Libby featured on ABC News Nightline Nov 3 & 4
W.R. Grace Vermiculite Asbestos Issues & Health Concerns
November 3, 2005
ABC News Nightline is featuring Libby, Montana in a two-part program Thursday and Friday, November 3 & 4. The program, "Killer in Town: The Poisoning of Libby, Montana," reports on health problems that have stemmed from exposure to asbestos-laden vermiculite mined from W.R. Grace’s Libby Vermiculite mine. Former workers and a number of Libby residents have died and are sick from lung disease and cancer traced to asbestos in the vermiculite, which operated for approximately thirty years.
Ore from the Libby mine was shipped by rail to processing plants in many other cities across the United States, exposing countless other people and towns to the asbestos-tainted ore. According to the program, ore was shipped to 236 cities in 42 states, expanding the possible asbestos exposure far from Libby.
Zonolite brand asbestos is still in millions of homes across America today. This is a relatively unknown, very serious potential health risk to millions of families who have never even been to Libby, but may become exposed to health risks if asbestos-tainted Zonolite insulation was used in their homes.
"The asbestos-laced vermiculite that was mined in Libby, Montana, poisoned that town, and thousands of residents are sick or have died from asbestos-related lung disease. But that tainted ore was shipped by rail to processing plants all around the country, poisoning those places, too, as well as the areas lining the tracks," says a program lead-in on the Nightline website, http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/.
W.R. Grace Company, and seven high-ranking executives, were indicted last February on charges they knew the mine was releasing cancer-causing asbestos into the air and tried to hide the danger to workers and townspeople. W.R. Grace has categorically denied the charges in the indictment.
The case is scheduled for a hearing in Missoula on December 1 and isn’t expected to go to trial until late next year.
Ted Koppel narrates the program, which has interviews with local residents and footage of the operations of the now-closed mine, as well as current views of Libby shot this past summer.
Related Links:
EPA Libby Asbestos Information
EPA Libby Background Information
Asbestos Health Risks
Asbestos in Your Home
Libby EPA Cleanup
Libby EPA Updates
Libby Information Archive
WR Grace-Libby Issues Website
WR Grace Libby Media Page
Department of Justice, WR Grace Libby liability
Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005
The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act Comments from MesoLinkorg
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