Book Reflection: Fatal Deception: The Terrifying True Story of How Asbestos is Killing America

Vermiculite was discovered in Libby, Montana in 1881, and its uses were realized in 1919. Soon it was being mined, and by the 1940's the industry was booming. Everybody in the small town of Libby now worked in the mines owned by W.R. Grace. For a small town with not many jobs, the mine seemed like the golden opportunity. Workers were happy to be there for long hours, and they were loyal to the company. The company took of them, and they took care of the company. Unfortunately, the good times did not last forever.

Residents of the town started to notice health problems such as shortness of breath and a constant cough. They didn't think much of it at first, but eventually they started to make the connection between the dust they were covered in every day and the breathing problems they were experiencing. It is interesting that W.R. Grace knew about these health effects the entire time, but kept it from the public. Instead of informing workers, they transferred the sick workers to other jobs within the mine. They didn't want to put anybody on disability because they didn't want any whistle blowers. Eventually, it wasn't a secret that there was a connection because 1 in 40 people had a disease related to asbestos, even people as young as 40 years old. W.R. Grace fought to keep any complaints private, and paid big money to keep them from going to trial. It was really sad to read the personal accounts in this book. Reading about the asbestos dust all over the baseball fields where kids played just broke my heart, along with their fathers coming home from the mine covered in dust and hugging his family. I just can't even imagine it.
I was also shocked to learn that information was hidden in a similar way when the World Trade Centers fell in 2001. There was asbestos used in the building material for the towers, and the dust fell all over the lower Manhattan. The levels in the soil were actually higher than the levels at Libby, which was very shocking to me. I was also thinking about all of the brave fire fighters and volunteers who were looking through the rubble for survivors, and worse, cleaning up the mess. It is heartbreaking to think that they had no idea about the risk they were putting themselves in. It was also shocking that the EPA used outdated equipment to measure the levels in an attempt to cover it up.