If anyone is keeping track about the newspaper articles lately in regards to the asbestos in military PMQ at CFB KInsgton I have posted the most recent one... Last night CFB Kingston held its Town Meeting where people were able to talk to experts in hopes of calming their fears... CFHA has plans to remove the asbestos which isnt going over every well with most residents.. here' s a copy of the most recent article.. and I have posted a link to a medical paper which now has on record the issues as well..
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http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/
Plan to deal with asbestos is inadequate, base residents say
By Ian Elliot
Local News - Thursday, November 03, 2005 @ 07:00
Military officials say they could start sealing asbestos-laden insulation in houses at CFB Kingston as early as the end of the month.
But some of the people who live in those houses say they won't allow crews in to do that, fearing that efforts to contain the material, known by its trade name of Zonolite, will be ineffective and attempts to seal it will actually disperse asbestos fibres through their houses.
"I won't let them in," said Darlene Bradbury, one of the military wives who attended the session last night at the Military Communications and Electronics Museum on the base.
"They're going to come in and hammer and spread it through the house, I won't let them in to do it. They can do it right now or do it right later, but do it right."
She and other wives who attended the meeting said they got little satisfaction from the experts who attended last night's information meeting.
The military acknowledges there's asbestos-contaminated insulation in the roofs and walls of some of the permanent married quarters housing on the base. It plans to address it by installing knee-high walls and plastic sheathing in the attics of the houses, as well as caulking ceiling fixtures and wall cracks to prevent the asbestos fibres from becoming airborne.
Inhalation of asbestos fibres has been shown to cause lung diseases, chief among them asbestosis, and has been linked to a number of cancers.
Citing a preponderance of expert advice that states leaving the insulation sealed in place is the safest thing to do, the military housing agency wants to proceed with the work.
But many of those who attended last night's meeting came away unconvinced, saying they and their families had already been affected by exposure to the asbestos fibres and said attempts to contain it where it sits would be ineffective.
Alana Wells said dust from the insulation covers the inside of her cupboards and she has to wipe it off the plates she uses to feed her three children.
She said since moving to the base four years ago she has developed asthma and seizures and she's afraid to bring her Christmas tree and decorations down from the attic this year because they're covered in dust from the insulation that she fears could harm her children, who are 4, 9, and 12.
"What they're saying about it just being the attics, that's not true," she said.
"I took a broom handle and put a hole in the wall and you could see it there. You can sweep it up off the floor."
Another mother, Tammy Fitzgerald, said youth workers will no longer enter her house to provide treatment to her autistic daughter out of occupational health and safety fears. She now has to take her daughter to the base community centre for her sessions.
And Rose Smith said she doesn't want her or her children getting sick years from now and worrying that it was their time in base housing that caused it.
"Why take the risk of getting sick 10 years from now when they could fix the problem now?" she asked.
Col. Christian Rousseau, the director general of military engineering at the Department of National Defence, tried to calm the fears of the crowd by insisting that the method of containing the insulation was endorsed by academic and government experts in the field.
He said the insulation only presented a danger if it was disturbed and fibres were released into the air, something that would happen if crews tried to remove the material.
"The big question is, why do we choose to manage the Zonolite in place when an option could be to remove it?" he said.
"All regulatory bodies in North America suggest this is the way to deal with it ... Zonolite becomes a health hazard if it is disturbed. You cannot remove it from a house without disturbing it."
He said the work could start before the end of November.
Rousseau also denied charges that it was cheaper to isolate the material than to remove it, saying when it came time to demolish the house, specially outfitted crews would have to come in at that time and remove the material at the same cost as it would be to remove it now.
Base commander Col. Larry Aitken said he hoped people would accept the preponderance of expert opinion rather than let their decisions be based on fear of the unknown.
"What we're doing is proceeding on the best expert information that we have," he said, noting that the same procedures were being followed with houses on other bases that have been identified as containing Zonolite.
The houses on the base don't have basements as they sit on limestone and the attics are used as storage.
Many of those who attended fear they are stirring up asbestos dust every time they put a box in their attics and point out that the Canadian Forces Housing Agency has advised people living in houses suspected of containing Zonolite not to go into their attics at all.
Wells said her fears for her children outweigh the risks she's taking by speaking out and says she wants the material removed completely for the safety of her family.
"I'm worried about my husband getting trouble or this affecting my career, but I've got three people in that house that I need to look after," she said.
Asked if she felt it was a continuing health hazard to her family, she was unequivocal.
"I've been feeding this to my kids for four years now. What do you think?"
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http://www.mesolink.org/mesothelioma-news/10-24-05.html
I only wish that I could have been there.. :'(
Siggy
