Asbestos found in dozens of public sites near Nahariya

Ha’aretz.com (Israel), reported on 17/02/2008 that there are dozens of sites contaminated by asbestos in the Nahariya area, including 11 in urgent need of treatment to prevent the carcinogenic dust from dispersing and endangering public health, according to an asbestos pollution survey conducted by the Environmental Union of Western Galilee Municipalities.

However, the survey almost certainly missed some contaminated sites, since it covered only public property, not private property.

For years, Nahariya was the home of Eitanit, a company that made asbestos. Eitanit sold or gave surplus asbestos to local residents, and it was used, among other things, for building and repairing access roads and parking lots. The exposure to asbestos caused a sharp rise in the local rate of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by the penetration of asbestos fibres into the body. About a third of those who came down with the disease were apparently exposed to asbestos near their homes.

Altogether, the survey covered 120 sites, of which 72 were found to contain asbestos. The polluted sites, many of which are agricultural roads in the Koren Valley east of Nahariya, contain an estimated 30,000 cubic meters or more of asbestos. The sites that require high-priority treatment include two asbestos dumps that had been known about even prior to the survey.

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/954773.html