A study has indicated that a large number of communities in the Northern Cape, the North West province and Limpopo province are significantly contaminated by environmental asbestos pollution.

Environmental consulting firm Conservation Support Services (CSS) South Africa project manager Robert Jones , who completed the study for the former Department of Environ- mental Affairs and Tourism, says: “While many of the derelict mine sites have been rehabilitated to varying degrees of success, until our study, not a single community had been ade- quately assessed to determine the limits of environmental asbestos contamination.”

Over the course of a year-long study with more than 2 000 samples analysed, Jones and the CSS team identified 40 communities in the former asbestos-mining provinces that had the potential for significant contamination. Redco Reconstruction & Development Services completed a follow-up study in 2007, in the town of Prieska, in the Northern Cape, that confirmed that very many asbestos- contaminated houses exist.

“We are currently working for the Ministry of Water and Environmental Affairs on a more detailed survey of two communities, which we feel are representative of the regions, namely Ga-Mopedi, just north of Kuruman, in the North West province, and Ga-Mshushu, north of Ga-Mafefe, in Limpopo province,” he says.

Jones adds that these door-to-door surveys are more intensive and designed to determine the specific rates of contamination, so that they can more accurately be extrapolated to other communities to calculate the total cost of total remediation for the former mining regions of the country.

“Of particular concern are schools. In many communities, children walk to school along contaminated roads and paths, play in contaminated school yards and go home to sleep in contaminated homes,” asserts Jones.

Asbestos trust the Kgalagadi Relief Trust reports that the lack of rehabilitation on asbestos mines and invisible asbestos fibres in the air are a significant health challenge to communities living in the former asbestos-mining areas, namely the Northern Cape, the North West province, Limpopo province and Mpumalanga province.

The Kgalagadi Relief Trust chairperson Brian Gibson says that a number of challenges leading to asbestos-related illness have been identified in residential areas. In some communities, asbestos-containing materials from mine dumps were used in the past to manufacture bricks to build houses and schools. Further, roads that were built with a layer of asbestos-containing material, because of its strength, have degraded and potholes have appeared, increasing the danger of asbestos inhalation.

“The asbestos fibre is invisible, which leads to people unknowingly inhaling asbestos over long periods of time. When large amounts of asbestos are breathed in, it damages lung tissue and can cause lung cancer,” says Gibson.

There are three main causes of asbestos resi- due in the air: mine dumps, where asbestos is exposed; rejected asbestos fibre that has been dumped irresponsibly; and asbestos fibre from milling activities – all are exposed to the elements and are now being distributed over residential areas by wind.

Challenges to Tackle
Jones identifies the challenges, including the lack of epidemiological surveys to determine the actual disease burden in these communities and exposure studies to accurately quantify the cumulative exposure to the population.

Gibson asserts that a clean-up drive presents many difficulties. The Department of Mining has done significant work over the past 20 years, but has slowed down in recent times. While the biggest dumps have been rehabilitated, there are many smaller dumps that need attention.

He says that reducing the pollution level can eliminate the invisible asbestos particles, but that the available funding for rehabilitation is quite limited.

He adds that such a large-scale challenge is easier to ignore than to tackle and the size of the challenge may discourage the authorities from confronting it. “Even with limited resources, a start must be made. Asbestos-induced illness is dose related and if the dosage that people inhale can be reduced, health risks are also reduced. Communities are exposed to windblown asbestos, which can stay in the air indefinitely,” says Gibson.

Asbestos Relief Trust representative Tina da Cruz says that the latency period of asbestos-related diseases is 10 years to 50 years.

“The youngest person who approached the trust diagnosed with asbestos-related cancer, a fatal cancer, lived close to a rehabi- litated mill, in Prieska. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma at the age of 24 and died less than twelve months later. This shows that there is still a lot of rehabilitation work to be done on asbestos dumps; and those that have been rehabilitated still have negative effects on the health of the surrounding communities,” she says.

In some areas, the occurrence of asbestos is so severe that the area should be evacuated, as windstorms can cause exposure to the substance. Da Cruz says that, in the Kgalagadi region, for example, 40 schools are situated in a contaminated area, and only two of these have been relocated.

Da Cruz asserts that people should be educated on the dangers of asbestos and awareness should be raised.

Gibson says that to sweep the floor or have children banging on walls that contain asbestos can, for example, increases the risk of direct exposure to asbestos fibre. A coat of paint can encapsulate the asbestos fibres. He points out that, although it does not presently seem like a national crisis, many people die discreetly of asbestos-related diseases.

“The asbestos trusts receive about 20 to 30 applications every month from individuals who have been exposed to asbestos and may have asbestos-related disease. It is not seen as a serious issue because it happens over a long period of time, but we expect significant numbers of people, who have been inhaling asbestos for years, to shortly be diagnosed with asbestos-related illnesses,” Gibson says.

He believes that the issue may have enjoyed more attention and urgency if it occurred in urban areas, but most asbestos pollution is prevalent in rural areas.