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United StatesOffice of Prevention,EPA 744-R-00-010Environmental ProtectionPesticides andAugust 2000AgencyToxic Substances (7401)www.epa.gov
Sampling and Analysis ofConsumer GardenProducts That ContainVermiculite
FOREWORDEPA’S INVESTIGATION OF ASBESTOS-CONTAMINATED VERMICULITE
The Environmental Protection Agency has conducted sampling of vermiculite products,primarily those used in gardening, to determine if products currently on the market contain asbestos,and if so, whether consumers are at risk from using these products. To evaluate the risk posed bycompounds such as asbestos, EPA needs to determine if the contaminant is present in certainproducts and also whether people come in contact with sufficient quantities to cause harm. Asbestosposes a risk to people if fibers become airborne and are inhaled into the lungs. As described in moredetail below, and in the accompanying reports, the results of this investigation indicate that thepotential exposure to asbestos from vermiculite products poses only a minimal health risk toconsumers, although workers may face more serious risks.Vermiculite is produced from mined ore and is used in agricultural and horticultural productsas well as in insulation and construction applications. As a first step in the process, the Agencypurchased and began testing a limited number of vermiculite products available in garden stores inthe Seattle area to determine if they were contaminated with asbestos. Sixteen products were testedusing widely-recognized standard protocols and asbestos was detected in five of them. However,only three of these contained enough asbestos to allow EPA to quantify the percentage of asbestosreliably.To determine whether the asbestos fibers in these three products could become airborne andpresent a potential exposure hazard during use, EPA's Seattle office placed the products into a glovebox, a small, enclosed metal box with gloves, and handled them as they would during normal use.EPA collected and analyzed air samples, and determined that one of the products tested generatedrelatively high levels of asbestos. This finding prompted the Seattle office to recommend thatconsumers refrain from using that particular vermiculite chemical packaging material. This productis apparently no longer available to consumers at garden stores.EPA then decided to expand the scope of its analysis, to include additional vermiculiteproducts available nationally, and to calculate the risk posed in cases where airborne asbestos fiberswere detected during product handling. The Agency, through its expert contractors, purchased andanalyzed 38 products from around the country and detected asbestos in 17 of them. Of these, onlyfive contained quantifiable levels of asbestos. EPA scientists, along with the contractors, thenconducted two simulated consumer use scenarios. One simulation was performed indoors in a “stillair” environment (a 10'x10'x10' enclosure) in an attempt to represent consumer use in a small garageor greenhouse. The other simulation was performed outside in open air.As described in the attached report, there is a lot of variability in the observed results. Insome cases, one sample of a product indicated the presence of asbestos while another did not. Thisvariability is likely due to a number of factors including the following: (1) the asbestos content of thevermiculite products appears to be very close to the technological limit of detection, so one testmight detect the presence of asbestos while a second one would not; (2) only a very small portion(0.01 grams) of each product is actually viewed under the microscope, although individual bags may
contain up to several cubic meters; (3) the bagged product is not homogeneous; (4) differentprocessing facilities use different dust removal techniques; (5) there are differences in the asbestoscontent of vermiculite ore from different mines; and (6) asbestos content varies throughout thevermiculite deposits in each mine.The results of this investigation indicate that consumers face only a minimal health risk fromusing vermiculite products at home or in their gardens. Vermiculite may, however, present moreserious risks in an occupational setting, where the duration and frequency of exposures are likely tobe significantly greater. EPA is concerned about potential occupational exposures and has providedthis report to OSHA to assist that agency in evaluating the hazards to workers from vermiculite.To further reduce the low risk associated with the occasional use of vermiculite productsduring gardening activities, EPA recommends that consumers:•Use vermiculite outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.•Avoid creating dust by keeping vermiculite damp during use.•Avoid bringing dust into the home on clothing.Although EPA does not endorse the use of any particular product, consumers may choose touse:•Premixed potting soils, which ordinarily contain more moisture and less vermiculite than purevermiculite products and are less likely to generate dust.•Soil amendment materials other than vermiculite, such as peat, sawdust, perlite, or bark.The following reports describe the sampling and analysis of vermiculite products conductedby EPA. The first attachment is the report of the sampling conducted by EPA’s Seattle office. Thesecond is the report of the national sampling performed for EPA by its contractor, Versar, Inc.
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