Massachusetts Struggles With Asbestos

There are many places in Massachusetts that have been found to contain high levels of asbestos. Some of these include post offices, churches, schools, movie theaters, hospitals, barber shops, and other buildings built before asbestos was heavily regulated in the 1980’s. Even your home could contain asbestos.

    Asbestos is an extremely durable and heat-resistant mineral, making it an extremely popular choice for building materials in the 1900’s. Due to these aspects of the asbestos mineral, asbestos was also heavily used in automobile parts as well.

    However, as the use of asbestos increased, so did the negative effects of using that mineral. After a multitude of studies were conducted, it was found that the asbestos mineral was the cause of so many of the lung cancers and diseases facing American citizens. After this information was revealed, the Environmental Protection Agency quickly banned all use of asbestos. Asbestos is such a heavily used products, however, that the ban was quickly overturned just two years later.

    The EPA claims that the asbestos used today is safe, but one Massachusetts citizen claims otherwise.

“Even if they say it’s used more smartly now or it isn’t dangerous under most conditions, you mean to tell me they don’t have other products that could do the same thing that they could use? It doesn’t make sense, with the technology we have now, to still be using a product that they knew caused cancer decades ago,” states Rebecca Furnum, a Massachusetts resident who recently found that her house had dangerous levels of asbestos in it.

This is not an uncommon situation in the State of Massachusetts. Adrian Soriano is a Massachusetts asbestos abatement contractor who stated that, “When compared to other places, Massachusetts has a ton of renovations going on and tearing down of old houses for new construction, so of course you’re going to come across a lot of asbestos. Think about all the houses built in the state before 1980. They’re everywhere. We see asbestos being exposed everywhere, every day.”

The Massachusetts government needs to take action against the asbestos that plagues their state and assist their citizens in the fight against this deadly mineral.

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