Hezbollah Rockets Leave Israel Covered in Asbestos

November 2, 2006 - The Jerusalem Post reports that local environmental health experts are concerned about the health dangers posed by asbestos pieces and microscopic fibers released into the air following missile attacks during the recent war in the northern section of Israel.

At present, reports the newspaper, “asbestos chunks are lying all over the North,” a situation which must be remedied immediately, say experts.

Professor Elihu Richter, formerly of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health in Jerusalem, told the Jerusalem Post that pieces of asbestos roofing, pipes and other construction materials used by residents, disintegrated when the rockets exploded during the fighting.  The microscopic fibers, he says, will never disappear from the environment.

But, he said, the asbestos can be disposed of safely through burial in a concrete-lined tomb and can be covered over with land and used for any purpose.  Authorities are currently arguing over who should pay for the disposal, a process which will be quite costly.

Richter advises that the asbestos waste should be buried quickly and properly in the North rather than being transported south to an approved waste disposal facility near Beersheba, as the carcinogenic fibers would spread through the country during transport, causing yet more concern. 

"There is no safe exposure to asbestos," Richter said, noting that he was invited to India to lecture on Israel's mistakes decades ago in the use of asbestos for construction purposes. 

Though most of Israel’s asbestos factories closed more than 25 years ago, Richter says the rocket attacks awoke “sleeping dogs.”  “The problem,” he added, "is real, even though the industry no longer exists."