Geelong Advertiser, Staff
Published May 13, 2005
AFTER dark, the silver dust fell on Bedford Street like spilled glitter. It clung to window sills, the black habits of nuns and the bare arms of Concepcion Hernandez's sister.
Hernandez, 79, remembers how her sister refused to wash it off, insisting on wearing it to a meeting with attorneys and city leaders as evidence that her neighbourhood was being poisoned by pollution from nearby factories, including a lead smelter and a maker of insulation, fireproofing spray and other products.
Two decades later, those two factories and the dust are gone. But so are Hernandez's sister and most of her longtime neighbours -- many dying of cancer and heart attacks before their time, Hernandez says. Residents protested until the smelter closed in 1984, but they never found out what was in the dust, how dangerous it was or who was responsible for it.
An investigation by the Federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry may yield answers. Hernandez's neighbourhood is one of 28 sites nationwide that received high volumes of an ore called vermiculite, dangerous because it was from a mine in Libby, Montana, tainted with cancer-causing asbestos.
The mine's owner, WR Grace & Co, and seven executives were indicted this year on charges that they conspired to hide asbestos contamination at the Libby mine, which prosecutors said sickened more than 1200 people and a newspaper study linked to nearly 200 deaths. The company and the seven men have pleaded not guilty; the trial is to begin in May 2006.
For decades, Grace shipped the vermiculite, a hydrous silicate mineral, to about 240 plants across the country.
The 28 sites being investigated by federal authorities are in 22 states stretching across from North Dakota to Florida and Massachusetts to California, with one installation in Hawaii.
In Dallas, a processing plant operated by the Texas Vermiculite Company received 350,000 tonnes over 40 years starting in the early 1950s. The plant processed ore for potting soil, insulation, concrete and fireproofing spray, then belched out the byproduct: a fine, shimmering dust contaminated with asbestos.
"In the evenings, when they thought the people were in their homes, they would open their vents and let all the dust out," said Hernandez, who still lives on Bedford Street with her husband of 54 years, Alejandro. "It looked like glitter to us because you could see something shining coming down in the smoke."
Federal investigators are trying to determine how many former plant workers and family members were exposed to the dust in an attempt to alert them to the health risks. The agency is also searching state Health Department data for elevated rates in the Dallas area of lung cancer, mesothelioma cancer and asbestosis, a potentially fatal breathing disorder.
"We're trying to make sure there are no other Libby, Montanas out there," said Kevin Horton, an agency epidemiologist.
Richard Wiles, vice-president of the Washington-based Environmental Working Group that has analysed sites receiving the tainted ore, said the investigation was long overdue and could't accurately gauge the harm that Grace caused.
"If it took us 50 years to look at Libby, is it any surprise that we haven't looked at all the hundreds of places where they shipped this stuff?" Wiles said.
