April 20th, 2008

The amount of asbestos a miner can be legally exposed to has now been capped, putting the miners in line with other industrial workers. A final rule was issued last week limiting the amount of asbestos considered safe for miners.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration ruled in a final decision last week to limit the amount of asbestos considered “safe” for miners. Miners are now limited to the same exposure as other industrial workers, which is two fibers per cubic centimeter. The original limit for miners was more than 20 times that amount, making acceptable exposure to miners in a range that could be deadly. The limits came after evidence showed that miners in Libby, Montana were contracting asbestos-related diseases in the vermiculite mines of Montana at the original, unsafe limits.

Asbestos was used in forms of insulation and other industrial materials until the 1980s, when a limiting ban was placed on the material. Asbestos exposure was to found to result in respiratory illnesses like mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer. Mesothelioma results from asbestos fibers being inhaled into the lungs, where the fibers get caught. The resulting cancer can take decades to form, but is often fatal at the time of diagnosis. Mesothelioma victims often only have months to live once they have been told they suffer from the aggressive lung cancer.