Several months ago, we wrote about how residents of Libby, Montana had suffered asbestos exposure from a nearby mine. At the time, over 200 people had died from asbestos poisoning, with an estimated 500 in Libby and the town of Troy, Montana experiencing asbestos-related illnesses like mesothelioma. After declaring a public health emergency, the Environmental Protection Agency called for the town to be cleaned up over the following five years. This week, people with illnesses from asbestos exposure in the town are starting to receive federally-funded medical care.

Screenings with begin next week, on November 16. To be eligible, the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) website says that a person must have lived, recreated or worked in the Libby area prior to the year 2015 for at least six months. Those six months do not have to be consecutive. Additionally, it must have been at least 10 years since your first potential exposure to asbestos in the Libby area. To sign up for a screening, you just need to call CARD or come into the clinic to complete an application.

With a population of about 2,600 people, Libby suffers 40 to 80 times the national average in its rate of death from asbestos. According to the CARD website, there have been 33 cases of malignant mesothelioma recorded since 1977, and 9 of those cases were caused by environmental asbestos exposure. Studies done have showed lung cancer rates are 30% higher in the Libby population than in similar non-asbestos exposed populations.

An Associated Press story explained that the W.R. Grace and Co. Mine — along with its processing plants — “spewed asbestos” for 70 years, coating the town with the dangerous fibers and putting residents in great danger. Employees of the mine had also unknowingly tracked asbestos from work into their homes, since they were wearing contaminated clothing and shoes.

People affected can get more information about care and stay up to date at LibbyAsbestos.org. Medical care for the victims is funded by a $6 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Tags: asbestos, asbestos exposure, libby, mesothelioma, montana

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under asbestos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.