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The hundreds of residents and volunteers who’ve been sifting through the debris in Greensburg, KS since the town was largely destroyed by a killer tornado several weeks ago may be in danger of exposure to hazardous asbestos.

The Kansas City Star notes that experts believe the government should be doing much more to protect those residents and volunteers from breathing in asbestos and other hazardous materials that may be lurking in the debris. Asbestos is especially prevalent in homes built prior to the mid 1970s.

Unfortunately, the article points out, federal and state regulations do not give regulators authority to require asbestos removal from single-family homes, said Becky Ingrum Dolph, an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency Region 7.

“It’s a shame, because people are out there and most likely getting contaminated,” added Leland Sumptur, a Lenexa asbestos abatement manager who teaches and has consulted nationally.

Just two weeks after the tornado hit Greensburg, the EPA arrived to take air samples to determine whether or not asbestos levels were dangerous. At that time, the tests were negative. If the samples had been positive, points out Dolph, the EPA would have been allowed to move in.

“Legally, we don’t have any authority to require the individual homeowner to do anything,” Dolph said.

Others believe that not just the air but also the debris should be tested. “For someone to suggest they did air sampling and they didn’t find anything, that is so wrong to do that,” said Celeste Monforton, a researcher and lecturer on public health policy with George Washington University. “It gives some people a false sense of security.”

“Really the risk is going to be to the people rummaging through the debris and what they are breathing there,” Monforton said. “For someone walking down the street it might not be such a problem.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Headline. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.