Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 37, Number 25. 25th September 1974

Asbestos Production

Asbestos Production

The Editor,

Your article on the development and possible repercussions of asbestos mining in Westland clearly outlined the marked environmental changes that occur as part of any extractive industry but neglected to mention that asbestos production, in particular, is now recognised and regulated as a potential health hazard in a number of countries.

As an air pollutant, microscopic asbestos fibrils are well known for their effect on human lungs. A disease, called asbestos's (in some ways similar to the more common silicosis) results from the inhalation of asbestos fibres 20 to 50 microns in length and less than one micron in diameter — the sort of dust produced during the mining and processing stages of asbestos production. However, the symptoms develop only after many years of prolonged occupational exposure and range from a type of crippling asthma to bronchogenic carcinoma. The general public, according to an American National Academy of Science report, have no risk from asbestos pollution unless they are living in the immediate vicinity of the asbestos source and even then the actual risk is poorly defined. Nevertheless, the United States National Air Pollution Control Administration (NAPCA) continues to measure asbestos levels in the atmosphere as part of its regular monitoring programme, and stringent emission controls (5 fibres per cc of air) are now mandatory in the industry.

A neglected aspect of asbestos pollution has been its potential concentration by natural drainage systems — something which may be in time of relevance to any industry set up in Westland where vegetation and ground surfaces are washed by rainfall in excess of 5000 mm per annum, It was, therefore, interesting to note in a recent issue of the University Council on Water Resources Newsletter (US) that an asbestos mining company plant on the Great Lakes had been shut down by a court order because of the potential health hazard from asbestos waste entering the water supply.

There appears to be a substantial literature on the topic of asbestos production as an environmental hazard as well as a number of research and legislative precedents — ell of which could be usefully examined in the process of deciding whether we want this sort of indsutry in New Zealand.

M.J. Crozier