USA Today: Health officials want volunteers for dust study

State health officials and the Environmental Protection Agency want to test western North Dakota residents who have had long-term exposure to erionite, an asbestos-like mineral that can collect in the lungs of people who breathe it.

Health officials say hundreds of miles of roads in western North Dakota are covered with gravel containing erionite, a mineral found in chalky white rock mined for decades in Dunn, Slope and Stark counties.

State geologist Ed Murphy notified the EPA of the erionite in the region about years ago. Federal and state officials have been testing rocks and airborne samples since then but they say more tests, including tests on humans, are needed.

In the nation of Turkey, erionite has been linked to mesothelioma, an incurable form of lung cancer commonly associated with asbestos exposure, health officials say.