Environmental Networking Platform for Children and Youth by SAMSUNG E&A
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Asbestos in your children's academy? |
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Asbestos is a very harmful substance usually used as construstion materials. I believe you all know about this. But still, many architects use Asbestos because of their unique qualities flexibility and insulation. What if Asbestos is used in academies where children study all day long, or schools? What will happen if the children get exposed ti high percentage of Asbestos contained buildings, they might have serious cancers such as lung cancer, asbestosis pulmonum, and laryngeal cancer. As there are benefits, there are harmful side effects as well. Because of these dangerous side effects, many countries started to ban the use of Asbestos for construction and everything. But still, like some academies in Seoul, people use Asbestos ilegally. About two years ago, some environmental organizations have researched how much the academies in Seoul contain Asbestos. The result was bad. Most of the academies in Nowongu, Seoul contained Asbestos about 2~10% which is way over the limitaion that the goverment has set in 2009(0.1%). Well, the academies that were discovered to contain a lot of Asbestos in 2013, didn't get better but got even worse. Most of the academies 25 out of 30 had cracks or damage of the part that contained Asbestos, and they were not fixed. Bu this research, we could see that even though there are laws about Asbestos, not to use construction materials that contain Asbestos over 0.1%, many people are not observing the law in the construction site. Asbestos is the material that the World Health Organization (WHO) selected as the class one carcinogens. In order to stop using Asbestos, or to prevent getting cancers by Asbestos, first, we should use other materials that can substitute Asbestos like wollastonite and sepiolite. Second, we should be careful when we demolish the building because they are hard that they still lay behind even though the whole building is demolished. We should not only care about the topics like global warming but the environment that we live these days. Then the small changes will lead to a big barrier to the climate change. |
 
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3 Comments
So Yeon, good to hear from you. Actually, I'm looking at the exactly same type of finishing right above my head now. haha. The regulations on these matters are getting stricter but looking at the horrifying scenes with disinfectant these days, I see a need for big improvement right in front of us. Thanks for sharing!
Posted 04-05-2016 12:23
So Yeon, it is sad to hear asbestos is still being used in school buildings, though their harmfulness has been revealed. Young students are especially vulnerable to diseases when inhaling those materials that is also why we are trying to protect more of the youngs and the elders from fine dust. I hope there be harsh regulations regarding this issue. Thanks for reporting and have a great day!
Posted 04-05-2016 11:28
After reading in your report about the dangerous asbestos, I further researched about it and was shocked to read about the disease 'Asbestosis'-a serious, chronic, non-cancerous respiratory disease caused due to inhaled asbestos fibers. When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases like this.
We must stop using asbestos and am glad to know that it is already banned in some countries. Hope other countries too ban it else we are risking ourselves and the environment.
Thanks for an informative report Yeon.
Posted 01-05-2016 04:18