Asbestos News Roundup: 8.26.11

August 26th, 2011. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Asbestos Hot Spots 

Washington, DC: Structural damage to schools in Prince George County, caused by Tuesday’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia, has kept 32 schools closed this week, affecting more than 23,000 students. Structural engineers are currently assessing the damage to the school buildings affected by the quake, and risk of asbestos exposure. The quake struck nine miles south of Mineral, VA, on August 23 at 1:51 pm, according to the US Geological Survey.

Officials cannot say when the schools will re-open, saying they are taking the situation day-by-day. “The safety of our students, teachers and staff is our number one priority,” said Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said in a statement. “We are working as quickly as possible to get the necessary building inspections completed so that school can resume for all students.”

The schools affected vary in terms of size and age, with some schools, like Surrattsville High School, having stood for over four decades. Ernest E. Just Middle School, by contrast, has been open for less than 10 years.

According to a report in the Washington Post, Tuesday’s earthquake has only served to cement the concerns of parents with children in older school buildings. The president of the parents association at John Hanson Montessori School in Oxon Hill, Nicole Nelson, noted cracks in the ceiling and falling tiles in their 55-year-old building. The group has been lobbying for the school system to renovate Hanson since 2006, citing concerns about rat infestations and pipes made with asbestos. (WashingtonPost.com)

Asbestos News

St. Johns, NFL: Canadian physicians voted this week, almost unanimously, in support of a motion that opposes the federal government’s vote against the international designation of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.

During their annual conference, delegates to the Canadian Medical Association’s general assembly voted 99 percent in favor of condemning Stephen Harper’s government for its “shameful” decision that effectively blocks the listing of asbestos as a hazardous product.

“This is an important health care issue and a product that causes significant illness — even death,” Dr. Jeff Turnbull, outgoing president of the CMA, told reporters. “Canada should not be in the business of exporting such a dangerous product.”

In June, delegates at a United Nations summit held in Geneva voted on labeling asbestos as a known carcinogen. The head of the Canadian delegation, fearing a consensus vote in favor of the carcinogen labeling, made the statement against the ruling, effectively stopping the labeling in its tracks: a consensus among countries is needed to list the substance as a hazardous material under the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention.

“The time for the CMA is now to go beyond calling on the federal government and begging it to take action, as it clearly has no intention of doing so,” Dr. Barry Turchen of Abbotsford, BC told Canada.com.

The CMA motion “sends a strong message to the federal government that their unethical and shameful behaviour will not be tolerated by the physicians of Canada,” Turchen said, to applause. (Canada.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma

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