For Immediate Release: September 3, 2015

Asbestos Kills Roughly 55 Clark County Residents Each Year

Washington, D.C.— Fifty years after a landmark medical study definitively established that asbestos kills, the exact death toll remains unknown. Now, new research from EWG Action Fund provides the most accurate estimates available for the deadly impact of asbestos across the nation, including in Nevada.

EWG Action Fund has published an interactive map that shows the number of deaths in each state from 1999-2013. Clicking on Nevada opens a more detailed map and a table with those deaths in each county, including Clark County.

EWG Action Fund estimates that more than 1,370 residents of Nevada have died from asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma and asbestosis, since 1999; more than 820 in Clark County. Estimates now show that 12,000 to 15,000 Americans a year die from asbestos-related diseases.

Researchers from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas have discovered naturally occurring asbestos in the El Dorado Valley, near an elementary school, new freeway bypass and a tract the Henderson City Council wants to annex for future residential and commercial development. State officials insist the asbestos poses no threat.  The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration states: “There is no ‘safe’ level of asbestos exposure for any type of asbestos fiber. Asbestos exposures as short in duration as a few days have caused mesothelioma in humans.”

EWG Action Fund arrived at its estimate by combining federal records on deaths from two diseases caused only by asbestos with a projected number of lung cancer deaths from asbestos, derived through a method developed by international asbestos experts.

“The deadly legacy of asbestos touches every state and every county in America, including in communities throughout Nevada,” said Alex Formuzis of EWG Action Fund. “If inhaled, even the smallest amounts asbestos dust can cause deadly and debilitating diseases later in life.”

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 EWG Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that is a separate sister organization of the Environmental Working Group. The mission of EWG Action Fund is to protect health and the environment by educating the public and lobbying on a wide range of environmental issues. Donations to EWG Action Fund are not tax-deductible.