News Coverage
Montana's asbestos-related deaths
Report uses information that is faulty
Published March 5, 2004
A report by a Washington, D.C.,-based public-interest research group shows that Cascade County has the highest number of deaths related to asbestos in Montana, but the report is based on faulty information, according to those closest to the issue.
The findings, released Thursday, are based on data collected by the Environmental Working Group. The agency analyzed federal mortality records around the country between 1979 and 2001.
In Cascade and Yellowstone counties, 34 asbestos-related deaths are reported in the group's review.
For many years, asbestos exposure was not listed as a cause of death, according to officials. The records reviewed by the group also are based on where death certificates are filed.
Because many asbestos victims from Montana die in treatment centers in larger cities, the findings of the study may not match up with the facts, said Pat Cohan, a registered nurse and program director for Libby's Center for Asbestos Related Disease.
Richard Wiles, senior vice president of Environmental Working Group and an author of the report, said the study is not flawed. It exposes the "gross inadequacies" in the federal system for reporting deaths related to asbestos, he said. He also said asbestosis was not listed as a cause of death for many years.
"There is no better evidence than Libby of how inadequate the federal reporting system is," he said.
Lincoln County, where Libby is the county seat, comes in third for asbestos-related deaths in Montana, based on the group's analysis. Libby is nationally known for asbestos problems since disclosure five years ago that much of the town was contaminated with asbestos from a vermiculite mine that once operated there.
The research group's findings show only 33 federally reported deaths in Libby tied to asbestosis or mesothelioma. The Environmental Protection Agency has been working in Libby since 1999 media reports revealed that asbestos contamination was to blame for hundreds of illnesses and at least 200 deaths.
Gayla Benefield of Libby lost both parents to the disease asbestosis. She said "heart failure" is listed as the cause of death on their death certificates.
Benefield, one of the leading activists in Libby, said asbestosis often was listed on the second or third line of death certificates, and for years it was easily overlooked.
"That's where we fell through the cracks," she said. "It was easy to overlook and easy to hide that way."
The report lists only five or six deaths in Libby resulting from mesothelioma - a rare cancer of the lining of the chest or abdomen that most often is caused by asbestos exposure.
Cohan said in the last six years alone there have been five cases of mesothelioma in Libby.
Research by Michael Spence, state medical officer with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, also shows Montana has 10 times the rate of mesothelioma than other areas based on population.
Wiles said obviously more people have died of asbestos-related diseases in Libby and likely in Montana than are included in the report, but they went unreported in the federal records that the research group reviewed.
"It's a very poor system. Until 1999 the federal government didn't even track mesothelioma," he said.
When the government started tracking those deaths, the numbers jumped from 935 in 1998 to 2,343 in 1999, he said.
While most agree numbers in Libby are much, much higher than in the report, many said it also comes as no surprise that asbestos-related deaths are high in Cascade County.
For more than 50 years, ore from Libby was processed at the former Robinson Insulation plant in Great Falls. At least a dozen people with ties to the former Robinson Insulation plant on River Drive North, have died of lung disease or been diagnosed with breathing disorders.
Some employees of the former Anaconda Co./Atlantic Richfield copper refinery and smelter, which operated for more than 70 years in Great Falls, also allege they were exposed to asbestos.
In the construction industry there also is a high rate of noncompliance with asbestos regulations across Montana, according to a study completed two years ago by the state.
"I have no doubts that Cascade County is up there," Cohan said.
Great Falls attorneys Thomas A. Baiz Jr., Tom L. Lewis and Dave Slovak represented several clients in asbestos-related cases.
Slovak also said many victims die of pulmonary complications and heart disease that are linked to asbestos exposure.
"It's not surprising that Cascade County is high because of the history of the smelter and other industrial operations," he said.
Diseases associated with asbestos also have a latency period of 10 to 30 years and can be difficult in many cases to diagnose.
Overall, Montana came in 42nd for asbestos-related deaths, and California had the highest number of deaths, according to the study.
The analysis found that 10,000 Americans a year die from asbestos-related diseases. The research group predicts that as many as 10 times that number will die in the next decade.
"The importance of the report is that it tells people we are in the midst of a public health crisis," said Richard Lemen, a retired assistant Surgeon General.
Lemen spoke about Environmental Working Group's findings during a Thursday teleconference.
Asbestos also was used in many building materials, and still is used in some products in the United States.
Zonolite insulation, which in some cases is tainted with asbestos, likely remains tucked inside the attics of homes throughout Great Falls and across the country.
Left undisturbed, vermiculite insulation, which often was made from a Libby ore contaminated with asbestos, isn't a problem, according to most experts. But many do-it-yourselfers may unknowingly be disturbing the materials.
For more information on the report, visit www.ewg.org.