The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) concludes that former employees of Western Minerals Products Company facility in Denver were exposed to elevated levels of asbestos.

ATSDR, a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommends that former employees of this facility and those who lived in their households learn more about asbestos and see a physician regarding potentially adverse health effects.

“Because of the elevated health risk, ATSDR believes former Western Minerals employees and members of their households should seek medical follow-up,” stated Vikas Kapil, M.D., a specialist in occupational and environmental medicine with ATSDR. “We encourage them to consult with a physician with expertise in the evaluation and management of asbestos-related lung disease.”

Until it closed in 1990, the plant, located at 111 South Navajo Street, processed tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore mined in Libby, Mont.

Adjacent properties, including a baseball field, were free of asbestos contamination. Asbestos was not detected in any of the air samples taken from inside the former facility.

ATSDR found that onsite exposure to asbestos-contaminated soils does not appear to pose a public health hazard to those now employed at the site or living or working in the surrounding area.

*The Denver site is part of ATSDR’s National Asbestos Exposure Review (NAER), being conducted in two phases with other federal, state and local environmental and public health agencies. NAER is an examination of more than 200 sites around the U.S. that received asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore mined in Libby from the early 1920s until 1990. ATSDR is working closely with EPA and state health partners to determine if a hazard to public health exists at any of the sites.

Phase One of NAER includes an examination of 28 sites chosen because either they were on the EPA “further action” list or they were an exfoliation facility that processed over 100,000 tons of vermiculite from the Libby mine. The Phase One sites received 80 percent of the total tonnage of vermiculite ore shipped from Libby from 1964 to 1990.

The public health consultation and fact sheet for the Denver site are available on the Internet at the following address: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/naer/denverco.

(via ATSDR - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry)