Published in Politico Newspaper, Washington D.C.

ASBESTOS POSES A NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY   
Wednesday, December 5

In 1999, an emergency response team was sent to Libby, Mont., a beautiful mountain community in northwest Montana, to investigate local concerns and news articles about asbestos-contaminated vermiculite. The mineral had been mined in the area for close to 100 years. Since that time, the Environmental Protection Agency has been working closely with the community to clean up contamination and reduce risks to human health.

There is much debate as to whether the asbestos-contaminated vermiculite constitutes a national public health emergency. The vermiculite mined by W.R. Grace Co. in Libby contains a highly toxic form of asbestos called Libby amphibole asbestos. The vermiculite was shipped all across the United States and Canada to processing facilities, where, in many cases, it was used to make potting soil and insulation for homes, as well as other uses.

Folks in Libby have suffered from economic failure of the community, health issues, and the financial burden of providing medical care to the hundreds of victims who have developed lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis from the vermiculite that was provided free to the locals for insulation, gardening and other purposes, such as flood control in the creeks. Many in Libby suggest that a declaration of a public health emergency is the only solution to get this mountain community back on its feet.

However, the federal government has rejected the idea because it knows that doing so would take the issue beyond Lincoln County, Mont. It would force officials to look at potentially tens of millions of homes throughout the United States where vermiculite containing Libby amphibole asbestos has been used — posing a deadly health risk to the families living in these homes. These risks are not immediate: Exposure today might not produce negative health effects for decades.

Elected officials fear that facing this issue head on would pose too great a financial burden on our country. Yet we continue to spend billions of dollars to help people in other countries, billions more to fight unnecessary wars and still other billions on an extravagant bureaucracy. It is time for our legislators look at the health risk, quit denying it exists and take assertive action to protect the citizens of this country.

Phillip Erquiaga
Libby, MT 
perquiaga@EaglesVoice.com