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.

The largest environmental criminal trial in U.S. history is set to begin. Finally.

Jury selection will begin Feb. 19 in the trial against W.R. Grace and six former or current executives on charges they knowingly endangered the lives of thousands of people with asbestos-tainted ore from its vermiculite mine near the tiny northwest Montana town of Libby. The trial could take as long as four months.

It’s been a long, tortuous road — one that included a side trip  to the U.S. Supreme Court — and two years since the last hearing.

Environmental lawyers say that Grace most likely will produce testimony from industry-paid scientists saying the Libby asbestos really isn’t dangerous. In response, the government can point to hundreds of deaths from asbestos-related disease in the tiny town.

The asbestos-tainted ore from Zonolite Mountain has killed hundreds and sickened thousands in Libby and across North America, where it was shipped for use in insulation, fireproofing and garden products. Some was used to fireproof the steel frame of the World Trade Center.

If they are found guilty, maximum prison sentences for the executives could range from 55 to 70 years. Grace, the U.S. attorney said, could be fined $280 million — twice the amount of after-tax profits the government says the worldwide corporation made from the mine, which closed in the early 1990s.

Lawyers for the Environmental Protection Agency have called this one of the most significant criminal indictments for environmental crime in our history.

A North Carolina state worker, who spent his career working on workplace health and safety issues, claims he was let go for reporting asbestos violations inside his own office building.

Gilbert Jackson, who until April was general counsel for the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, has filed a complaint with the state labor department. He says he was forced to retire because of asbestos reports.

The full story is reported on the Charlotte Observer’s website, Oct. 21, 2008 (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/421/story/267408.html).

According to the story, Gilbert discovered workers taking air samples for an asbestos removal project in the 37-year old building he and other of his NC-OSHRC colleagues had recently occupied. Officials never warned the employees that there was an asbestos removal project underway, as the law required.

Asbestos exposure, usually breathing fibers, is the primary cause of mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer.

When Gilbert objected, he says  was subjected to retaliation and forced to take early retirement. NC-OSHRC denies Gilbert was forced out. Building officials said tests showed the asbestos levels were minuscule, posing no threat to any of the building’s occupants.

Gilbert has filed a complaint under the state’s Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act, which prohibits employers from punishing workers for reporting unsafe working conditions.