The Armley Asbestos Disaster is an ongoing health issue originating in a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
It involved ,and continues to have severe repercussions over,the contamination with asbestos dust of a built up area consisting of around 1,000 houses in that part of this Northern City.
The contamination was the result of the activities of a local asbestos factory and occurred between the end of the 19th century and 1959 when the factory eventually closed.
At its peak the factory had 250 employees. At least 300 former employees are believed to have died from asbestos-related illnesses, and a number of cancer deaths in the Armley area were traced to the factory in 1988 as a result of an investigation by a local newspaper.
The housing estate was found to have the highest incidence in the country of the cancer, mesothelioma.
As the interval between exposure and diagnosis can be up to 50 years the number of further deaths which may occur due to the factory's emissions or residual dust since its closure cannot be predicted. Many including, at the time, young children spoke about how: "If you walked right behind the factory the asbestos was like cotton. It was in the cracks in the pavement behind the factory;" and: "It used to be blue-white. We used to sweep this blue dust up. It was blue fluffy stuff... I used to get up in the morning and the other side of the street always had a layer of fine dust with footmarks on it from the early morning workers."
Of the conditions in the nearby school one said: "The dust was always there while I was at school, lying on walls or window ledges if it had been damp. It was like snow fall" .Sometimes sacks were left out overnight at the premises of the manufacturer. "They were hessian sacks and they were full of a sort of fluffy dust. We could jump on the sacks when they were left out... I remember seeing grey-blue coloured dust come out of them. If we jumped hard enough the sacks burst open. After sitting or bouncing on the sacks I remember being covered in dust".
During the summer doors and windows of both the factory and the houses were left open for cooling, and during the winter children often congregated around the factory's street-level ventilation outlets for warmth.
Asbestos was once hailed as a wonder material because of its unique qualities. It combined the attributes of being light weight, sound absorbant, fire resistant and electrically insulating. The fibres were strong and flexible enough to be mechanically spun. These properties hailed from the fact asbestos is a naturally occuring silicate. It's characteristics have often mistakenly led to it being thought of as a man-made material.
Asbestos has in fact been used for thousands of years. In Finland, pots and utensils made of asbestos reinforced clay have been found dating back as far as 2500 BC. By the 19th century it was being mined and used widely, for everything from car brakes to oven gloves, and mixed with concrete in buildings.
Asbestos actually refers to two main groups of minerals: the serpentines and the amphiboles. Chrysotile, the only serpentine, is otherwise known as white asbestos, and makes up around 95% of the asbestos fibres in use. Of the amphiboles, the most infamous is crocidolite, known popularly as blue asbestos. For the most part, the asbestos you hear about is chrysotile, because it has the most industrial applications. Almost with no exceptions it will have been present in the schools you attended, and the buildings you later worked in, particularly those from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Some asbestos fibres are more dangerous than others. White asbestos is amongst the least dangerous, whereas blue asbestos is much more dangerous, though it is hard to quantify exactly how much of a health hazard the fibres are. The biggest fears around asbestos exposure are lung cancer, and mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the covering and sac around the lungs. Some studies have reported up to 18% of the Miners of the blue asbestos being exposed to mesothelioma.
Residents of towns and cities where asbestos was mined or used in manufactured goods towns did not have to actually work with the substance to run the risk of contracting cancer – they just had to live there. The people of Armley continue to suffer in this regard.
Many homes built before 1980 contain asbestos based materials in old floor tiles, ceiling tiles, roof shingles and flashings, sheet panelling, soffits boards, roof verge finishes, insulation (around boilers, ducts, pipes, sheeting, fireplaces), a small bitumastic pad found under kitchen sinks, cold water tanks, pipe cement and the well known and extensively used Artex coatings amongst what is though to be many hundreds if not more applications of the stuff.
Some newer houses may also contain asbestos.
Asbestos becomes a hazard when it is airborne. If asbestos in the home becomes damaged, through such simple acts as repair, maintenance, drilling or disturbing surfaces the asbestos fibres may be released. Natural age related deterioration also releases asbestos dust.
Building materials containing asbestos were widely used from 1930 to around 1980, particularly from the 1960s onwards. So houses and flats built or refurbished at this time may contain asbestos materials.
Asbestos has also been used in some heat-resistant household products, such as oven gloves and ironing boards. The use of asbestos in these products decreased greatly around the mid-1980s, and since 1993 the use of asbestos in most products has been banned.
It is not always easy to tell whether a product contains asbestos as modern asbestos-free materials often look similar - remember it is usually older products that contain asbestos. This schematic may be useful in identifying the possible presence of asbestos materials in your own home.
As with many of the subjects of this week's writings it is amazing how many of us have lived long enough to share our experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment