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The Libby, Montana, Amphibole Asbestos Case

In 2005, Cline and associates planned the first phase of what became a broad-ranging and ongoing research program in Libby, Montana. Libby is the site of what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called the “the most horrific environmental disaster in U.S.

history” (Sullivan, 2007). The initial focus group investigation was designed to explore the psychosocial consequences of a slow-motion technological disaster (SMTD).1 Background information shaped the principal investiga­tor’s understanding of the sensitive legal and political nature of the situation and instilled a determination that the research should “first do no harm” in a community where much harm already had occurred. This case of community­based research represents a real-life example of research at the confluence of conflict, commu­nity engagement, and applied ethics.

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Source: Oetzel John, Ting-Toomey Stella. The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Communication: Integrating Theory, Research and Practice. SAGE Publications,2013. — 912 p.. 2013

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