« Flintkote Sues Insurers to Recoup Asbestos Lawsuit Costs | Home | NIOSH Urges Public Comments on Asbestos Report »
Japan Finalizes Asbestos Ban and Invents New Technologies
By asbestoshub | July 31, 2008
Asbestos has proven to be so useful – and replacements so expensive – that enacting bans has proved to be problematic. Even so, most countries have banned the use of asbestos in its many forms though Japan has lagged in this respect, only finalizing a complete ban that takes effect this year. The problem is, asbestos products used over the past century (mainly in building construction, asbestos roof tiles and insulation) must be removed very carefully so as not to release carcinogenic asbestos fibers into the air. Once lodged in human lungs, tiny asbestos fibers can cause several rare and impossible to cure cancers including asbestosis and mesothelioma. Meanwhile, as Japan’s asbestos cancer “time bomb” ticks louder as the nation’s population gets older and decades-long incubation periods for asbestos cancer and other diseases end. Thousands of buildings across the country still contain many types of asbestos, threatening future generations.
In their attempts to remove lingering asbestos from old buildings, Japan has developed some interesting technologies.
Crystal-Guard(TM) is the most promising of several new asbestos abatement technologies developed in Japan to safely facilitate asbestos removal, or in this case, safely manage asbestos in situ. Developed by M-Tec Co. Ltd., Crystal-Guard has recently been introduced by Greenstone Holdings, Inc., and according to the company’s press release on the product:
Crystal-Guard is used to contain asbestos by spraying and encapsulating the asbestos and preventing the asbestos from releasing toxic airborne particles into the air. Crystal-Guard does not have an adverse effect on the original thermal insulation properties of the asbestos.
A second, different asbestos removal technology announced by researchers with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology involves melting asbestos using strong infrared (heat) rays. After melting the asbestos, the resulting liquid cools to a solid form that does not exhibit the toxic mineral’s fibrous nature.
The asbestos can then be safely handled and removed without putting workers and the general public at risk of asbestos poisoning. Of special note is that the infrared heat can melt asbestos out of concrete, cement, or other materials with which it is commonly mixed without compromising the structural integrity of the original composite.
Already, asbestos lawsuits are beginning to make news headlines in Japan. For example, a $64M class action asbestos lawsuit has been launched against the Government of Japan and 46 building manufacturers by a group of construction workers and family members of deceased workers. This groundbreaking asbestos law suit is the first of its kind in Japan, and if successful could lead to a flood of expensive new asbestos lawsuits as time goes by.
Necessity is often the mother of invention.
August 4th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
very informative blog. may be my visitor would benefit from your posting.