W.R. Grace Goes To Jail: "Why not all the others?"
Reflections on the Indictment of W.R. Grace Executives
That was a question asked by Boston University Professor of Environmental Health David Ozonoff when he heard about the indictments of W.R. Grace executives for knowingly exposing thousands of workers and residents to asbestos. Ozonoff was referring to a number of bankrupt asbestos manufacturers whose products and working conditions contributed to a still unfolding disaster projected to kill as many as 500,000 workers.
Ozonoff said medical literature showed by 1930 that asbestos caused the disabling lung disease asbestosis; by 1949 that it caused lung cancer; and by 1960 that it caused mesothelioma, a rare and deadlier cancer. Asbestos makers knew even more, he said, but have been let "off the hook" by declaring bankruptcy.
The Columbia Journalism Review notes that journalist Andrew Schneider who broke the story in the major media in 1999 got to "write the story every reporter hopes to write"
Andrew Schneider's first story about the trail of asbestos-related deaths and disease in Libby, Montana appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in November, 1999. The vast deposits of vermiculite mined in the small Montana town were shot through with tremolite, an invasive form of asbestos that burrows deep into the lungs when inhaled. As Schneider wrote:
First, it killed some miners. Then it killed wives and children, slipping into their homes on the dusty clothing of hard-working men. Now the mine is closed, but in Libby, the killing goes on.
The W.R. Grace Co. knew, from the time it bought the Zonolite vermiculite mine in 1963, why the people in Libby were dying.
But for the 30 years it owned the mine, the company did not stop it. Neither did the governments. Not the town of Libby, not Lincoln County. Not the state of Montana, not federal mining, health and environmental agencies, not anyone else charged with protecting the public health.
For the last five years, Schneider, now at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has pursued the asbestos story, which has taken him from Libby to the hulking ruins of the World Trade Center. (When the twin towers were constructed, vermiculite from Libby, known as Zonolite, was used as fireproofing. Many health experts and rescue personnel believe that asbestos levels at the World Trade Center site were dangerously high, despite initial assurances from the EPA that the area was safe.)
