ATSDR - Tremolite Asbestos Registry

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Search | Index | Home | Glossary | Contact Us

Tremolite Asbestos Registry Overview

ATSDR became involved with the asbestos problem in Libby, Montana in 1999. In addition to other activities, such as the Libby medical screening program, ATSDR created a registry to follow the health of people who were exposed to asbestos in Libby. The name of the registry is the Tremolite Asbestos Registry (TAR).

Registries contain detailed and periodically updated information on individuals. The types of information being collected for the TAR include-

Contact: contact information allows ATSDR to get in touch with a registrant in the future.
Demographic: describes each registrant (for example, age, race and sex).
Exposure: describes how a registrant may have been exposed to asbestos.
Outcome: includes information about a registrant's illness that may be related to asbestos exposure.

ATSDR currently is enrolling people in the TAR who are included in at least one of the following categories:

Former workers at the Libby vermiculite mining and processing operation;
Household contacts of Libby vermiculite workers;
People who lived, worked, or played in Libby for at least 6 months before 12/31/1990.

The TAR was created for the following purposes-

Communication: to rapidly communicate with registrants. For example, in 2003 ATSDR used the TAR to let registrants know about free screening available through the Montana Asbestos Screening and Surveillance Activity (MASSA). ATSDR also published a newsletter providing registrants with additional information about the TAR.

Education: to provide educate registrants about asbestos-related disease and its diagnosis and treatment.

Research: to conduct studies of the health of registrants. The goal of these health studies is to increase our understanding of the way tremolite asbestos may cause disease. Increased understanding of the health effects associated with exposure to tremolite asbestos is important not only to people exposed to tremolite asbestos in Libby, but also to people who may have been exposed at one of the more than 200 sites nationwide where Libby vermiculite was processed.

Eligible people have been enrolled in the TAR both in person and by telephone. People have been invited to enroll in person as they receive follow-up or baseline screening at the MASSA clinic in Libby. ATSDR has also enrolled by telephone people who cannot get to Libby or who have already been diagnosed with asbestos-related disease.

Useful Links

Tremolite Asbestos Registry Newsletter: PDF (9.5 MB) | HTML

Living With Asbestos-Related Illness: PDF (10.5 MB) | HTML

This page last updated on June 14, 2005

E-mail contact: ATSDR National Exposure Registry