By Chris Bowman - Bee Staff Writer
The
U.S. Geological Survey on Tuesday confirmed a federal environmental agency's
findings of a particularly dangerous kind of asbestos on playgrounds in El
Dorado Hills.
USGS experts in mineral identification reached the conclusion after closely examining the playgrounds' study samples of tiny particles that the mining industry asserted were not asbestos.
The investigation found that most of those particles did not conform to the traditional commercial definition of asbestos, as the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association had argued. The microscopic bits of minerals nonetheless were within scientists' widely accepted range of sizes, shapes and chemical compositions counted as "asbestos" for health studies, USGS scientists said.
dbsac0 at 8:24 AM PST Wednesday, December 20, 2006 wrote:
hmmm, I wonder...?
I wonder what a "certain person" will say to try to "deny" that asbestos is a problem in the Folsom area???? Hmmmm, I'd like to hear what little fantasy tale will be told now???
NoNewArena at 12:05 PM PST Wednesday, December 20, 2006 wrote:
The EPA's report takes priority over the bogus USGS report........
Unlike many, I actually did some research on this topic.. The EPA's final report, dated August 15, 2004, made several conclusions regarding the "alleged" presence of "high levels" of asbestos in the City of Folsom, but I'll get right to the point with this quote on page 61 of the report: "The asbestos data yielded from the 29 testing sites within the boundaries of the City of Folsom was well within the health and safety standards as adopted by this agency as of this report date. The levels of naturally-occurring asbestos within the City of Folsom are within normal ranges and do not pose any significant health or safety issues". So in the future, don't let people with an obvious "anti-Folsom agenda" make fraudulent "deadly asbestos in Folsom" claims and statements to you. Just ignore them, and the bogus claims and lies will eventually go away.
rockbuck at 1:02 PM PST Wednesday, December 20, 2006 wrote:
Anybody else get the sense all the negative votes on the previous comments are from people in Folsom and the rest of the foothill "Asbestos Belt"? It would be funny if it weren't so tragic. There's a lot of people up there that have invested thier life savings in houses and neighborhoods contaminated with a form of naturally occuring asbestos that is deadlier than the commercial variety that killed so many decades ago. I guess they just want to stick their heads in the asbestos sand and hope reality goes away.
alberp at 1:17 PM PST Wednesday, December 20, 2006 wrote:
Keep It In Perspective
The studies all conclude that asbestos is a detriment to your health. DUH!, as my 12 year old would say. Please keep a proper perspective about the issue. First, NOA is commonly found in native soil in almost every county in the state of CA, so exposure to it is unavoidable unless you constantly wear a respirator. Second, the recorded levels of NOA found in the tested locations in EDH were transient & low. Everyone is occasionally exposed to known toxins & carcinogens that are likely far more bad for your health than NOA ever will be. Please don't act & distort reality as if these NOA levels are the same death sentence that radioactive polonium the size of the period at the end of this sentence is. Third, Libby, Montana was an open pit asbestos mining town where NOA rock was mined with no water spray for dust mitigation. Fourth, the same NOA levels at the EDH parks can be measured at any local traffic intersection because of asbestos brake pads! So, stay inside forever?
NoNewArena at 2:01 PM PST Wednesday, December 20, 2006 wrote:
Yawn....there's nothing THERE there...........
The bottom line in all of this is that the EPA's findings closely resembled the findings by the R.J. Lee Group of Pittsburg, a company that specializes in these kinds of studies and investigations, and the conclusion was that no health or safety issues are present as far as ANY kinds of naturally occurring asbestos is concerned, both in Folsom and El Dorado Hills. The USGS says otherwise, but they are a 'bit player' in these kinds of studies, and they acknowledge such. So, again, this is much
ado about nothing, although the misinformed 'sky is falling' types will continue to beat the drum, but we'll just ignore them....we've got more important things to worry about than a 'made-up' crisis.
stanp50 at 2:12 PM PST Wednesday, December 20, 2006 wrote:
Didn't anyone actually read the report?
Look at the report before making your statements. Actually, the reporter should have read it, too. For one thing, this latest USGS pronouncement about finding asbestos specifically states that cannot make any statement about the health hazard of the particles they found. All of the health studies identifying asbestos as a health hazard has been based on exposure to specific components of the purified asbestos product, either during manufacture, application, or exposure to deteriorating product when it is not encapsulated.
I read the report, and found that the USGS stretched the definition to identify most of these naturally-occuring materials as asbestos in the first place. They also specifically state that "Ultimately, it is the health community that must determine what particle types are significant with respect to asbestos-related diseases." To me, that says that whatever the USGS people identified, it is unlikely to be as dangerous as exposure to concentrated industrial product.
PerfectStorm at 6:56 PM PST Wednesday, December 20, 2006 wrote:
Empire Ranch
Asbestos in Empire Ranch
Mitigation plan up for public review
By: Raheem Hosseini
Tuesday, April 25, 2006 4:37 PM PDT
Following in the unenviable footsteps of El Dorado Hills, asbestos concerns have swept into the city of Folsom like a dry wind carried down Highway 50.
Due to heightened levels of naturally occurring asbestos in the Empire Ranch area, the public is being given until Tuesday to comment on the Department of Toxic Substances Control's mitigation plan for the Empire Ranch Elementary School site.
DTSC site investigations between April 2004 and July 2005 discovered asbestos clusters at both the site of the new high school and the elementary school site, and further tests revealed heightened asbestos levels in several parts of the Empire Ranch subdivision site being developed by Elliott Homes.
Hey No New Arena, what about Empire Ranch in Folsom. I guess the asbestos there is different from the El Dorad asbestos.
modsound at 9:09 AM PST Thursday, December 21, 2006 wrote:
Alberp
They no longer use asbestos in brake pads.
modsound at 9:24 AM PST Thursday, December 21, 2006 wrote:
Brake Pads
So, apparently not all brake pads are metallic. Some still contain asbestos. Be crazy careful if you do your own brake work. And buy only non-asbestos pads if you can.
