Cancer News, Treatment and Research

After a panel of scientists acknowledged that an EPA risk study on Libby, Montana is accurate in regards to the risks associated with even a small amount of asbestos exposure, the agency announced that it hopes to complete the remainder of the study by the end of 2014, reports an article in The Missoulian. This particular study will help guide the clean-up of the asbestos-contaminated town of Libby and its surrounding areas, where hundreds have already died of asbestos-related diseases caused by exposure to vermiculite from the mines of W.R. Grace and Company, best known for manufacturing Zonolite insulation. Specifically, the document will help determine when clean-up work will be able to end at what many have described as the worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States. Environmental Protection Agency toxicologist Deborah McKean says the EPA will need to handle some tasks given to them by their Science Advisory Board before completing the study. She hopes it won’t be much longer. The EPA has been working on the asbestos problem in Libby since 1999. So far, about $447 million has been spent. This year, some 80 to 100 properties around town are scheduled to be cleaned but several hundred remain. The article notes that the mine site, just outside of town, has barely been touched yet. In the meantime, W.R. Grace officials have called the EPA’s proposed new standards unreasonable and impossible to obtain. Though the agency has not yet responded to Grace’s questions on the issue, McKean says she expects relatively little – if any – change from the standard which states that even “exceedingly low” concentrations of asbestos fibers – 0.00002 fibers of the mineral per cubic centimeter – raise the risk of lung-scarring. But while W.R. Grace and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency dicker over clean-up specifics, the people of Libby, Montana merely want to see the nightmare end. Chances are it won’t anytime soon. The exposure to tainted vermiculite in Libby continued for decades before attention was called to the plight of the exposed individuals, many of whom have already died of mesothelioma cancer and complications due to asbestosis and other similar diseases. In 2009, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson issued a first-of-its kind public health emergency declaration in Libby. Experts say that’ll be a while until the declaration is absolved, considering mesothelioma has a long latency period and it’s likely that more diagnoses will be made throughout the next few decades.