Murray scolds EPA on pulling asbestos warnings

She'll pursue ban on all uses of substance

By Charles Pope, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sen. Patty Murray yesterday criticized the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to alert millions of people to potentially lethal danger from home insulation laced with asbestos.

In a 22-minute speech on the Senate floor in which she displayed concern, resentment and anger, Murray, D-Wash., asked the EPA to provide a detailed explanation for why the agency wrote and then withdrew a nationwide alert warning about the dangers from insulation containing a form of asbestos known as tremolite.

According to Murray, the EPA finished work last spring on a campaign to warn people about the dangers of asbestos-laced insulation that was produced from a mine in Libby, Mont. The EPA eventually declared that operation, which is owned by W.R. Grace & Co., a Superfund site. The public warning, however, was never made.

"What stopped EPA from following through with its warning?" Murray asked. "Isn't it our government's job to protect people from risks associated with hazardous substances such as asbestos?"

She cited an investigative report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that said the alert was dropped after the White House's Office of Management and Budget intervened.

Murray has asked the EPA and the Office of Management and Budget for an explanation, but said she has not received a satisfactory answer.

"I am deeply concerned that most people with Zonolite in their homes are completely unaware of this problem," she said, referring to the trade name used by Grace for its insulation.

"I am afraid most will not learn of it until they have already been exposed to dangerous levels of asbestos. And I am most concerned that this administration may be stifling EPA's efforts to warn homeowners, consumers and workers because of pressure from W.R. Grace."

EPA spokesman Dave Cohen defended the agency's effort and said a national campaign to alert people to the dangers of insulation with asbestos will roll out in about a month.

Although Cohen said he could not speak for OMB, he denied that the EPA was pressured to hold back an earlier warning. He insisted that the EPA's effort was guided by science and closely paralleled other prominent public-health efforts such as those alerting the public to the dangers of radon in the home and secondhand cigarette smoke.

The education campaign will feature detailed information on the EPA's Web site as well as pamphlets that will be distributed to hardware stores and other places where the insulation might be bought.

The saga of Libby and its life amid asbestos was first chronicled in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer series in 1999.

At least 200 men and women from Libby have died from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos-tainted vermiculite mined from Libby, and hundreds more people from the town are sick.

To underscore the dangers, Murray recounted the story of Ralph Busch, a former resident of Spokane who discovered the insulation in his home. Busch tried to get a loan to remove the insulation but was unsuccessful. He tried to sell the house but was told he would liable if anybody got sick. "In the end, having exhausted all options, Ralph Busch and his wife Donna sacrificed their home to foreclosure, having lost thousands of dollars and their good credit rating," Murray said.

Busch and his wife moved to Arizona and "to this day," Murray said, "the home remains vacant."

The EPA has done a laudable job of cleaning Libby, Murray said, but it has failed to adequately notify millions of people who use products from the mine about the potential danger.

"EPA deserves credit for doing the right thing, and going in to remove the insulation from (contaminated homes in) Libby," she said. "But what about the rest of the country? What about the millions of other homes with Zonolite insulation?"

Murray said the agency had "drafted news releases, and drawn up lists of public officials to notify. The agency was preparing to embark on an outreach and education campaign to let people know about this hazard" and declare a public-health emergency.

But the campaign died, Murray said, after OMB intervened. A spokesman for OMB referred all questions to the EPA. EPA spokesman Cohen said OMB did review the earlier warning because it dealt expressly with the Superfund cleanup at Libby. Cohen said he was not familiar with any effort to quash an alert at that time.

That explanation did not satisfy Murray, who said she would press on with legislation that would ban all uses of asbestos. The mineral, which is prized for its insulating qualities and resistance to heat, has been used for everything from roofing tiles to potting soil to brake shoes.

Murray's bill would "outlaw the manufacture, processing, importation and distribution of asbestos-containing products." It also would require the EPA to establish a program to educate the public about the risks.

Authorities estimate there are between 15 million and 35 million homes, schools and businesses that still contain asbestos-tainted insulation.

Asbestos is a proven carcinogen that enters the body after it is inhaled. Mesothelioma, which is caused by inhaling asbestos, kills at least 2,000 people each year. Among its victims were former Minnesota Rep. Bruce Vento and Adm. Elmo Zumwalt.

W.R. Grace did not respond to requests for comment yesterday, but the company has consistently claimed Zonolite is safe.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman in April, the company said Zonolite "has been insulating homes for over 60 years and there is no credible reason to believe that (it) has ever caused an asbestos-related disease in anyone who has used it in his/her home."

The company added that the amount of asbestos in Zonolite is "orders of magnitude" below the level the EPA deems as safe. "Thus, (Zonolite) is not an asbestos-containing material and should not be treated as such."

Grace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 to protect the company from asbestos-liability litigation.

A bankruptcy-court deadline of March 31 was set for the filing of asbestos-related property-damage claims and non-asbestos claims against the company.

Lawsuit Controversy
The American Bar Association expects to vote next week in Seattle on a resolution aimed at reducing the number of asbestos lawsuits filed in the United States.

The controversial issue, which has divided many in the legal community, would eliminate the majority of lawsuits, leaving only those in which the plaintiff already had cancer or met certain narrowly defined conditions of asbestos disease. Many people who are sick from asbestos, but fall short of those requirements, would have no way to recover their medical expenses, according to the Trial Lawyers of America, which opposes the move.

Proponents, however, said it would help clear the courts of the mass of asbestos cases that are clogging court dockets and would ensure that only those who are really ill could sue.

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