UM Grace Case

 The defense stressed that much of the asbestos exposure in Libby lead to “nonmalignant respiratory disease,” not cancer, citing Dr. Aubrey Miller’s previous internal notes to make this point.

Court resumed at 9 a.m. with the prosecution’s re-direct examination of Dr. Aubrey Miller, followed by a limited cross-examination by the defense.

The defense called Miller’s credibility into question a few times throughout the morning, pointing out  that he hadn’t read the entire report from Dr. Richard Lemen, a principal epidemiologist for the government, before making previous statements for the case. Miller’s information regarding the Libby asbestos exposure was criticized by the defense as being an “extrapolated modeling number; it’s not actually observed in scientific studies.”

Miller countered by stating that these numbers came from scientific studies. The defense also stressed that a woman who was said to have died from asbestos related disease from Libby’s mine products had been a smoker for “30 to 40 years.”

The morning began with the prosecution presenting document’s on the screen and having Miller read from them. These documents included some from experts advising of the health risks of asbestos and others from Grace indicating some of their Libby employees having tremolite exposure issues.

– Carmen George