Parkland Hospital recently provided health screenings to detect asbestos-related disease in former employees of the W.R. Grace West Dallas vermiculite plant or who lived nearby. In 2005, the federal government found that workers and neighbors could have been exposed to asbestos in the vermiculite processed at the plant. After reviewing 59 percent of the 421 x-rays taken in this most recent screening, doctors at UT Medical Center in Tyler, Texas have found that 15 individuals, or approximately six percent, of the x-rays show evidence of asbestos-related disease, and others showed spots on the lungs that require further study. 80 of the 300 former plant employees have died, but of the 16 former employees whose x-rays have been evaluated, three showed signs of asbestos disease. Parkland Hospital’s president and chief executive Ron Anderson called the results “pretty alarming.” A waiting list has been created for the many residents and workers who have not yet been tested.
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