For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Gayla Benefield of Libby, Montana spoke at Senator Murray’s press conference. Gayla’s father worked at W.R. Grace’s vermiculite mine and mill in Libby from 1954 to 1973. He died of asbestosis in 1974. Her mother, who was exposed to the dust on her father’s clothing, died of asbestosis in 1996.

Gayla was exposed to asbestos as a child, when her father worked at Grace. In December 2001, she and her husband David were diagnosed with asbestos disease. Gayla said, of the 65 people in her extended family, 33 of them have been diagnosed with some kind of asbestos-related disease. Only 3 have ever worked at the Grace mill and mine. (06/04/03)