Mesothelioma Medical

11-Feb-2007

The finding of asbestos fibers at an air monitoring station in Helena is being investigated by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

The site monitoring was set up as a part of risk evaluation in Libby. The EPA officials were surprised when asbestos fibers were detected at a site that not expected to be contaminated.

"We tried to pick Helena and Eureka as two places that would be representative of this area, but outside of our area of concern," EPA remedial project manager Mike Cirian said in Libby. "Then, during the first round of sampling, we got a hit in Helena."

There were no asbestos present at all in eleven consequent samples. Cirian assumes that the detected amount perhaps doesn't cause a health hazard. "Still, the asbestos wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. The EPA needs to figure out its source", Cirian said.

Cirian doesn't believe that the source of the asbestos is Libby. "Asbestos typically falls out of the air fairly quickly. So, I don't think this blew into Helena from Libby," he said. According to him, it could have blown from a rail line. He said that otherwise it might be some industrial plans which caused this.

"We are doing some research there on what kind of corridors are possible," Cirian said.

According to the state's DEQ Asbestos Control Program this malignant material could have commenced from somebody reconstructing an attic beside the air-monitoring site. The air monitoring is supposed to be continued for the next year too. It takes place all the five working days.

Asbestos is a deadly material which can cause many dangerous diseases like asbestosis, lung cancer etc. The only reason for mesothelioma, a cancer of the thin membrane that surrounds the lung and other internal organs, is asbestos exposure. The speciality of these diseases is that they do not develop immediately following exposure to asbestos. It generally takes many years for them to appear. A Libby plant used asbestos in vermiculate they processed which attained worldwide popularity.

Asbestos sample from Helena included six Libby amphibole detections. Although the federal standards are 70 amphiboles per milliliter of air, when the sites those not expected to be contaminated are concerned, six amphibole is considered as highest asbestos concentrations measured.

"The ironic thing is we chose Helena and Eureka to get a background, then we get detects in one of what we thought would be a background location," said Ted Linnert, the community involvement coordinator in Libby. He said he was not dismayed by the detection though surprised a bit.