Health concerns grow over little-known mineral

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Oct. 7, 2011
By Myron Levin, FairWarning.org

Mesothelioma, an exceedingly rare and lethal form of cancer, was once thought to be caused only by inhaling asbestos fibers.

Then in the late 1970s, when astonishing rates of the disease were reported among villagers in central Turkey, studies determined that a different fibrous mineral was the culprit. Erionite was abundant in native soil and stone, and so easy to work with that villagers had used it to build homes.

In the most devastated communities, known locally as “cancer villages,” mesothelioma rates were off the charts--responsible for 40 percent to 50 percent of all deaths. Animal studies showed erionite to be 100 to 800 times more carcinogenic than asbestos and, according to a scientific paper, “almost certainly the most toxic naturally occurring fibrous mineral known.”

In the U.S., medical journals and news stories presented the Turkish epidemic as a gruesome, but distant, catastrophe. They largely omitted a key fact: Erionite deposits are present scores of sites in at least a dozen western U.S. states.

Interviews and documents from the 1980s show there was a flicker of interest in assessing the risks in the U.S., but researchers and officials lost interest and moved on to other things. [Ah yes, the 1980's, when the Reagan administration reduced funding for health and the environment.]

The result is that, after three decades, erionite remains a word most Americans—and many environmental officials--have never heard. Amid an expansion of roads, pipelines, power lines, wind and solar farms and recreation sites in remote areas of the West, erionite is unregulated, and federal agencies have failed to alert land-use officials, developers and residents of affected areas so that they might take precautions on their own.

Uneasy about the long silence, some government officials and scientists are trying to fashion a federal response. Toward that end, a meeting planned next week at the National Institutes of Health, will bring together representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the U.S. Geological Survey, to discuss potential risks from erionite and other hazardous minerals.
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Another was the disclosure that road crews in North Dakota, heedless of the danger, had used erionite-tainted gravel to cover hundreds of miles of unpaved roads in the western part of the state, including school bus routes, along with parking lots and recreation sites.

Erionite is found where volcanic ash and rock have been weathered by alkaline water, Like asbestos, it is harmless until it is disturbed, and the microscopic, needle-like fibers become airborne. And like asbestos, greater and more frequent exposure generally means higher risk.

No proof has emerged of erionite-related illnesses in North Dakota or other western states, but experts say that is less than reassuring. Mesothelioma usually takes 30 to 50 years to develop, is sometimes mistaken for other cancers, and when identified often is automatically assumed to be asbestos-related.

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Mining is another activity without any rules on erionite exposure. No erionite has been mined in the U.S. for about 30 years, but it is sometimes mixed in with other types of zeolites that are produced at a few mines in the West. According to an EPA report in1987, a producer contacted by the agency stated that its zeolite products “can contain 10 to 30 percent erionite.”

Most zeolites produced today are of two varieties, chabazite and clinoptilolite. With their ability to trap and filter contaminants, they have been used to purify water and to treat radioactive and other hazardous wastes.

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