During the trial beginning contaminated by asbestos Mont. Ci

 

Thursday, Mar 05,2009, 3:45:01 PM   Click:

Start of trial of asbestos contaminated Mont. NICHOLAS K. City GERANIOSAssociated Press Writer The Associated Press
Missoula, Mont._A federal prosecutor said Monday that jurors a chemical company had long been known that its mining operations in a small town in Montana residents exposed to asbestos, but concealed the risks of workers and government agencies regulators.

WR Grace & Co. "and the leaders have chosen profits over the health of the population and has chosen to avoid the responsibility to disclose health risks for the government," the prosecutor told a U.S. Kris McLean in Missoula District Court jury in a statement.

Grace retired and five officers are charged with violating the federal Clean Air Act and obstructing an investigation into the EPA asbestos contamination. All face 15 years in prison and fines totaling millions of dollars.

The company vermiculite mine in northwestern Montana, the town of Libby, but the mine was contaminated with asbestos fibers natural mineral that can be inhaled and can cause mesothelioma, asbestosis and cancer lung.

Lawyers for the residents of the region support the exposure to asbestos has killed more than 200 people sick and some 2000.

McLean said that the company has its own research and learned that even low levels of asbestos in the vermiculite becomes dangerous when disturbed. Although Grace donated mine hazardous waste Libby schools for use in the construction of trails for the riders, he said.

"They have endangered the health of hundreds if not thousands," McLean told jurors. "This case is about the holding of this company and the executives responsible for very grave injustice."

The legal question is whether Grace, which bought the mine in 1963, and his co-defendants knew the health risks associated with the mine for years before federal regulators arrived. The government supports the company and certain of its officers conspired to hide health risks of its workers.

Lawyers for Grace, based in Columbia, Maryland, he was denied knowledge of any conspiracy to release asbestos and that the majority of releases have taken place before the year a law was passed in 1990 .

Grace lawyers were to give the jury after opening statements Monday.

After reports of health problems, the Environmental Protection Agency in 1999, sent an emergency team to Libby to collect information on asbestos contamination, and the city was declared a Superfund site cleanup in 2002 .

McLean said Libby suffers from 40 to 80 times the national average in its rate of death from asbestosis, lung cancer and mortality is 30 per cent higher than health officials expect the city to experience.

The trial is expected to last several months.

© Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material May not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Missoula, Mont._A federal prosecutor said Monday that jurors a chemical company had long been known that its mining operations in a small town in Montana residents exposed to asbestos, but concealed the risks of workers and government agencies regulators. W.R.