Introduction

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified four facilities in Louisiana, which may have received vermiculite-containing ore from mines in Libby, Montana. These facilities include two in Orleans Parish, one in Jefferson Parish, and one in St. John the Baptist Parish.

After these facilities were identified, LDHH/OPH/SEET received funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)/ATSDR to conduct a health statistics review for communities that received asbestos-contaminated vermiculite from Libby, Montana.

Vermiculite is a porous mineral used as insulation and to hold water in potting soil. The vermiculite ore being examined in this review was mined in Libby, Montana from the early 1920's until the mine closed in 1990. It was distributed, mostly for commercial purposes, around the United States and abroad. This vermiculite was contaminated with tremolite asbestos.