VERMONT ASBESTOS MINE
Residents denounce state health dept. report about cancer risk from local asbestos mine

Vermont asbestos mine report spurs residents to consider filing an environmental lawsuit to address cancer threat and potential real estate property devaluations.

February 3, 2009 — Residents of several small towns in northern Vermont attended a hearing at the Montpelier Statehouse on Friday to vent their anger over a state health department report that said persons living within a 10-mile radius of an abandoned Vermont asbestos mine had a higher risk of lung disease.

Residents living near the Eden Vermont asbestos mine, as well as citizens from Lowell, Johnson and other northern towns, argued that the report’s results were presented without proper research and that its conclusions will negatively affect residential property values.

Will report affect property values?

The president of the Vermont Bankers Association said landowners’ worries about the effect the study will have on residential property values are justified. "I think the concerns they have are legitimate. Very legitimate," he said. One resident said a bank declined to talk to him about a loan or line of credit on his land because of the health department report.

Asbestosis risk is real

In part to appease residents, the state withdrew one major conclusion from the study; that a connection existed between the mine and cases of lung cancer. The health department report originally claimed a connection to both asbestosis and lung cancer and living near the mine, but after reviewing its study the health department retracted the connection to lung cancer.

Health Commissioner Dr. Wendy Davis, a medical doctor, says the mine’s connection to cases of another lung disease, asbestosis, is indisputable. "We believe the asbestosis data is statistically significant," she said. "The numbers are admittedly small, but when I look at the magnitude, the odds of having this diagnosis (of asbestosis) is three times what it would be if you didn't have that geographic exposure," Davis said.

About mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is known in medical circles as a ticking time bomb because of its long incubation period, sometimes lasting decades. The countdown for residents of Eden, Lowell, and the other 11 towns near Belvidere Mountain has already begun with the diagnoses of asbestosis. The mine closed in 1993. The real bomb — mesothelioma — most likely won't go off until 2023 at the earliest, health experts estimate.

Time to seek justice!

Weitz & Luxenberg has protected the legal rights of workers for 25 years – longer than most law firms in the nation. And in that time the firm's mesothelioma lawyers have won several billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis or asbestos-related lung cancer, and seek FREE legal guidance, please notify us through the convenient communication form on this page. There is no cost to you until we negotiate a settlement or win a verdict.