officials obstructed government efforts to study the health risks
associated with Libby vermiculite.
"We had been very frustrated by the delay that they had caused in our
getting the study under way," said Kathleen Kennedy, a former
epidemiologist for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health.
Kennedy said she went to work for NIOSH in 1979 and was assigned to
study the vermiculite mined at Libby Montana, by W. R. Grace. This
request came down from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
According to MSHA, several workers at an expanding plant in South
Carolina had been diagnosed with "bloody pleural effusions" in their
lungs. One of the substances those workers had been exposed to was
vermiculite mined in Libby.
"The primary purpose was to find out if there was a health hazard
caused by the exposure to vermiculite so that workers could be
protected if that was the case," Kennedy said. "We determined that the
most useful first place to begin looking at exposures was in Libby,
Montana."
A great number of Libby residents are suffering from asbestos
diseases, some from mesothelioma cancer. A doctor who testified
earlier in the trial stated that he diagnoses approximately one person
per day with an asbestos-related illness, such as asbestosis and other
respiratory ailments.
But when Kennedy and her research team contacted Grace to inform them
of the study, they were met with resistance.
"They told us that they did not want us to do it," she said. "They did
not give us any documents."
The defense attorney clarified the W. R. Grace company stance on this
issue, stating that the officials refused the testing because it was
identical to studies that had been conducted in the past by NIOSH and
other government agencies.
Defense attorney Bernick stated that the proposed testing by NIOSH in
1979 was unnecessary, as the company had made steps to control
asbestos releases at the Libby mine after a series of inspections as
early as the 1960s.
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