Military personnel in the 82nd Airborne Division were unnerved recently by the development of sore throats and coughs following their exposure to various work-sites throughout the Haiti relief effort. Many feared that the coughs could be signs of asbestos contamination like that experienced in the relief efforts following the 9/11 attacks.
The affects of urban disasters are often a lot more complicated and far reaching than is immediately discernible. In the years after the 9/11 attacks hundreds of people made claims against New York City after developing cancers like mesothelioma from inhaling toxic dust in and around ground zero. The city failed to warn workers and others of the asbestos contained in the rubble, putting thousands of people in harm’s way when simple preventative measures could have made a life-saving difference. The claims regarding New York City’s negligence aren’t only valid, they’re swaying the sympathy of those involved in deciding the case. In fact, just recently a judge involved in the litigation against the city reportedly rejected a settlement offer of nearly $600 million, claiming that the figure was too low for the pain and suffering caused.
The United States Army was fast to act on the suspicions and anxieties of their soldiers working in Haiti. They quickly organized a laboratory analysis of the air, soil and water of various work sites around the relief effort.
While there was some concern that raw materials like tiles, cement, piping, siding and more could contain dangerous amounts of asbestos, results showed otherwise. As it turns out, airborne asbestos fibers pose virtually no threat in the areas of the Haiti relief effort that were tested.
“We collected air samples from 31 locations to see if our guys were potentially breathing anything bad,” the public health officer in charge of the testing operation said, “…everything we have been able to analyze so far has not presented a risk that is expected to be long-term, short-term or one we can’t mitigate.”
The results from the tests, while reassuring, aren’t incredibly surprising. Developing nations like Haiti don’t use asbestos products as fervently as Western nations once did. Much of that could be due to the Ally’s asbestos surplus that rose out of World War II as a result of wartime industry. Asbestos that was originally mined for use in the construction of tanks and battleships later found commercial outlets as the war industry dried up.
“In the U.S. we use a lot of fiberglass and asbestos for insulation,” the public health officer commented, “it appears that Haiti does not use asbestos as liberally as we do in the U.S.”
Regardless of why there’s so little asbestos contamination in Haiti, its absence is certainly good news for everyone involved in relief efforts there.
