My colleague, Denis O'Gorman, has kindly drawn my attention to the very good article by Joanna Walters in last Sunday's Observer (08.03.09).
Libby, as the writer says, is a small Rocky Mountain town in Montana, USA, that is 'isolated, beautiful and toxic'. Tragically, out of a population of just 2600, at least 200 people have died from asbestos-related diseases, more than 1000 are ill and new cases are being diagnosed at the rate of one a week.
The town was built on logging but, in 1919, vermiculite was discovered in a mountain nearby and found to be an excellent material for loft and wall insulation, fire-proofing and soil conditioner. When WR Grace bought the local mine in 1963, it was producing 80% of the world's vermiculite. But naturally occurring amid the mineral were traces of asbestos.
As well as being present in the piles of mineral ore around the Libby mine and processing plant ( now long closed ) asbestos also laced the slag that WR Grace donated to 4 schools to make running tracks and junior baseball pitches, much like in the mining town of Wittenoom in Western Australia.
The rate of lung disease in Libby is between 40 and 60 times the national average. The US government calls it "the worst case of industrial poisoning of a whole community in American history".
Criminal prosecutors have compiled tens of thousands of documents which, they allege, prove that WR Grace knew in the 1960s that the dust created by the mining activities was killing its workers, and that the company bosses gradually became aware that the contaminated dust was also poisoning the miners' families, but they failed to do anything about it and, worse still, covered it up.
This has made me think about June Hancock's famous battle against Turner & Newall, some 14 years ago. June grew up in Armley, Leeds, in the shadow of Turners' asbestos factory. She and many other local residents were exposed, as children, in the neighbouring streets and school playgrounds and, very sadly, later succumbed to mesothelioma. T&N ( as it became ) was severely criticised by the trial judge, Mr Justice Holland, for its woeful conduct. It is a shame that its former directors were not put on trial like WR Grace's 5 senior executives, who (if convicted) face up to 15 years in jail. Corporate wrongdoers should not be able to walk away from such a tragic situation without being held accountable.
Justice needs to be done.