By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterTHE NATIONAL Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) will spend about $300,000 to conduct a pilot study in hospitals and schools to examine the disposal of asbestos, a potentially fatal material when inhaled, in critical institutions.
The pilot study will be conducted in three high schools and two major hospitals between December, 2002 and January, 2003, Trevor Ramikie, Manager of NEPA's Pollution Prevention and Control Branch, explained over the week end. The project, to be spearheaded by NEPA, will however run until April, 2003.
In addition, the public should, by early next year, have access to an asbestos management plan, which has been in the works for more than two years.
The asbestos management plan is expected to be accessible to the public in draft form within three months, he said, adding that he was hoping to make available user-friendly and summarised versions on NEPA's website and in paper and compact disc (CD) forms.
Environmental and research officials have long expressed concern about asbestos, which can be safely used as insulation in equipment such as boilers and huge pipes. However, asbestos deteriorates over time and officials lament that there are several older buildings - homes, schools, hospitals and various businesses - where people could be at risk from the deteriorating material.
SUCCABA PEN
Among them was Succaba Pen, a community, which sprang up on an asbestos dump, the remains of a factory. A visit by The Gleaner to the area, in 1999, revealed that residents had used the material to construct the foundations of their houses and to make fences, as well as pavements for sections of their yards. The material was also evident in large quantities in the roadways.
Research on asbestos pollution in Jamaica showed that the community was swamped with the most deadly form of the fibrous material, which researchers have linked to asbestosis and cancer of the lungs.
In October last year, Professor Ishenkumba Kahwa, lead researcher of a study which outlined the problem of asbestos and how badly it has affected local communities, most notably Succaba Pen, lamented that these communities were still under threat as no steps have been taken to remove the dangerous material.
It was a lament which Professor Kahwa repeated last week despite what, he said, was heightened sensitivity among various businesses and individuals about the dangers of asbestos. He reiterated that it would cost about $10 million to clean Succaba Pen.
Following the final signing off of the NEPA's management plan, the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) is to undertake a two to three year national survey to locate areas where there are large deposits of asbestos.
NEPA is also planning to set up an asbestos registry, he said.
"That would more or less tell people where the asbestos is and also people would have the facility for registering the fact that they have asbestos. It will also serve as a communication tool so people will know what kind of asbestos we have (which would) perhaps lead to better control. The ultimate aims is to have better control," Mr. Ramikie said.
The plan is expected to contain strategies to help Jamaicans locate and effectively dispose of the material, which can prove deadly if it breaks down into fibres and is inhaled by people.
MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES
Professor Kahwa, also a senior lecturer in the Chemistry Department at the University of the West Indies (UWI), told The Gleaner in May that the asbestos management plan will contain management procedures to find out where asbestos is located, the quantity, what is its condition and whether it should be removed or should be manage in its place.
The plan will also look at whether licences to test for and remove asbestos should be issued, where the material should be disposed of and what are the procedures for doing these things.
He also lamented that there is no designated landfill available for the disposal of hazardous waste like asbestos, and that employers often do not provide safety equipment for workers who must handle the material and that, in many cases, workers who are provided with the equipment do not use them correctly.
