« Asbestos In School | Home | Eden Mine Study Dubious »
Vermont Public Radio Report on Asbestos Study
By asbestoshub | February 3, 2009
People in Vermont are concerned that a recent study claiming that deaths of residents around an old asbestos mine near Eden was flawed.
Vermont Public Radio reported on January 30, 2009 that a Vermont Senate committee heard that the study was flawed but that the negative publicity about the asbestos health risks has already depressed property values in the area.
House majority Leader Floyd Nease represents Eden, a Lamoille County town where the mine is located. Nease says the Health Department study was flawed because they first said there was a higher rate of lung cancer deaths among people living near the mine, but then had to retract that finding because of a data error.
Leslie White of Eden told lawmakers that she did the research the Health Department should have done when she tracked down the death certificates of two of the three people whom the department said died from asbestosis. The health department study says the deaths were enough to make a statistical association between a higher rate of the disease and living near the mine.
Ms. White found out that one of the people had worked in shipbuilding for years and another was a farmer who worked briefly at the mine but his family told Ms. White he died from a lung disease called farmers’ lung - caused by exposure to hay dust and mold. She said she couldn’t find the death certificate for the third person.
During the VPR report, Ms. White commented:
I feel very violated that the information was out there and that I had to go get it. And these are the people that are trying to protect us, it just doesn’t seem right. … I think there has to be a full retraction of this health finding.
Health Commissioner Doctor Wendy Davis did not back down from the key finding of the health study.
We believe that the asbestosis data is statistically significant. The only conclusion that we can draw from the study is that there is an association between the hospital discharge data, and the asbestosis deaths and living in one of the thirteen towns in the study.
According to VPR’s John Dillon, the Senate Economic Development Committee is considering a resolution that casts doubt on the Health Department study.
Ms. White has already weighed in here, commenting on a previous post. It’s understandable that Vermont residents would be dismayed by the conflicting findings. As Ms. White mentioned in her comment, the asbestos in the Vermont mine is chrysotile, and not the same as the vermiculite found in Libby, Montana.
Topics: Exposure |
