SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/75947_libby25.shtml

Libby asbestos risk underscored

Tuesday, June 25, 2002

By MATTHEW BUNK

SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

MISSOULA, Mont. -- The type of asbestos that contaminated vermiculite ore from the northwestern Montana town of Libby is exceptionally dangerous, and researchers must take that increased toxicity into account as the medical world confronts the Libby tragedy, a group of experts warned yesterday.

At an asbestos-research conference here, the nine-member panel of federal, state and private researchers said the tremolite asbestos in Libby deserves special study.

"Many of you have not worked with this before," said program director Andrij Holien, a University of Montana researcher. "This (the tremolite asbestos from Libby) is different than most amphiboles (asbestos). It is a different mechanism."

Doctors winced and whispered as they were shown pictures of a now-closed Libby vermiculite mine spewing plumes of dusty material into the air during its 80 years of operation. Tests in 1969 showed that more than 24,000 pounds of dusty waste, including about 5,000 pounds of tremolite asbestos, were released each day by the mine's mill. The W.R. Grace & Co. operated the mine for nearly three decades after buying it from the Zonolite Corp.

Tremolite is a natural contaminant of the Libby vermiculite ore.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer revealed in 1999 that the asbestos has killed hundreds in Libby.

Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a pulmonary expert from Spokane, told the group that tremolite causes progressive types of lung disorders that often lead to death.

Whitehouse says his studies show a 76 percent progression rate from tremolite-related pleural plaquing, patches of hardened discolored tissue on the lining of the chest cavity, to severe complications such as lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare type of malignancy unique to asbestos exposure.

Although cases of mesothelioma appear in about one out of 100,000 people in the United States, doctors in Libby reported that 23 cases of "meso" have been diagnosed in the Libby area in recent years, out of a population of slightly more than 12,000.

Since 1979, 169 Montana deaths have been caused by mesothelioma, according to Dr. Mike Spence, state health officer.

"We're the Petri dish of the world," said Libby victim advocate Gayla Benefield, an asbestosis patient who lost both parents to asbestos-related disease.

In the country's largest-ever occupational health survey, 18 percent of the 7,299 Libby-area residents screened displayed asbestos-related lung changes, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The screenings do not confirm asbestos-related diseases, said Dr. Jeff Lybarger, of the agency.

The screenings, conducted in 2000-2001, showed that former mine employees are 7.7 times more likely to develop a lung abnormality than other Libby residents that report exposure.

More than 850 Libby residents have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, a rate of more than 40 times the national average, according to Lincoln County health officer Dr. Brad Black.

However, Black admitted he had not established a standard of diagnosis to clearly define what asbestos-related disease actually is. That is part of why the Libby medical community is seeking help, so that guidelines can be established.

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