Current articles here and here follow up on a conference in Israel regarding a town there with high mesothelioma rates. Asbestos campaigners long-ago reported here that the town included an asbestos-cement plant that used the amphibole asbestos fibers known as crocidolite and amosite. A detailed report with pictures is available here at World Asbestos Report. The company operating this plant is said here to have been Eitanit, formerly known as Isabest; wit the town and factory located in Nahariya, in the Western Galilee.
According to one of the articles above:
“The choice of topic by Asbestos Consultant Andy Oberta was particularly relevant to Greece – a country in which asbestos-cement products are still being manufactured. The case study An Asbestos-Cement Plant in Israel: Contamination, Clean-up and Dismantling detailed Mr. Oberta’s involvement with a project in the City of Nahariya, Northern Israel. For nearly fifty years, amosite, crocidolite and chrysotile had been used at this site during the manufacture of asbestos-cement pipes and sheet products. The factory owners distributed asbestos waste to local people for use on their driveways, paths and farms throughout western Galilee. Although the plant shut in 1997, friable and non-friable waste material was still lying on the beach and by the roads which bordered the factory site. Town councilors thought a good use for the area would be a children’s amusement park and plans were developed to build this tourist attraction. A series of photographs illustrated the hazards of such a plan and Mr. Oberta explained the process by which negotiations with the Israeli Ministry of the Environment and local people resulted in the rejection of this idea.”
According to an old article you can find online through various paid sources:
COPYRIGHT 1991 Israel Business TodayEitanit Set to Re-enter U.S. Market The U.S. Federal Court recently canceled the ban on asbestos products initiated by the EPA in 1989. The decision opens the way for Eitanit, formerly called Isasbest, to reenter the U.S. market. The company is the only manufacturer of asbestos products in Israel and anticipates sales of $25 million in 1991. Managing Director Uri Peled says the company has invested significant sums in reducing health hazards to its 200 employees. Eitanit is owned by the Federman family.
Old manufacturing plants also have created issues’>http://www.eia-usa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14″>issues in the Chicago area as an old Manville plant that used amphibole fibers was located in Waukegan near an Illinois public beach and state park.
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