The EPA gets input from public and industry groups all the time, Bell said. "It doesn't mean it was a motivating factor behind a decision," she said. The EPA is wrapping up a study of asbestos hazards in attic dust started last year and will decide whether to issue a health warning when that study is finished, Bell said.
In a letter to Whitman last April, W.R. Grace spokesman William Corcoran said he was continuing Grace's "dialogue" with the EPA on Zonolite Attic Insulation.
"ZAI has been insulating homes for over 60 years and there is no credible reason to believe (it) has ever caused an asbestos-related disease in anyone who has used it in his/her home," Corcoran said.
The Denver-based EPA regional office's recommendation for a declaration of a public health emergency in Libby "is based on neither fact nor sound science," Corcoran said.
Corcoran's claim of no harm from Zonolite exposure is inaccurate, said Darrell Scott, a Spokane attorney who sued Grace two years ago on behalf of a group of Spokane-area plaintiffs.
"They had a Zonolite death in the South that went to a jury verdict and was upheld on appeal," Scott said.
Meanwhile, a national consumer group wants more answers about White House involvement in the decision not to issue a public health warning.
Public Citizen of Washington, D.C., wants the Bush administration to warn consumers about the insulation. It contains tiny tremolite asbestos particles that can lodge in the lung, causing asbestosis and mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer.
Millions of homes in 42 states contain Zonolite, according to the EPA. It's in the attics and walls of up to 50,000 homes in Washington state, according to a 2001 class action lawsuit against W.R. Grace.
Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader, sent a letter to OMB Director Mitchell Daniels Jr. this week asking him to explain OMB's action.
"OMB has muzzled the responsible government agency, essentially forcing it to suppress information about a serious cancer problem that poses a risk to millions of American families," said the group's president, consumer activist Joan Claybrook.
Public Citizen cites Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a Spokane lung specialist who treats asbestos-exposed people at a Libby clinic.
Whitehouse has demonstrated that the tremolite asbestos fiber found in Zonolite is 10 times more carcinogenic than a more prevalent form of asbestos found in other products, the letter says.
Whitehouse has testified in dozens of personal-injury cases against W.R. Grace, which the company has settled out of court.
Public Citizen zeroes in on the role of John Graham, the controversial administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, saying he is responsible for the White House pressure on the EPA.
In a 2001 report, Public Citizen outlined Graham's ties to industry when he ran the corporate-funded Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. The report predicted he'd put industry interests over public health when he moved to the White House.
"We hate to say, `we told you so,' but we did," Claybrook said.
Amy Call, spokeswoman for OMB, could not be reached for comment.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has also asked Mitchell for an explanation of OMB's involvement.
"This administration's commitment is certainly now in doubt given EPA's failure to issue the public health emergency in Libby last year and to warn the public about potential dangers from exposure to Zonolite," Murray said in a Jan. 3 letter.
For decades, the ore from Libby was turned into Zonolite insulation at dozens of "expansion factories" nationwide, where it was puffed up in large furnaces.
One of the factories was in Spokane. The EPA's regional office has found asbestos fibers in the North Maple Street neighborhood near the defunct plant and is conducting further tests.
Grace closed the Spokane plant in 1973 after a whistleblower tipped state inspectors to high asbestos levels inside.
Grace has refused to put any warning labels on Zonolite, according to a class-action suit filed two years ago in Boston.
Also in 2001, lawyers for W.R. Grace filed a motion to block a warning notice about Zonolite under consideration in a local class-action lawsuit against the company in Spokane Superior Court.
Scott's law firm, Lukins & Annis, sued to force the company to notify Washington residents with Zonolite in their homes.
Superior Court Judge Kathleen O'Connor certified the case as a class action. She was reviewing language for a notice informing the class of state and federal health advisories on Zonolite when Grace declared bankruptcy.
The April 2001 bankruptcy stayed all the lawsuits nationwide -- including the Boston case, where a federal judge was considering whether to approve a national Zonolite class of up to 1 million homeowners.
Legal discovery in the Spokane case produced Grace internal documents indicating the company knew of Zonolite's hazards years before they took it off the market in 1984 over concerns about lawsuits.
In 1977, Grace's sales of attic insulation represented $28.3 million of a total $35.5 million of sales for all its vermiculite products and ore.
In a May 1977 memo, Grace Executive Vice President Elwood "Chip" Wood said the tremolite in vermiculite from Libby was a "tramp material" classified as a cancer-causing asbestos product by federal regulators.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission "will eventually ban" all products capable of releasing asbestos, the memo says.
But Grace decided not to withdraw Zonolite from the market or put asbestos warning labels on the product.
"We believe that a decision to affix asbestos warning labels to our products would result in substantial sales losses," Wood's memo says.
Shortly before the company's bankruptcy filing in 2001, W.R. Grace chairman and CEO Paul Norris told Wall Street analysts Zonolite is safe.
Karen Dorn Steele can be reached at 459 5462, or by e-mail at karend@spokesman.com.
Q&A
What does Zonolite attic insulation look like? The insulation is layered and has a glittery, granular appearance. The pieces are about the size of a pencil eraser in their original form. They may be gold, silvery or brown, but may crumble and darken to gray or black after years in the attic.
In contrast, fiberglass insulation is pink, yellow or white and looks like cotton candy. Cellulose insulation has the texture of gray, finely shredded newspaper. Rock wool is also gray and looks like dense wood.
What should you do if you suspect you have Zonolite in your home?
Don't disturb it. Contact an asbestos consultant or laboratory listed in the Yellow Pages. Seek advice on how to collect samples for testing.
What should you do if you need to remove the insulation?
Don't do it yourself. Contact a state-certified asbestos abatement contractor. There is a list of certified contractors on the Web site of the Washington State Departmentof Labor and Industries, www.Ini.wa.gov/
Where can you get information on potential health risks?
Consult your doctor. Other health information about asbestos can be found at EPA's Web site, www.epa.gov/region10, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Or, contact Tim Hardin of the Washington State Department of Health at (360) 236-3363, or tim.hardin@doh.wa.gov.
Sources: Washington Department of Health, EPA, staff research
