Closed Mines to Undergo Asbestos Inspection

By Bae Ji-sook

Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Environment said Monday that it will examine the density of asbestos in soil, water and elsewhere in villages near 22 closed mines nationwide by April next year.

Environments within four kilometers of the mines will be examined to detect asbestos. The ministry will also conduct health checks on residents and former miners. Places where there used to be asbestos pulverizing facilities are also subject to the examinations. The measures will continue until 2012.

The decision comes as some residents of Hongseong and Boryeon, in South Chungcheong Province, have been diagnosed as suffering from various diseases allegedly linked to inhaling asbestos.

Hongseong Medical Center said last year that 41 residents from five towns in the province with shutdown mines were diagnosed with lung disease since 2000 ― seven of whom were diagnosed with lung cancer, which proved fatal for three of them.

A series of reports claimed that asbestos, the harmful effects of which weren't well-known decades ago, was abundant in the earth, rocks and water in the region and residents weren't warned of possible harm from contamination. They alleged many have suffered from the particle-caused disease without knowing the cause of their symptoms and died.

Environment Minister Lee Maan-ee earlier this year visited the locations and promised to look for ways to help patients. The authorities decided to bring soil from other regions to cover and improve the earth there.

Chungcheong environmental groups have often raised suspicions that more people have been affected by the deadly substance, which the government has designated as a class A carcinogen.

Recently, a series of incidents involving the material ― talcum powder containing asbestos, and toxic blue asbestos detected at the reconstruction site of the former headquarters building of Samsung among others ― have raised public concern.

Cho Han-yong of the Korea Asbestos Environment Association said, ``Japan and some others countries have acknowledged the lethality of asbestos and started compensating those exposed to it unintentionally. The test results should lead to long-awaited compensation and increased awareness.''

Asbestos is known to cause respiratory diseases such as asbestosis leading to lung cancer.

[출처 : 코리아타임스]