Introducing Asbestos Watch
admin | May 07, 2009 | Comments 4
The biggest and longest running vermiculite mine in the United States, known as the Zonolite Mine, was located just outside of Libby, Montana from the 1920s to 1990. Vermiculite ore mined from this site contained amphibole asbestos, believed to be the most carcinogenic form of this mineral.
The companies that owned the Zonolite mine shipped vermiculite all over the country for years in a variety of products. It was used to insulate at least 35 million homes in the U.S., and more in Canada betweenn1960 and the mid-1980s.
It was also used in Monokote, a fireproofing spray developed by W.R. Grace & Co., the last owners of the vermiculite mine.
In the U.S., builders used Monokote to fireproof 60 to 80 percent of steel-frame buildings constructed during the 1970s and 1980s, including the bottom 40 floors of the main World Trade Center buildings (the twin towers) and all of World Trade Center 7, which also collapsed on 9/11.
Vermiculite from the mine was also shipped to at least 245 sites across the U.S., 28 of which were processing plants. The mine was closed in 1990, and in 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency began investigating health problems in Libby, Montana, and soon initiated a Superfund cleanup there.
Libby now has the highest asbestos-related mortality rate in the U.S., with more than 200 people dead from exposure, and thousands more sickened.
According to health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fatalities from asbestos-related diseases are rising in the U.S. The reported 18,068 fatalities between 1999 and 2005 occurred as a result of mesothelioma, a cancer directly associated with asbestos exposure. During this time, the frequency of mesothelioma deaths annually rose by 222 per year.
Studies have shown that people with low-level, non-occupational, exposures to amphibole asbestos are developing lung disease. In other words, you didn’t need to live in Libby, or have worked work at a mine or processing plant to receive deadly doses of amphibole asbestsos.
Asbestos related disease has a long latency period, meaning that adults exposed to the toxin today could see health effects in 20 to 40 years.
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When Govt can knowingly allow Corporations to knowingly kill, We The People, and do nothing to stop it,Then, We The People, have a Govt just as GUILTY as the Corporations, for killing us.
And the killings continue as Libby continues to be sold as safe…
Whats,We The People, to do????
Bless you Paul Peters for caring.Thank you.
You have identified the problem Mike.
Sadly there is not much a common man can do to remedy such a huge situation.
And you/I/we all, know this is a HUGE situation.
Well, yes it is huge. And it is nice to hear you Mike right on target. As to what we can do? All of this has to do with one thing and one thing only. That is the recognition by EPA of different fiber toxicity and the institution of regulations that take this toxicity into account (for example Libby should never, ever have been considered equal to San Francisco).
What you can do? Bitch to high heaven in the loudest voice you can manage, to every person who might be able to change this situation. Let them know that you know and will tell everyone else you know. Let them know every single time you hear them lie about it, or fake testing or fake the science. Let every reporter or book writer who publishes something different know that he has made a huge and stupid mistake. They can not live down the embarrassment forever.
Best,
Terry
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zaida
Story of 4 year old with Meso… So so sad…Someone has to stop the continued deadly exposure to new people being lied to that Libby is safe.There are many Zaida’s in Libby and all over this country. Maybe not this young, this is the first of 4 yrs I have heard of but this point is made. Now we need to protect the children and that means staying away from Libby Mt. Good start huh..