W.R. Grace Trial Update: Company Obstructed Health Studies

A former health expert testified on Tuesday that top W. R. Grace 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 (NIOSH).

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 (MSHA).

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.