A newspaper article has been making the rounds about the sad situation in Libby, Montana, a touchstone of anti-asbestos activism. Here are a few reasons why it is irrelevant to the situation in California, where lawmakers are trying to undeclare serpentinite as the state rock (see the previous post).
- Libby was not the site of an asbestos mine, but a vermiculite mine. Huge amounts of finely ground mining waste were what endangered the population.
- The harmful mineral at Libby was a fibrous variety of tremolite, which has no industrial use as asbestos. It was a contaminant. The only reason it can be called "asbestos" is because its fine, needlelike particles fall under the EPA regulations for asbestos.
- The rock in Libby was not serpentinite.
- The most common mineral used for asbestos that occurs in serpentinite is chrysotile. Careful medical studies have not shown any substantial harm from chrysotile dust.
- Asbestos regulations do not distinguish between chrysotile and genuinely harmful minerals such as crocidolite and tremolite.
Comments
We have the same problem in the UK. White asbestos, or chrysotile, is chemically the same as talc, use for years to powder the bottoms of babies, and not dangerous. The real asbestos, brown and blue, are banned to use for good reason but the white is lumped into the same bracket and this ensures that home owners have a very expensive job to replace any asbestos-cement product that always used the white. This completely safe product is deemed dangerous.
What Libby and this asbestos Holocaust has done is created a chance to make a hell of alot of money but at the price of downplaying this deadly exposure and selling Libby Mt as a safe place to live and raise a family.(knowingly killing more families) This has NOTHING to do with health and safety or stopping what was done to me and three generations of my family were told in 1999 when the Latency period became too much to hide.Libby Mt is a death town and who ever lives and breathes there will die from what they inhale/swallow…everyone…and WR Grace bought this mine in 63 for the Tremolite asbestos. This mine in Libby IS a asbestos mine and at the time they bought the mine, the Grace commission was the ones making the laws and rules governing asbestos. THIS is how THEY got away with this. They classified THEIR mine as a Vermiculite mine not asbestos. The Tremolite asbestos was there main product.They sold asbestos not Vermiculite…and WR Grace,EPA and OSHA KNEW from tests done in the 60 and 70, using Libby Tremolite on rats and rats died from Meso…proving THEN that Libby asbestos IS the cause of Meso.Terry Trent has been a Gladiator for the people and when Govt is as guilty as the Corporations that kills us…they continue to kill us…knowingly.Check out Libby Mike Crill, I tell the truth and save thousands from what is killing me. NO CHILDREN in Libby Mt. Children must be the priority to protect….Thank you for this story and I hope someday this Holocaust is taken seriously. after all, how many millions must die before this Holocaust ends???and Libby is for sale as safe….bunch of bastards.
Mike Crill:
>>>This mine in Libby IS a asbestos mine<<>>Gold miners discovered vermiculite in Libby in 1881
FAIL