January 5th, 2007

Former workers from the WR Grace plant are being offered free lung testing through a federal agency. The offer applies to those that worked at the Santa Ana plant between the years of 1972 to 1993. The aim of the screening is partly to find out just how much damage in terms of health problems was created.

The screenings are being offered through the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The Santa Ana plant processed a range of buildings materials, and reports have claimed that workers at the plant were exposed to asbestos, which is a known carcinogenic.

One spokesperson for the agency stated: "The challenge is finding all these people at this point. There's a possibility that some of the workers may still be there." It is thought that up to a thousand workers and their family members could have been affected during the plant’s time in operation.

There are also concerns that local living within a mile of the site during the time that the building materials were being processed may also have been affected, with around thirty five thousand living within this radius over that period.