Montana Town Residents Exposed to Significant Amount of Asbestos
Residents of Small Montana Town Eligible for Asbestos Screening Program
After years of living with the environmental threat of asbestos exposure, help is on the way for thousands of residents of Libby, Mont.
The Health Resources and Services Administration will fund an $80,000 contract to Libby to support medical screening for those people concerned about their health risks. HRSA estimates that as many as 5,000 people will benefit from this massive effort.
The public health threat facing Libby began some 80 years ago when many residents worked in vermiculite mines and refining facilities now known to have been contaminated with asbestos. Asbestos exposure can result in many health problems, including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a particularly severe form of cancer. Asbestos-related illness has shown up in those who worked in the mines as well as others who did not. Studies also show that simply breathing asbestos dust can increase the chance of getting cancer in other parts of the body.
Since it can take years to develop symptoms after initial exposure to asbestos fibers, the magnitude of the problem faced by this small Montana community is not known.
"Too many Libby residents are getting sick from asbestos poisoning," said HRSA Administrator Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H.. "This screening program will help us determine how many more people face asbestos-related illness and what must be done to help them."
The screening program is the first step of a Public Health Response Plan developed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry working in concert with the Environmental Protection Agency, HRSA, and many state and local officials.
In addition to this medical testing program, the Public Health Response Plan includes efforts to:
- take a closer look at EPA environmental sampling to better understand patterns of exposure;
- analyze medical and epidemiologic data to determine the nature and extent of asbestos-related disease in the community;
- design a public health education program to give residents and health care providers the latest information on asbestos-related risks and diseases; and
- design a plan to prevent continuing exposure to asbestos.
HRSA is the lead agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for improving access to health care for individuals and families nationwide.
