Study to Show Effects of Asbestos on Neighboring Communities

May 16, 2006 - A first-of-its-kind study will be conducted in Minneapolis in hopes of discovering just how asbestos fibers from workplaces may affect those outside, including neighbors that lived within close proximity of any plant that used or produced asbestos and those who frolicked on playgrounds contaminated by the material.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota, prompted by a concerned Health Department investigator, have begun compiling data for their study, which is the first that will study limited exposure to the naturally mined material which has wreaked havoc in other communities throughout the United States.

The Health Department official has worked to identify people who lived or played near the former Western Mineral Product/W.R. Grace plant at 1720 Madison Street in Minneapolis. 

"There has certainly been anecdotal evidence that living near sites with concentrations of asbestos can cause lung problems,” said Rita Messing, a Department of Health investigator.

However, Messing believes that coincidence and fact must be separated, thus the reason for the study.  So far, figures compiled by the Health Department show that 690 people reported playing in contaminated rock, which was piled on the plant's premises and offered to the community as free fill material.

In addition, the study found that more than 800 individuals had lived within one block of the plant from 1938 until 1989, in the more than 60 years that Western Mineral Product operated at that site. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found this area had elevated concentrations of asbestos fibers from plant emissions before the facility installed air pollution control equipment in 1972.

More than 1,700 people were found who lived on 260 properties that the Environmental Protection Agency deemed to be contaminated with vermiculite waste. The EPA has already cleaned up those properties.

Minneapolis faces similar hazards to those of the town of Libby, Montana.  WR Grace operated its main facility in this small town, which is now riddled with dozens upon dozens of cases of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.  Children in Libby also played in yards filled with asbestos waste.

"We don't know the answer to the question, if you're exposed to this type of asbestos early in life, are the effects different?" Messing said in an article penned by the Associated Press. She also noted that the study will attempt to gauge effects of long-term, low-level exposure among nearby residents.