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Mesothelioma News | 2000

EPA Kept Data on Asbestos Risk, Report Says

The Washington Post - July 1, 2000

BOZEMAN, Mont., May 31 The Environmental Protection Agency knew more than 15 years ago that asbestos fibers were killing people in the small Montana town of Libby but "dropped the ball," a newspaper reported today.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle quoted Christopher Weis, an EPA toxicologist, who said the agency's headquarters was aware of the situation but never passed the information along to the regional office in Denver, which is now heading the EPA response in Libby.

Nearly 200 deaths related to asbestos exposure have been reported in the Libby area, where a mine produced thousands of tons of asbestos as a byproduct of vermiculite, which is used in insulation, as a soil additive in gardening and in other products.

The newspaper said Weis told a University of Colorado environmental journalism conference last week that an EPA study in the mid-1980s at the W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine showed death projections of "almost 100 percent" for miners there.

"EPA is reeling in shock, the whole agency, as to how this slipped through the cracks," Weis told that gathering, the newspaper said. "We dropped the ball."

Neither Weis nor the EPA's regional office in Denver returned calls seeking comments.

In November, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported the hazards in Libby in a series of stories. Those stories surprised EPA officials in Denver, said Weis, who is part of the federal response team in Libby.

Further investigation has shown that the initial tally of the death toll in the town of 2,700 people may have been low, Weis said, because asbestos-related problems are notorious for being misdiagnosed.

The mine's mill spewed as much as 5,000 tons of asbestos a day, and other fibers apparently were brought home on the dusty clothing of workers. The EPA is sampling the air, soil and other materials in Libby to find out just how extensive the contamination is.

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