[MCN] Current remediation of asbestos might not work?

[Lance Olsen]

New Study Challenges Assumption of Asbestos' Ability to Move in Soil
Scripps scientist findings may have implications for current 
remediation strategies
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO
PUBLIC RELEASE: 19-AUG-2016

A new study led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the 
University of California San Diego scientist Jane Willenbring 
challenges the long-held belief that asbestos fibers cannot move 
through soil. The findings have important implications for current 
remediation strategies aimed at capping asbestos-laden soils to 
prevent human exposure of the cancer-causing material.

Willenbring, along with University of Pennsylvania postdoctoral 
researcher Sanjay Mohanty, and colleagues tested the idea that once 
capped by soil, asbestos waste piles are locked in place. Instead 
they found that dissolved organic matter contained within the soil 
sticks to the asbestos particles, creating a change of the electric 
charge on the outside of the particle that allows it to easily move 
through the soil.

"Asbestos gets coated with a very common substance that makes it 
easier to move," said Willenbring, an associate professor in the 
Geosciences Research Division at Scripps. "If you have water with 
organic matter next to the asbestos waste piles, such as a stream, 
you then have a pathway from the waste pile and possibly to human 
inhalation."

Willenbring will present the new research during her presentation 
"The Fate of Asbestos in Soil: Remediation Prospects and Paradigms" 
at the 2016 American Chemical Society Meeting in Philadelphia on 
Monday, Aug. 22 at 2:10 p.m. in the Philadelphia Downtown Courtyard 
by Marriott Juniper's Ballroom.

Asbestos is comprised of six naturally occurring minerals that are 
formed by thin fibers. Asbestos mining in the U.S. began in the late 
19th century and was widely used in a variety of products from 
insulation to car brake pads.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently caps asbestos 
waste piles with soil to avoid human exposure to the toxic dust that 
causes a rare cancer called mesothelioma.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) 
Superfund Research Program funded the research.
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"Professor Tim Flannery, the Australian of the Year environmentalist, 
said recently his greatest wish was that political parties would 
state their 'temperature limits' as to how hot the planet should get."

The Age (Melbourne, Australia)
June 11, 2007

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"The gap between high- and low-income families has widened steadily 
since about 1980, hitting a new high every year since 1985. "

Business Week, November 21, 1994, p. 72.










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