AboutMesothelioma.Net

By WADE RAWLINS
Today, millions of homes and businesses across the United States have a pebble-like insulation in the attic made from the mineral vermiculite. Once admired for its fire-resistance and insulating properties, vermiculite insulation is now considered a potential health threat because, if disturbed, it can release microscopic asbestos fibers into the air that can be inhaled into the lungs.

Breathing asbestos can cause serious respiratory problems and diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. Still, federal environmental officials aren’t ready to start a nationwide attic cleaning campaign to remove the insulation.

“As a reminder, there are towns and cities across the United States with vermiculite insulation in their homes and in commercial buildings,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said recently. “EPA’s advice in those situations remains the same. That is that that insulation be left in place, that it be undisturbed.”

Do-It-Yourself Insulation

Vermiculite insulation is a pebble-like, pour-in product and is usually gray-brown or silver-gold in color. It was often sold under the brand name Zonolite and marketed as a do-it-yourself product. W.R. Grace stopped selling Zonolite in the early 1980s.

The EPA estimates there may be anywhere from 15 million to 52 million homes that have Zonolite attic insulation, Stephen J. Nesbitt, assistant inspector general at the EPA, told a congressional committee in September 2008.

Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral composed of shiny flakes resembling mica. A mine near Libby, Montana produced more than 70 percent of all vermiculite sold in the U.S. from 1919 to 1990, when the mine closed.

In its pure form, vermiculite isn’t harmful. But the vermiculite mined in Libby was contaminated by asbestos that also occurred in the area.

Public Health Emergency

In June, the EPA declared that the widespread release of asbestos in Libby and neighboring Troy, Montana constituted a public health emergency. Asbestos contamination in the Libby area has been blamed for the deaths of more than 200 people and the illnesses of more than 1,000 more to date.

For decades, miners in Libby were exposed to asbestos in their work and brought the toxic dust home on their clothes, unintentionally exposing their families.

Asbestos fibers embedded in lung tissue over time may cause lung diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer found in the lining of the lungs and almost always linked to asbestos exposure. The symptoms of the diseases often do not appear until 20 to 30 years after exposure.

Under the emergency declaration, the EPA plans to remove all uncontained vermiculite insulation from houses in Libby as part of the broader, ongoing cleanup. But the agency says that doesn’t mean that houses around the country containing vermiculite insulation require cleanup.

As long as vermiculite insulation remains undisturbed, it poses no risk and does not need to be removed, the EPA says. If homeowners plan to remodel their houses, requiring disturbance of vermiculite insulation, the EPA recommends that a trained asbestos removal professional should be used to ensure the material is handled properly to avoid any risk the home’s residents.

“We don’t believe cleanup actions are necessary outside of Libby and Troy at this time,” said Jackson, the EPA administrator. “However, health concerns and precautions for minimizing exposures always can be better understood by the public.”

Jackson said the EPA planned a new national education program focused on vermiculite insulation to ensure the safety of all Americans.