Employees, their families and people living close to 28 exfoliation sites may have been exposed to amphibole asbestos from vermiculite mined in Libby, Montana between the 1920s and the early 1990s, a new report has concluded.
In addition to the 28 exfoliation sites, the report identifies 78 additional sites in 36 states that may have been contaminated by vermiculite mined at Libby.
Vermiculite is a group of minerals with a flaky, mica–like structure, used in insulation and gardening. No research has linked serious health effects with exposure to this mineral.
However, the specific vermiculite mined in Libby and distributed across the United States was contaminated with amphibole asbestos, which has been linked to pulmonary diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. As many as 15 to 30 years can pass between a person’s exposure to asbestos and the time disease develops.
Workers were exposed to asbestos through a process called exfoliation, in which vermiculite is heated until it expands. Since the Libby vermiculite contained asbestos, heating released asbestos fibers into the air where they could be inhaled.
The people most at-risk for asbestos exposure include those who worked in exfoliation facilities at some time from the 1920s to the early 1990s, people who lived in the same households with these workers and were exposed through asbestos–laden dust carried home on workers’ clothing and members of the community – particularly children – who had frequent, direct contact with vermiculite and waste rock (a by–product of exfoliation) from these facilities.
While not everyone exposed to asbestos fibers gets sick, those who do often contract asbestosis which can lead to mesothelioma, a fatal form of cancer.
Tags: Asbestos, asbestos exposure, Asbestosis, Libby, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, vermiculite