Mesothelioma Watch A Comprehensive Consumer Resource Concerning Asbestos & Mesothelioma

One of the more interesting recent tales about asbestos and community health has been the events that followed discovery of a mesothelioma “hot spot” in the little town of Libby, Montana.

Libby became a mining town when commercial mines opened up to dig vermiculite from the surrounding hills.  These mines became steady employment for many of Libby’s residents.  They also became a source of asbestos fibers because asbestos is a component of vermiculite.  The mines are owned by corporate giant W.R. Grace, the company that has become a target of lawsuits filed against the company by Libby residents who have developed asbestosis, mesothelioma and other respiratory damage.

A couple of facts make this story different from the many thousands of liability suits filed against asbestos companies.  The first is that seven corporate officials of W.R. Grace face criminal charges because the company knew from some point in the early 1970s that mining activities were hazardous to their employees.

The other interesting nugget is a peer-reviewed government study in which 7,300 people from Libby and surrounding Lincoln County were given chest X-rays and medical interviews. The study found more than 1,300 of those tested had lung abnormalities consistent with asbestos-related disease.

Currently, about 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the U.S.  The huge number of affected individuals in that study makes it clear that asbestos fibers can do their damage in the home as well as in the mine.  The study was a cross-section of local residents – male, female, and of varying ages.  Clearly, asbestos fibers carried home on job clothes and borne through the air by dust clouds has impacted the households that Libby’s miners were supporting.