Believe it or not, the residents of Libby, Montana had asbestos on their Little League baseball field. They used asbestos in their backyards and gardens. An entire community was poisoned with asbestos, and now residents are fighting to get Superfund site designation so that the mess can get cleaned up.
If you missed the PBS documentary then
click here to jump to the dedicated site about
Libby.
The Libby mess was the result of the W.R. Grace company's mining of vermiculite ore, which was used to make Zonolite, a popular building material (Zonolite is basically the brand name for vermiculite.) Vermiculite isn't toxic, but the ore was laced with asbestos, which is.
Zonolite was installed in many millions of homes in the United States. The government doesn't recommend its removal, since the final product, expanded vermiculite, doesn't appear to pose any health risks.
So, the question is: if you found out that your home contains expanded vermiculite, would you worry?

Labels: libby, vermiculite, zonolite