High mesothelioma rate in Grace’s 1976 hamster study, says company chemist
A former W.R. Grace chemist told jurors at the Grace criminal trial that company executives ordered an animal study of the effects of its asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in 1976. Hamsters were injected with the vermiculite, and many of them developed asbestos-related mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. Within a year of injection, 10 of the 62 hamsters had developed mesothelioma. The study was intended to help the company understand the health risks connected with its ore.
The chemist reported that the W.R. Grace “hamster study” was modeled on asbestos studies done by other companies like Johns Manville, Johnson & Johnson and R.T. Vanderbilt Co.
Central to the criminal trial against Grace and some of its former executives is whether and how much the company knew about the danger its asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore posed to the residents of nearby Libby, Montana.
The chemist also told the jurors that another of the company’s chemists told him that tremolite asbestos, the kind found in Grace’s vermiculite, can easily pierce lung tissue when it is inhaled.
Between the testimony from the company’s chemist and company memos presented by the prosecutor, the jurors heard evidence that Grace executives knew in 1976 that asbestos in the company’s vermiculite ore was dangerous to workers at the mine.
For the full story, go to the Missoulian.
