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Further Asbestos Testing To Take Place

By Katie Kelley

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 02Oct2009 Word count: 464 Viewed: 90 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

In continuing news of asbestos cleanups in the United States, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials announced they would be moving forward with a cleanup after a fire at a former General Industries site in Elyra, Ohio. The blazes consumed the entire site, covering approximately two city blocks, over a year ago. Until recently, the site has sat almost untouched by cleanup crews or investigators. The concern is that the site may have been contaminated with asbestos and that the fire spread the contamination to the building materials not disintegrated in the fires such as bricks, floor tiles, roofing, and any remaining insulation. Any contaminated materials increase the chances of asbestos exposure, not only to those who come in contact with the possibly tainted materials, but also to the surrounding areas, as airborne asbestos exposure is also a possibility when dealing with asbestos.

According to one report, the owner of building site has made several statements claiming that there is no contamination present in the building materials nor in the resulting debris. This evidence stands in stark contrast to the EPA's own findings, when asbestos evidence was discovered less than two weeks after the fire. To this end, the EPA wants to be certain that there is no contamination of building materials and has elected to take site samples on their own. While the owner of the property has expressed interest in cleaning up the sites, no progress has been made yet. Thus, the EPA has decided to move forward with cleaning the site and taking samples of the materials. EPA contractors have been on site with protective gear, including hazard suits and respirators, collecting additional burned materials and samples. No visible asbestos emissions have been reported at this time.

The EPA stepping in to clean potentially contaminated industrial sites is nothing new. Two high-profile cleanups have been recently announced in several states including Montana and Kentucky. In Libby, Montana, EPA cleanup teams worked tirelessly to clean up a fine vermiculite dust contaminated with asbestos which had covered the entire town. After years of nearby mining endeavors, much of the area had been completely covered the contaminated particulate matter, causing hundreds of asbestos-related illnesses, including mesothelioma cancer and asbestosis. In Kentucky, a site cleanup was ordered after a former electroplating facility was demolished and found to have contained asbestos-contaminated materials. The site was deemed an environmental emergency clean-up site as there was essentially unrestricted access to this tainted site.

Asbestos exposure often leads to serious health concerns, including asbestosis, respiratory problems, and mesothelioma cancer. Any of these conditions could result in a serious and debilitating condition, sincerely changing the quality of life for an individual. Many times, those exposed to harmful chemicals look into developing a mesothelioma lawsuit to potentially recoup some of their losses.

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