EPA KNEW ABOUT ASBESTOS IN LIBBY FOR YEARS.  

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knew that asbestos fibers were killing people in Libby, Montana, for 15 years before taking action

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Subject:   EPA Knew About Asbestos In Libby For Years----
Date:       Fri, 02 Jun 2000 07:13:23 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          Senior Research Scientist
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation - Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon,  I thought you might like to read an article from the Environment News Service entitled: EPA KNEW ABOUT ASBESTOS IN LIBBY FOR YEARS.

DENVER, Colorado, June 1, 2000 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knew that asbestos fibers were killing people in Libby, Montana, for 15 years before taking action, the "Bozeman Daily Chronicle" reported Wednesday. The paper quoted Christopher Weis, an EPA toxicologist, as saying that the dangers of the toxic fibers that contaminate a vermiculite mine in Libby were documented in Washington, DC, but that the national agency never notified its regional office. In the mid-1980s, an EPA study at the W.R. Grace mine in Libby showed death projections of "almost 100 percent" for miners there, Weis said, indicating that asbestos could kill almost everyone working in the mine. As far back as 1981, EPA  tests showed asbestos levels in the town of Libby, five miles from the mine, at five times the current federal safe levels.

"EPA is reeling in shock, the whole agency, as to how this slipped through the cracks," Weis told a conference on environmental journalism held by the University of Colorado Journalism School in Denver last week. "We dropped the ball." Almost 200 Libby residents and former mine workers have died of asbestos related illnesses. But "asbestos [related illness] is notorious for inaccurate diagnosis, so it's likely we'll never know" the full number of deaths, Weis said. Last November, the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" brought public attention to the problem with a series of articles. The stories surprised EPA officials, Weis said. "That was the first the regional office had realized there might be a problem in Libby," he said. "It basically caught us out of the blue." Weis has been part of the federal response team sent to Libby after the stories were published.

Well Lyndon, some day the dangers of your "registered" pesticide POISONS will also "catch you (or another "regulator") out of the blue" and for the "first time" some one will realize there may be a problem with your "registered" POISONS.  Obviously, at that time, "no one" will have read "Silent Spring" or any of my letters.

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