Asbestos Town Dying While Waiting
Article Added February 26th, 2006 - Print This Story - Bookmark This Story
Libby, Montana is a town that is dying. Literally. The town is filled with victims of asbestos poisoning, resulting in deadly mesothelioma. The slow suffocation of some of the residents is an agony compared to the early release of other victims.
The painful condition takes, on average, nine months from diagnosis to death. This is a short time compared to the path of the legislation that would provide for the town’s victims. Asbestos was released by the now closed W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine down the road from the town. One out of every eight people in the town is affected, due to working in or near the mine in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A federal grand jury indicted the company and some of its executives late last year, saying that the company not only knew it was poisoning people, but continued to release asbestos into the air even after people began to get sick. Grace denies any wrong doing.
The bill that was stalled on the Senate floor last week would have provided specifically for Libby residents, paying out more than $1.1 million to each individual that could prove they have an asbestos-related disease. Workers that numbered around 150 forty years ago in the mine now number only five, a problem that is getting worse as Senate starts and stops the legislation. The vermiculite mine was the best job in town for Libby residents; the fibers of disease-causing asbestos affected the mine workers quickest, but were released into the air of Libby, causing wide spread affliction of mesothelioma.
Article Added February 26th, 2006 - Print This Story - Bookmark This Story
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