News
UM gets $1 million for asbestos research
University group to study poisonings in Libby
The National Rural Bioethics Project at the University of Montana, the first project of its kind, just received $1 million in grant money for research on asbestos poisoning in Libby.
Natalie Storey
Montana Kaimin
“This is ground-breaking,” said Ann Cook, the director of the project and psychology professor at UM. “This is a demonstration project. It is the only project of this type in the United States.”
The research project is being funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Human Genome Institute. The $1 million grant provided by the organizations will be distributed over five years.
The National Rural Bioethics Project was one of 10 organizations funded nationally and the only rural project to get money.
Cook said the project has multiple purposes and goals.
“We are going to try and identify ethical issues that develop in rural health care, how health care providers deal with problems and what resources they need to provide better health care.”
Researcher Helena Hoas explained further.
“We are looking at ethical issues in Libby in terms of asbestos-related health problems and then the translation of scientific findings into accessible information,” she said.
The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry screened a cross section of the population of Libby in 2001 and found that 18 percent of adults tested positive for abnormalities caused by exposure to asbestos.
“There are serious problems with asbestos in Libby that are specific to Libby,” said Helena. “It is really a pervasive problem. It affects everyone.”
Libby used to be the site of a vermiculite mine run by W.R. Grace and Co. The mine once supplied 80 percent of the world’s vermiculite, which is used in household insulation. Asbestos is a contaminate of the vermiculite ore found in Libby.
The occurrences of asbestos-related disease are high in Libby, which makes it a good place to do pilot research that deals with ethical issues as they relate to severe, communitywide health problems, researchers said.
“We met with people in the community who requested our involvement in Libby,” said Cook. “We need to increase communication and knowledge so that people can make informed health care decisions.”
Research will be done through health care services in Libby, as well as communitywide surveys conducted by the bioethics project at UM.
Elizabeth Putnam, who specializes in genetics research, will also be working on the project. She is a professor at the Center for Environmental Science at UM. She will explore the specific genetic pathways asbestos-related diseases take in Libby.
Once the research is conducted, it will probably be distributed throughout the community using the Internet and education programs within schools and health care services, said Cook.
“This is a very, very well-informed community,” said Cook. “But the science is changing, it is evolving. We need to find ways to translate new findings into community dialogue.”
The National Rural Bioethics Project has been in existence at UM for five years. In the past, the project has been funded by the Agency for Health Care Research and the Quality of the National Institute of Health.
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