Reliability Elusive In Asbestos Tests Epa Says Libby Must Wait To Know What Dangers Still Exist

Asbestos test results from 121 homes spread across this troubled community aren’t reliable, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup team suspects.

And it may be six months to a year before it can tell residents what to fear and what to disregard when it comes to asbestos-tainted insulation, dust and soil around their homes.

Laboratories analyzing soil samples from Libby yards and gardens are telling EPA officials that they suspect test results understate the amount of deadly asbestos fibers.

“I have `nondetect’ samples in people’s yards,” explained Paul Peronard, the EPA’s cleanup coordinator. “But I don’t really believe the samples.”

Newer technology shows tiny asbestos fibers in samples where long-established testing methods and equipment turn up no asbestos or only trace amounts. And the traditional analytical methods were developed for other types of asbestos, Peronard said.

Peronard finds similar problems with tests taken inside homes containing asbestos-laced vermiculite insulation, the primary end-product of the mine and processing plant that pumped tons of tremolite asbestos fibers into the air, and into the lungs of workers, their families and other local residents for 60 years. W.R. Grace & Co., which owned the mine and processing plants, disputes charges that there are health risks associated with the vermiculite ore or the insulation produced from it.

Peronard will deliver the news about the test results to the community in a meeting Thursday. As bad as the ambiguity, he says, is that it may take as long as a year to figure out the most accurate method for dissecting the asbestos samples.

“I have a lot of work to do with what the numbers mean in people’s homes,” Peronard said.

He predicts the townsfolk will be unhappy with the vagueness and the delay. Peronard shares their feelings.

“I can’t really tell them it’s clean, and that’s frustrating for me.”

Peronard would prefer to see the results of medical testing on people who lived in Libby before making judgments about whether there are problems lingering in Libby homes. The medical examinations will provide a “reality check” regarding who is contracting asbestos-related diseases and where they were exposed to the asbestos.

“It’s a reasonable hypothesis that 99.9 percent of the problem went away when the mine closed,” Peronard said.

“What is the residual risk? The houses are the unanswered question.”

The answer has implications far beyond Libby.

Millions of homes across the country have Zonolite brand vermiculite insulation, which was manufactured from the asbestos-tainted Libby ore.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry started conducting chest X-rays and other medical tests on current and former Libby residents last week.

The agency estimates more than 3,000 people will participate between now and early September.

Once the agency is done in Libby, it will take its medical testing effort to Elko, Nev., because a large number of Libby miners moved to the area after Grace closed the vermiculite mine in 1990, said Sharon S. Campolucci, deputy director of health studies at the agency.

The federal toxicologists are encouraging people to take advantage of the tests even if they never worked in the mine, mill or vermiculite insulation plant.

“Until we get a broad picture of the community, we won’t know what to do next,” Campolucci said.

Some members of the Libby community have resented publicity about the area’s contamination problems. But the medical tests are gaining acceptance.

“I think there’s some real interest,” said Robin Redman, daughter of one of the first miners to be put on asbestos-related disability in 1976.

Her father died of asbestosis, and her mother, brother and two of her sisters have been diagnosed with the disease.

Still, “I think there are some people who don’t understand that people were exposed at industrial levels in town,” Redman said.

These 2 sidebars appeared with the story:

1. WHAT’S NEXT

The EPA will hold a community meeting in Libby on Thursday to discuss preliminary results from asbestos tests taken at 121 homes in the area. The meeting runs from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Flathead Community College Memorial Gym, 101 W. Lincoln Blvd.

2. DETAILS

Getting tested

People who lived, worked, played or went to school in the Libby area for at least six months - prior to 1991 - can still qualify for free medical tests. Even people who did not work with vermiculite or live with a worker are encouraged to get tested. To make an appointment, call the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at (800) 439-8308. Appointments are available seven days a week for the next three months.