[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2726-2727]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 462--DESIGNATING THE FIRST WEEK OF APRIL 2008 AS 
                  ``NATIONAL ASBESTOS AWARENESS WEEK''

  Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. Reid, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Tester, Mrs. 
Murray, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. Kennedy) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 462

       Whereas dangerous asbestos fibers are invisible and cannot 
     be smelled or tasted;
       Whereas the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers can 
     cause significant damage;
       Whereas these fibers can cause mesothelioma, asbestosis, 
     and other health problems;
       Whereas asbestos-related diseases can take 10 to 50 years 
     to present themselves;
       Whereas the expected survival time for those diagnosed with 
     mesothelioma is between 6 and 24 months;
       Whereas generally little is known about late stage 
     treatment and there is no cure for asbestos-related diseases;
       Whereas early detection of asbestos-related diseases may 
     give some patients increased treatment options and might 
     improve their prognosis;
       Whereas the United States has substantially reduced its 
     consumption of asbestos yet continues to consume almost 2,000 
     metric tons of the fibrous mineral for use in certain 
     products throughout the Nation;
       Whereas asbestos-related diseases have killed thousands of 
     people in the United States;
       Whereas asbestos exposures continue and safety and 
     prevention will reduce and has reduced significantly asbestos 
     exposure and asbestos-related diseases;
       Whereas asbestos has been a cause of occupational cancer;
       Whereas thousands of workers in the United States face 
     significant asbestos exposure;
       Whereas thousands of people in the United States die from 
     asbestos-related diseases every year;
       Whereas a significant percentage of all asbestos-related 
     disease victims were exposed to asbestos on naval ships and 
     in shipyards;
       Whereas asbestos was used in the construction of a 
     significant number of office buildings and public facilities 
     built before 1975;
       Whereas people in the small community of Libby, Montana 
     have asbestos-related diseases at a significantly higher rate 
     than the national average and suffer from mesothelioma at a 
     significantly higher rate than the national average; and
       Whereas the establishment of a ``National Asbestos 
     Awareness Week'' would raise public awareness about the 
     prevalence of asbestos-related diseases and the dangers of 
     asbestos exposure: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) designates the first week of April 2008 as ``National 
     Asbestos Awareness Week'';
       (2) urges the Surgeon General, as a public health issue, to 
     warn and educate people that asbestos exposure may be 
     hazardous to their health; and
       (3) respectfully requests the Secretary of the Senate to 
     transmit a copy of this resolution to the Surgeon General.

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise to talk about an important 
resolution I am submitting. It is the asbestos awareness week 
resolution. This resolution has passed the Senate for 3 years, and I am 
pleased to submit it again this year.
  This is a very deeply personal issue for me. About 8 years ago, I was 
in Libby, MT, in the living room of Les Skramstad, and there were 
several people in the room who were suffering from asbestos-related 
diseases. This was in Libby. Since then, about 200 people have died of 
asbestos-related diseases.
  Les Skramstad, whom I met that day about 8 or 9 years ago, was dying 
from mesothelioma. He looked at me and said: As a U.S. Senator, I 
expect you do something to help us in Libby.
  I said: You bet.
  He looked me straight in the eye, and because he has been around a 
little bit, he said: Senator, I am going to be watching you to make 
sure that is not just an idle promise. I will be watching you.
  Boy, I got the message loudly and clearly. I decided right then at 
that moment that I need to do all I can to help make sure that people 
in Libby, MT, get justice. As I said, over 200 people died since then.
  He was an employee of a W.R. Grace mine. W.R. Grace clearly knew it 
was

[[Page 2727]]

poisoning people in Libby, MT, in its mine there. It did not admit it. 
There is a criminal case going on right now against the officers of 
W.R. Grace claiming that they did know what they were doing.
  Asbestos from this mine is called tremolite. It is not the ordinary 
crystal asbestos. This is tremolite asbestos, which is much more 
pernicious. It gets more deeply embedded in your lungs, more angles to 
the dust that gets into your lungs. It is harder to detect. Sometimes 
the latency period can be from 20 to 30 years.
  Les would come home all dusty from the mine, and he would go home and 
embrace his wife, and his kids would jump into his lap. Guess what. Les 
is now dead. He died last month from mesothelioma. Les's wife is dying 
from asbestos-related diseases. Three of his four children are now 
dying.
  It is the dust, the asbestos dust that is in Libby, MT. This stuff 
was used on playgrounds. It was used on golf courses. It was used for 
insulation in attics in homes. People have died and are dying. We are 
doing all we can to address this, and we are trying to get them proper 
medical care.
  There is a clinic called the CARD Clinic in Libby which is doing a 
really good job in screening people, trying to find out who has it and 
who doesn't. Again, it is very hard to find. You need special 
techniques. We had to change the disability laws in America because--
not change but point out to the Social Security Administration that 
this is a different kind of asbestos, it is not ordinary asbestos, and 
then decide whether to grant disability payments. They were looking at 
ordinary asbestos. They didn't know about this asbestos. They didn't 
know about tremolite asbestos. Finally, people in Montana are getting 
disability benefits because of the asbestos diseases they have.
  So I am very proud to submit this resolution. As I said, I have been 
doing this for several years, and we are making this National Asbestos 
Recognition Week in April, the first week in April. I believe it is so 
important to highlight this dread disease so we can stamp out the 
scourge and, in my view, finally banish asbestos. If we can accomplish 
that, then in some small way we have vindicated the people of Libby, 
MT.

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