Libby residents to get disability help

Thu., May 25, 2006

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

WASHINGTON – A Social Security Administration official said Wednesday the agency is changing its rules so Libby, Mont., residents sickened by asbestos exposure are eligible for Social Security disability payments.

Martin H. Gerry, a deputy commissioner at the administration, told reporters the agency will clarify its regulations this week to include victims of tremolite asbestos, which has sickened many residents of the small town in northwestern Montana.

Residents whose previous applications were rejected can reapply.

Gerry said that average payments are around $1,200 a month, and some recipients receive up to $2,200 monthly.

Asbestos released into the air from the now-closed W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine in Libby is blamed by some health authorities for killing about 200 people and sickening one of every eight residents there.

Gerry worked with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Dr. Brad Black, director of Libby’s Center for Asbestos Related Disease, on the change.

According to Baucus’s office, more than 1,400 current and former Libby residents suffer from the type of asbestosis specific to the area, and 300 to 500 new cases are diagnosed each year.

“People from Libby suffer from asbestos-related disease at a rate 40 to 60 times the national average, and they suffer from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma at a rate of 100 times the national average,” Baucus said. “The people of Libby have suffered enough.”

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