Libby, Montana A History of Asbestos Disease

Libby, Montana is a tragedy story. The mining company W. R. Grace long extracted vermiculite and tribulite asbestos to the detriment of its workers, who often did not follow proper safety protocol. These hard working men came home to their families with this silent killer on their clothes. Effectually, W. R. Grace poisoned an entire town of people with asbestos dust, thousands were effected and new cases continue to surface. However, concerns are being raised that the damage does not end with the locals who were exposed for years and who have since developed asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Victims include the vacationers who frequented the beautiful mountain town and the customers across the nation who bought Grace's products.

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Asbestos Dangers Known Centuries Ago, but Battle Continues (12/2/10)

SEATTLE (Nov. 29) -- Invisible fibers were killing people long before a Roman scholar reported that the slaves who worked in the asbestos quarries died far younger than those who didn't touch the wondrous, fireproof mineral.

The scholar, Pliny the Elder, was also a military commander and author of 70-plus books, but the merchants who mined, milled and sold asbestos did all they could to discredit his discovery and pronouncements that the fibers were harmful.

Now, 2,000 years later, not a lot has changed. Industries that still handle asbestos, or are defending themselves from tens of thousands of lawsuits from former workers who were sickened or killed on the job, still insist it couldn't be from their material. More...

'In Libby, There Was No Maybe' About Dangers (12/1/10)

LIBBY, Mont. (Nov. 29) -- On Thanksgiving week 11 years ago, a regional Environmental Protection Agency boss ordered three of his top agents to rush to a remote Montana town to disprove a newspaper's report of hundreds of people dying because of exposure to asbestos from a nearby vermiculite mine.

The EPA experts thought it unbelievable that an environmental accident could destroy so many in one tiny town and they didn't know about it.

For the most part, the townsfolk themselves had no idea of the scope of the disease that had been killing them for years. More...

Cancer Patient's Home a 'Living Laboratory' for Deadly Fibers (12/1/10)

DENVER (Nov. 29) -- The government repeatedly insists that the millions of people with asbestos-contaminated vermiculite insulation in their attics are safe if they don't disturb the lethal material. Tell that to 71-year-old William Cawlfield, who has mesothelioma, a cancer that sometimes takes decades to surface and claim its victims.

Last month, Cawlfield stood outside the two-story red-brick farmhouse that had been his family's home for more than a century. He watched a man and a woman wearing respirators and dressed head to toe in Tyvek carefully remove something deadly from inside. He was paying $15,000 to have them do so. More...

Government Refuses to Act on Cancer-Causing Insulation (11/29/10)

WASHINGTON (Nov. 29) -- Americans living in millions of homes will soon crawl into their attics to collect their holiday decorations. With those colorful lights and ornaments could come invisible and deadly asbestos fibers that decades from now may destroy or end the lives of some of the celebrants.

For years the government has known that the attics and walls of as many as 35 million homes and businesses are insulated with Zonolite, which contains lethal asbestos-tainted vermiculite. Some medical authorities believe that people are still dying because of it. More...

EPA Announces Public Health Emergency in Libby, Montana; EPA to Move Aggressively on Cleanup and HHS to Assist Area Residents with Medical Care (6/17/09)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today announced the agency has determined that a public health emergency exists at the Libby asbestos site in northwest Montana. Over the past years, hundreds of asbestos-related disease cases have been documented in this small community, which covers the towns of Libby and Troy. More...

Libby Reacts to Grace Asbestos Verdict (5/13/09)

People in Libby closely following the W.R. Grace trial were at home when the verdict came down. Most are upset and saddened with the jury's decision, reaching a not guilty verdict on all eight counts. Some even say the company is getting away with murder. More…

Grace trial: Reaction Around Libby Toughest on Judge Molloy (5/12/09)

A jury acquitted W.R. Grace & Co. and three former executives last week of all criminal charges relating to Libby’s asbestos poisoning. Following 11 weeks of testimony, jurors were handed the case Wednesday evening and delivered their verdict Friday morning. More…

Jury Acquites Grace In Asbestos Case (5/11/09)

After a three-month trial, firm and executives are cleared on all 10 counts A federal jury cleared W.R. Grace and three former executives on all charges of knowingly exposing residents of Libby, Mont., to asbestos and concealing the danger. After a three-month trial and two days of deliberation, the jury effectively repudiated the government’s criminal case, filed in 2005. More…

W.R. Grace Tries to Define Its Way Out of Asbestos Poisoning (4/17/08)

W.R. Grace is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review pretrial rulings in the government's case charging the company with trying to hide health risks associated with its vermiculite mine in Libby. More...

9th Circuit Rules Against W.R. Grace (9/24/07)

The 9th circuit court has overturned a lower court decision that would have limited Grace's liability in the ongoing prosecution efforts. More...

W.R. Grace May Owe Victims $6.2 Billion, Lawyer Says (7/2/07)

W.R. Grace & Co., a bankrupt chemical maker, may owe victims of its asbestos products as much as $6.2 billion -- more than four times the company's estimate -- said a legal scholar hired by attorneys suing the company. More...

America's Loss (3/12/07)

Les Skramstad husband, father, and grandfather lost his life to cancer in January at Libby, Montana. Les was a gentleman. Unassuming and down to earth, he lived life trusting that a man's word was as good as his handshake. He loved his family and his guitar, and he believed in doing what's right. With his passing, America lost a true champion in the cause of asbestos awareness, and I lost a friend. More...

Honoring Les Skramstad (1/24/07)

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a Montanan who died Saturday night at his home in Libby, Montana. Libby is a small town up in the northwest corner of my state. More...

Toxic Town Waits; Cleanup Goes On. Residents of Libby, Mont. seek EPA Buyout (1/23/07)

For more than 65 years, lethal asbestos fibers from a nearby vermiculite mine contaminated this small town and its people.

Federal agencies have spent seven years and tens of millions of dollars removing tons of the cancer-causing material from homes, businesses, schools and playgrounds. Yet no one is sure that any amount of time or money can clean up the town enough to make it safe to live there. More...

Libby Folks Must Get Some Answers (11/22/99)

Hundreds of people in Libby, Mont., have been consigned to die painful deaths because they were exposed to highly toxic asbestos dust.

And many more of Libby's 2,700 residents may die simply because government officials can't stir themselves to learn whether the health threat still exists. More...

EPA Investigates Asbestos in Libby -- "Has Moral Obligation to Clean Up Contamination" (11/22/99)

State and federal authorities say they will send teams of health and environmental investigators to this tiny northwestern Montana town to evaluate whether asbestos from a closed mine still threatens its residents. More...

History of Asbestos Disease in Libby, Montana (11/18/99)

FIrst it killed some miners. Then it killed wives and children, slipping into their homes on the dusty clothing of hard-working men. Now the mine is closed, but in Libby, the killing goe on. More...

Montana Governor From Libby Should Have Known of Dangers (11/25/99)

As a child, the governor of Montana played in the piles of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore that some residents in this small mining community say have caused death and disease. More...

Click Here to view 'Smoking Gun' Documentation from W.R.Grace/Zonolite Company

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