Libby, Montana Film Response

A. Health- a human condition measured by four components: physical, mental, social, and spiritual. Page 534

In Libby, Montana, the zeolite plant was a good thing at first, jobs were created and stability was provided to the citizens of the town. Mining began in Libby in 1919 and created over two hundred jobs. For ninety years, Libby was eighty percent of the production of zeolite shipped around the world. Little did the town know that the nuisance dust that was created by the mining would lead to the down fall of the health of all the people living in Libby, not just the workers. The nuisance dust was so thick that you could see it settling in a cup of coffee. The workers would come home and the dust would be stuck all over them, contaminating the whole family. When the kids came up to hug daddy, they took in the dust, and when the wife washed his work clothes, she also took in the dust. In 1948 the company WR Grace, that ran the zeolite plant, learned of the major health risks that were developing because of the dust intake. The company began to implement dust control, but never informed the workers of the risks involved in working in the plant. More and more workers began to have health problems, including heart conditions and lung conditions. Asbestosis began to effect all the workers, and even their families. Once diagnosed with asbestosis, the doctor gave you ten years to live. So asbestosis leads to death. The workers never knew at the beginning, what was causing the asbestosis. Never did the company tell them why they needed to wear the respirators, and because of that most workers didn’t. Asbestos was used in everything in the town, from the school tracks, all the way to ice skating rinks. Everyone was exposed. Libby was...

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...rge number of cases that were the same of lung disease started an epidemiology which is the study of disease and disability in a population on page 539. The medical professionals started their research which leads to the discovery of asbestosis.

4. How did WR Grace show depersonalization?

a. Not paying enough

b. Not giving benefits

c. Not giving vacation time

d. Not telling the workers the effects of asbestos

The answer is not telling the workers the effects of asbestos. Depersonalization is dealing with people as though they were objects; in the case of medical care, as though patients were merely cases and diseases, not people on page 545. The company treated the workers as though they were just objects there to make them money, instead of worrying about the health hazards they were putting the workers in. Even after the company learned of the health risks.