May 2006
IUED and the Association for Quality of Life & Environment in Nahariya vs. Treasury, Civil Service Commissioner and Environment Ministry
Petition to the High Court of Justice #1336/06
The Environment Ministry’s six-month hiatus on asbestos inspections is over, thanks to a petition to the High Court of Justice filed by IUED and the Association for Quality of Life and Environment in Nahariya.
In response to the lawsuit, the Treasury and the Civil Service Commission resolved a budgetary dispute that had cancelled insurance coverage of the Environment Ministry’s field inspectors. All activities relating to asbestos oversight were suspended in November 2005 and Ministry personnel were restricted from overseeing contractors handling asbestos clearance. Experts believe that the delay in tackling asbestos hazards has unnecessarily exposed the public to health risks.
“The withdrawal of key personnel who provide an essential public service was particularly untenable at a time when the Ministry was gearing up to implement its long-awaited action plan on minimizing asbestos hazards,” notes IUED attorney Amit Bracha.
According to Ministry estimates, over 100 million square meters of asbestos cement exist in agricultural buildings, car parks, schools and other structures throughout Israel. Exposure to asbestos increases the risk of severe lung disease and cancer of the larynx, gastrointestinal tract and other organs.
Nahariya and the Western Galilee – asbestos center
In Nahariya, where the Isasbest/Eitanit factory manufactured a variety of asbestos-based industrial products from 1952 until 1997, daily contact with raw asbestos and the pervasive presence of asbestos debris left its mark on the community. Nearly a decade after the factory closed, scores of local residents suffer from asbestos-related diseases. Tragically, former workers at the Nahariya factory are paying the price for regular exposure to raw asbestos; incidences of mesothelioma, a rare cancer which has a 20-40 year latency, are continuing to rise.
The Isasbest/Eitanit factory operated a profitable sideline in selling off asbestos debris to individuals and agricultural settlements (kibbutzim and moshavim) in Nahariya and the surrounding areas.
Communities in the Western Galilee purchased the cheap and readily available asbestos waste, largely in ignorance of the dangers inherent in the friable (crumbling) asbestos and its unsuitability for use in construction. As a result, there are unknown quantities of asbestos in its most dangerous form in pavements, driveways, car parks and other infrastructures in the Galilee. In addition, Isasbest/Eitanit disposed of unknown quantities of asbestos debris in unfenced and unmarked dumps and landfills, some of which are adjacent to populated areas.
NGOs demand asbestos cleanup
The grassroots Association for Quality of Life and Environment in Nahariya has pushed authorities to tackle asbestos issues in the Western Galilee for nearly a decade. Under the leadership of local resident Orit Reich, it serves as an asbestos information clearance center, responding to public concerns about possible asbestos exposure and its health impacts, provides guidance to officials, commercial companies and individuals handling asbestos waste removals, and gathers data on asbestos disease morbidity and mortality.
Recently, Professor Arthur Frank of the Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia made a second visit to Israel to support NGO demands for government action on asbestos hazards. At a meeting at IUED’s offices in Tel Aviv, Professor Frank noted that local incidences of mesothelioma, a fatal cancer, are forty times the national norms in western countries. He also pointed out that each day of delay in identifying and removing asbestos from the environment has serious implications. “The absence of professional government inspectors compounded the risk to public health.”
Government must accelerate asbestos clean-up
Five years ago, the Environment Ministry surveyed 53 sites in the Western Galilee; its finding confirmed the area as the national asbestos hot spot, and the government devised a multi-year action plan prioritizing clean-up of asbestos. “Now that our lawsuit has forced the government to reinstate insurance coverage for asbestos inspectors,” comments IUED’s attorney, “the Environment Ministry should accelerate the asbestos action plan and clean up asbestos hazards, particularly in the Western Galilee.”
IUED and the Association for Quality of Life and Environment in Nahariya are continuing to work together for removal of asbestos hazards in the Galilee and throughout Israel.