Mesothelioma Articles

HEALTH EFFORT: Karmanos to study effects of insulation

Posted: April 5, 2004

Source: By Hugh McDiarnid Jr., Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Asbestos-laden vermiculite insulation in hundreds of thousands of Michigan attics can be a killer.

But how dangerous is casual exposure? Is just having it in your house a threat? Today in Detroit, the nation's first large-scale medical effort to answer those questions gets under way.

Karmanos Cancer Center will announce the creation of its National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Diseases to screen, treat and study people exposed to the insulation and other forms of asbestos.

"How many people who were exposed to this insulation actually have any problems related to it?" asked Dr. John Ruckdeschel, Karmanos' director. "What about people who installed it? Or just walked by it? There is no data, no research. So now if somebody asks their internist, they have a number to call." The tainted insulation is vermiculite from a mine in Libby, Mont. Miners there toiled for decades unearthing the lightweight mineral, which was shipped by rail across the country.

A factory in Dearborn received more than 306,000,000 pounds of the Libby vermiculite, and processed it for insulation and fireproofing products until the plant closed in 1990. The insulation, with its distinctive pebble-like appearance was marketed under the brand-name Zonolite. It was used in about 700,000 Michigan homes, estimatesAndrew Schneider, author of a recent book on the Libby mine.

Thousands of Libby miners and their families have died or become sick with asbestos-related diseases, prompting a massive federal cleanup and health care assistance to the town.

A federal study also is under way at the site of the Dearborn Plant, but it does not include an assessment of the risk of having the insulation in homes.

Ruckdeschel said a January article in the Free Press was an impetus for the new center.

"When we saw that article, we realized it was likely to be a substantial issue, with the Dearborn factory and the number of homes with the insulation here," he said. Symptoms of mesothelioma, the asbestos-related cancer, take 15 to 40 yearsof exposure to appear. That's why many doctors expect an upsurge in the coming decade from people exposed to it the 1970s and '80s.

"It's not an epidemic, but there is an explosion of the disease in Libby, and a direct link here in Michigan. And no one's paying attention," said Dr. Harvey Pass, chief of thoracic oncology at Wayne State University and Karmanos. He is one of a handful of mesothelioma experts in the country.

Mesothelioma used to be a virtual death sentence. But advanced treatment techniques and early detection methods are changing that.

Many of the advances are being pioneered at Pass' sixth-floor lab at Karmanos, overlooking the Detroit skyline. It's one of three large mesothelioma treatment and research facilities in the country. Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston are the others.

Beverly Trautt applauds the effort to screen for mesothelioma, in the hopes that others can catch the disease earlier than she did.

Trautt, 66, had one lung removed during surgery at Karmanos last month, and starts chemotherapy soon.

"I still have no idea where I got it," she said of the exposure to the asbestos that doctors say caused her cancer. Her only theory: Her first husband worked for a railroad where asbestos was used and may have brought asbestos fibers home on his clothing.

"I noticed I couldn't catch my breath," she recalled. "It progressively got worse. I went to my family doctor and a chest X-ray showed a totally collapsed lung." Helping people like Trautt is the aim of the new program. It works like this:

· People concerned about exposure to vermiculite insulation and other forms of asbestos, or who have symptoms of exposure, may call the center's hot line at 888-527-6266.

· Callers will be referred for evaluation to Dr. Michael Harbut at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Royal Oak. If there are indications that mesothelioma is present, people will be referred to Karmanos for treatment, including possible inclusion in clinical trials. If they have asbestosis, an asbestos-caused lung scarring that often precedes mesothelioma, they will be treated by Harbut.

· Detailed personal histories will be taken, documenting where, when and for how long patients were exposed to asbestos. Eventually, that database will help researchers determine what levels and types of exposure are most dangerous.

Harbut said he expects the new initiative to gain momentum gradually, as doctors across the country begin referring patients.

"It's tremendously exciting, and no one else is doing it," he said. "It really fills a void."

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