The irrationality, and societal costs, of wholesale asbestos removal are finally getting notice in mainstream media; here's an article in USA Today - a good follow up to my recent post.
Mentioned is "incontrovertible scientific evidence that asbestos in buildings creates a cancer risk so low that it barely can be measured. A person who spends a career inside a building rich with asbestos materials is more likely to die of a lightning bolt, a bee sting or a toothpick lodged in the throat than an asbestos-related cancer."
An EPA financed study, in 1991 (20 years ago), found "...the lifetime risk of cancer for someone who worked in a building containing asbestos was one in 250,000. By comparison, outdoor air in urban areas has enough asbestos fibers to create a one-in-25,000 lifetime risk of cancer. So an office worker is 10 times safer inside a building made with asbestos than outside it." Add to that the studies showing that airborne asbestos tends to be higher in a building after asbestos removal than before.
Asbestos removal continues to cost America $3 billion per year, largely wasted. You'd think we could find useful things to spent that kind of money on. Like maybe cleaning for health (not that I'd want to seem self-serving...)
In the UK we have The Control of Asbestos Regulations, with one of the key regulations, Regulation 4: Duty to Manage, which aims to keep asbestos within a building and keep it managed in a safe condition. Perhaps an approach that could be adopted state-side.
Posted by: Scott Senior | 11/14/2011 at 04:45 PM
Although (according to these results) fewer people are dying from asbestos, I still believe that we should remove all asbestos to completely remove the chance of any asbestos based death.
Posted by: northerninsulation | 03/11/2013 at 09:28 AM
A nice sounding goal, but couterproductive. See my post on 3/11/13, http://cbnclean.typepad.com/blog/2013/03/remove-all-asbestos.html
Posted by: Bob Croft | 03/11/2013 at 03:41 PM
That is so interesting that asbestos can be a cause for cancer! Even though its not a huge chance, many people just hearing this would not mess with it. I remember one time that my good friend discovered this mold in his house and i remember him telling me that he called the emergency asbestos removal in Denver CO. I wonder how much longer it would have taken for him to catch that cancer.
Posted by: sillhouine | 05/21/2013 at 01:24 PM
This is interesting! Other countries doesn't have proper disposal or removal with asbestos that are harmful to people.
Posted by: Kiz Au | 11/21/2021 at 11:02 PM
Thanks a lot for sharing this post ....
Posted by: Asbestos Removal | 03/14/2022 at 07:39 AM