The Devil's Dust: DC Metro Area Latino Asbestos Workers

Asbestos is a mineral and widely used material in the construction industry. It can often be found in insulation, roofing, and tiles. Asbestos is used in a large number of buildings, and a many of these buildings contain friable material, meaning asbestos that crumbles and can become airborne. According to the EPA, asbestos can be found in most of the nation's elementary schools.

While most minerals turn into dust particles when crushed, asbestos breaks up into fine fibers too small to be seen by the naked eye. Asbestos can stay airborne for days. Individual fibers are frequently mixed with a material that binds them together, producing asbestos containing material (ACM). When ACM is damaged or disturbed by repair, remodeling or demolition activities, microscopic fibers become airborne and can be inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause significant health problems. For example, asbestos causes lung cancer, mesothelioma, asbestosis. It often takes over 20 years for the symptoms of these diseases to appear.

The EPA conducted a 1984 survey which found that approximately 66 percent of the buildings that contained asbestos contained damaged ACM. Between 1940 and 1980, an estimated 27 million Americans were exposed to significant amounts of asbestos at work. People may also ingest asbestos if they eat in areas where there are asbestos fibers in the air.

Asbestos does not just affect the workers directly touching the material! In fact, asbestos is a major health risk to your entire family and community -- children, pets - everyone!

Asbestos contractors in our area have been sued and fined by the EPA, OSHA, and state agencies for egregious violations. They have been found dumping lead paint down drains, improperly ventilating work sites, failing to provide workers with protective masks, and violating the Clean Air Act. Perhaps worst of all, contractors have carried friable material by young schoolchildren, blatantly violating the law and endangering our youth. There have been reports of workers pulling down asbestos from ceilings without the material being wetted down. All of these problems could be alleviated if the industry was properly regulated.

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