminated with a uniquely dangerous form of asbestos.

Back in June, federal officials announced a public health emergency Libby, Montana, helping pave the way for the town to get a $6 million health care grant to deal with the extraordinary number of people in the area who suffer from asbestos-related diseases. Today is the grant’s kickoff date, which means the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will now start spending the money to identify and treat people who have asbestosis (a scarring of the lungs), mesothelioma (a rare and agressive cancer), or other medical problems due to asbestos exposures.

On November 16, the town will also start screening residents in Libby and environs for potential asbestos-related health issues.

In addition, researchers from the venerated Mount Sinai School of Medicine—the place where renowned asbestos expert Dr. Irving Selikoff created the nation’s first occupational health division—have launched three investigations to help understand the tragedy and prevent future harm, according to a press release from Mount Sinai.

One project will look at asbestos exposures among children, who appear to be particularly at risk because their lungs are still maturing (the goal is to protect them better as the cleanup continues). Another project will look at lung scarring among people in Libby who never worked at the mine, but were exposed to asbestos through acts of daily living: walking around town, gardening, going to playgrounds, or getting second-hand exposures from mine workers in the family.

The third study will also look at less-publicized illnesses linked to asbestos exposures: autoimmune disorders. Libby residents are suffering markedly higher rates of auto-immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, according to Mount Sinai’s statement.

The cause of these troubles is a vermiculite mine owned and operated by W.R. Grace & Co. from 1963 to 1990. Libby vermiculite—which Grace gave away to employees and donated to the town’s schools—was naturally laced with asbestos and uniquely prone to flaking, releasing toxic asbestos fibers into the air and into people’s lungs. Vermiculite was widely used for insulation and as a soil conditioner; tailings from the Grace vermiculite mine were also used to build roads and construct running tracks and an ice rink at Libby’s public schools. Asbestos dust has even been found in trees in the Libby area, giving exposures to loggers or people who work at lumber mills.

About 400 Libby residents have died from an asbestos-related disease and as many as 2,000 have become ill since the mine closed, federal officials say. Today, Libby and neighboring Troy, with a combined population of 3,900, are seeing about 50 new reported cases of asbestos-related health problems each year. Even occupational health experts have been startled by the high rates of disease among people who didn’t actually work in the mine.

“The asbestos-related disease in Libby is far more aggressive and rapidly progressive than what’s seen in most asbestos-exposed workers, with high rates of cancers and severe effects on respiratory function,” said the project’s lead investigator, Dr. Stephen Levin, according to the press release. Levin, an associate professor of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai, added that “For that reason alone, the health problems in Libby are important to study and understand.”

The Mount Sinai research, called the Libby Epidemiology Research Program, will be conducted in collaboration with Libby’s Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD), and with a national scientific advisory group and investigators from the University of Montana and Idaho State University.

Here’s more, direct from the press release:

-- There is evidence that even relatively low-level exposures to Libby asbestos can cause serious scarring lung diseases, which markedly impair respiratory function, as well as asbestos-related cancers like lung cancer and mesothelioma, which occur at higher rates among the Libby population than elsewhere in the United States.

-- The health crisis potentially extends far beyond the borders of Libby, since millions of homes and businesses in North America have used vermiculite from Libby as attic insulation, fireproofing and soil conditioner. The ore from Libby was shipped by rail to 49 plant locations throughout North America and the Caribbean for processing, exposing many more workers and communities to the hazardous dust.

-- The Libby Epidemiology Research Program will be supported by a $4.8 million grant from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information, contact the CARD clinic or call it at 406-293-9274.