By Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
A boy plays in a broken pipe, said to be laden with asbestos, a material which has been linked to asbestosis and cancer of the lungs. The pipes are scattered throughout the Burke Road Heights (Succaba Pen) community in St. Catherine and are now being moved to the Riverton City landfill. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
FED UP with living for years with asbestos-laden pipes and eager to get a title for the land on which they live, residents of Burke Road Heights in St. Catherine have taken matters into their own hands, raising funds to remove the pipes from their community.
But this show of community spirit may be putting other communities in danger, notably residents who reside near the Riverton City landfill in Kingston.
On a weekend visit to Burke Road Heights also called Succaba Pen The Gleaner was told by residents that they have raised and paid $15,000 to have at least two truck loads of the potentially dangerous fibrous material moved from their community to the Riverton City landfill.
But this concerns Professor Inshenkumba Kahwa, an asbestos researcher and head of the Chemistry Department at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
"When you have toxic material, there is a way you must package it. You have to put it in a metal container and persons have to wear protective gear," said Proffessor Kahwa.
The scientist has spent years stressing the need for Government and other agencies to get over legal hurdles such as land ownership and raise the estimated $10 million needed to clean the community.
A TECHNICAL PROCESS
"They are not doing it right. They need special packaging and equipment for asbestos. It's a technical process and when it goes to Riverton and the wind comes, it blows it away," the professor said.
"It was a localised problem but now it is more of a problem. Are they posing a danger to other people? The answer is yes," he added.
Succaba Pen residents said they acted on the advice of Wesley Burger, Operation Pride officer for St. Catherine, who told them that his organisation could not sell them the land on which they live because it was "unfit."
Speaking with The Gleaner on Tuesday, Mr. Burger said he advised residents to take steps to protect themselves from the potentially dangerous material which sits on land owned by the Ministry of Housing and a private individual.
There is no evidence that any resident has been made ill by the material. Nothing turned up in tests carried out on residents at the National Chest Hospital, Professor Kahwa said. But researchers have linked asbestos to asbestosis and cancer of the lungs, if inhaled.
Mr. Burger said he advised the community out of concern because the residents insist on living in the area despite its dangers and have been using the pipes as foundations for their homes, fencing, flower pots, drains and other purposes.
He said more studies were in the pipeline and that the issue was discussed as recently as January 21 at a meeting between various stakeholders in Portmore.
But this gives little reassurance to Professor Kahwa and other environmentalists and researchers, who have long expressed concern about asbestos.
It can be safely used as insulation in equipment such as boilers and huge pipes but 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. Among them is Succaba Pen.
