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Mount Sinai Researchers Lead Long-Term Study of Asbestos Exposure in Montana

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York announced Monday they'll lead a five-year investigation of the long-term effects of human exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore in Libby, Montana. A public health emergency was declared in the northwestern Montana community by federal authorities earlier this year because hundreds of people have died of asbestos-related diseases.

Mount Sinai researchers will lead the collaborative effort with researchers from the University of Montana, Idaho State University and Libby’s Center for Asbestos Related Disease. A $4.8 million grant from the federeal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will support the research.

“The asbestos-related disease in Libby is far more aggressive and rapidly progressive than what’s seen in most asbestos-exposed workers, with high rates of cancers and severe effects on respiratory function,” said Dr. Stephen Levin, associate professor of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai and a nationally known expert on asbestos-related diseases. “For that reason alone, the health problems in Libby are important to study and understand.”

The investigation will consist of three studies, examining asbestos risks during childhood when lungs are still developing, lung scarring among Libby residents who were not employed in mining and the relationship between lung scarring and autoimmune disorders. Autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have been found to occur more frequently in Libby, and Libby residents have higher concentrations of anti-bodies in their bodies. So researchers will examine the connection between autoimmune disorders, autoimmune antibody abnormalities and evidence of lung scarring.

Dr. Levin, who also is the principal investigator of the nationwide World Trade Center medical monitoring and treatment program, said the research on childhood exposure to asbestos may help determine the appropriate level of environmental cleanup needed in Libby to protect the most vulnerable population.

In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 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 fore 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.

Microscopic asbestos fibers when inhaled can lodge in the lungs and over time cause serious respiratory diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen. The symptoms of the disease often don’t appear until 20 to 40 years after exposure.

Labels: National News

posted by Wade Rawlins at 11:23 AM
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