Dearborn workers exposed to asbestos for decades
The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry worked with the state health department on the public health consultation about the W.R. Grace facility. The agency has linked some past exposures to Libby vermiculite with respiratory illnesses.
Dearborn plant workers exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos for decades
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
LANSING – People who stripped minerals at a plant in Dearborn between the early 1950s and 1990 were exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos, according to a public health consultation released Tuesday by state and federal officials.
The former W.R. Grace and Company facility processed vermiculite, mined in Libby, Mont., that contained asbestos until 1990, the Michigan Department of Community Health said in a news release.
The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry worked with the state health department on the public health consultation about the W.R. Grace facility. The agency has linked some past exposures to Libby vermiculite with respiratory illnesses.
The consultation also indicated that people who lived with former W.R. Grace workers while the vermiculite was being processed also were exposed to asbestos, the state department said. Workers may have carried home asbestos fibers on their hair and clothing, but it’s hard to determine which people may have been exposed to asbestos, the groups said.
Officials didn’t find any evidence that people currently working on the property – now a tool and die shop – are being exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos. Soil samples taken from the site by the Environmental Protection Agency show low concentrations of asbestos.
State and federal officials recommended that former W.R. Grace workers and their families see a doctor with expertise in asbestos-related lung diseases.
Copyright � 2004 Detroit Free Press Inc.