Oak Ridge High still has 'very high' asbestos levels

Sacramento Bee ^ | January 10, 2004 | Chris Bowman

[farmfriend]

El Dorado Hills' high school has cancer-causing asbestos at "very high levels" on bare ground around sports bleachers, in playing areas and in numerous other outdoor locations that get a lot of foot traffic, federal environmental officials said Friday.

The preliminary findings by the Environmental Protection Agency run counter to local officials' repeated declarations that they have eliminated the potential breathing hazard at Oak Ridge High School.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[Support Free Republic]

If you can make a donation to Free Republic, then don't make others carry your water!

[aruanan]

Although all forms of asbestos are known to cause cancer, most specialists in asbestos disease believe the rare "amphibole" found in parts of western El Dorado and Placer counties is several hundred times more potent than the more prevalent "chrysotile" type historically used in fireproofing and insulation products.

Chrysotile asbestos is one of the most abundant naturally-occurring minerals. It's virtually impossible to escape contact with it. There are cities with such high naturally-occurring levels that if they had happened as a result of industry, they would be shut down as completely (and unnecessarily) as Times Beach, Missouri was over dioxin. And yet these cities (one called Asbestos) do not have higher than normal lung cancer rates.

The cancer scare from asbestos came as a result of workers in shipyards during WWII being in contact with amphibole asbestos. Most of those who came in contact with this asbestos who later developed cancer also happened to be smokers.

[farmfriend]

The area in question has very high natural deposits of this stone. It has been an ongoing issue in the area but as you point out, there are no increases in cancer there.

[WackyKat]

The cancer scare from asbestos came as a result of workers in shipyards during WWII being in contact with amphibole asbestos. Most of those who came in contact with this asbestos who later developed cancer also happened to be smokers.

It's a lot more than just a "scare"

There is a very strong link between high asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, and a weaker but still significant link between asbestos and lung cancers.

And then there is asbestosis, which is not fun, either.

And a lot of exposure took place long after WW2

[SierraWasp]

"Although all forms of asbestos are known to cause cancer..."

Does that sound correct to you? Are there recorded cases of cancer being caused by ALL forms of asbestos? I don't think that is 100% correct. There are many forms of asbestos in serpentine rock alone and I don't believe all of those forms have been traced as the source of diagnosed cancers. What do you think?

I think this prick of an author is still trying to stop development in Placer and El Dorado Counties and is just pist because they won't give him a Pulitzer for tryin 75 times to start a panic about asbestosis because of any disturbance of the soil that has serpentine rock... California's State Rock, by the way!!!

[farmfriend]

I don't believe all of those forms have been traced as the source of diagnosed cancers. What do you think?

I have seen this issue addressed during the debate on this. Letters to the editor contained the info I think. The type that is there in El Dorado county is not the cancer causing kind for the most part. That is why you do not see articles about this being a "hot spot" like you do with the tress.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[ReagansShinyHair]

"Although all forms of asbestos are known to cause cancer..."

It doesn't sound right to me. I took a basic geology course in college and the prof said that only some forms cause cancer, and most don't. 'Course he could have been wrong, but I remember reading the same thing somewhere else.

Perhaps all could cause cancer with sufficient exposure for their type. For example, type A could cause cancer with minimal exposure, whereas type B could cause cancer with 100 years of breathing it's condensed form from a paper bag. Maybe that's where the confusion comes from?

[SierraWasp]

"That is why you do not see articles about this being a "hot spot" like you do with the tress."

What's "the tress?"

[SierraWasp]

I am convinced there is no confusion other than that being generated by this author who is desperate to make himself as infamous as the two authors who won a Pulitzer Prize by writing a series for the BEE called "Sierra In Peril!"

Now, even one of those two authors has written another series called "Living Off The Fat Of The Land," describing the sinister nature the EnvironMental Movement has morphed into as nothing but a massive fundraising movement using the Jesse Jackson SHAKEDOWN technique. Huge salaries and expense accounts in extravagant office buildings and rich tax favored pensions, etc.

To me, this is equivalent to "yelling FIRE in a crowded room" and should not be protected freedom of speech!!!

This irresponsible, so-called journalist, is tormenting and terrifying the parents of these students in exactly the same way that terrorists terrify people with their agenda's and it's all based on supposition, not science and is purely to frighten the Sierran Counties into stopping any further disturbance of the soil by building anything new to accomodate productive human growth and freedom!!!

That also makes it UN-American!!!

[Phil V.]

It's bullshit, waspman.

Western ElDorado county is serpentine country. There is a large population on which to do a study. Serpentine has been crushed and used as road and driveway gravel for years. Exposeure for humans has been for decades. This stuff is a non-issue and can be shown to be so. Do a study on real live subjects . . . bullshit!

[farmfriend]

What's "the tress?"

Smarty pants, trees.

[aruanan]

Does that sound correct to you? Are there recorded cases of cancer being caused by ALL forms of asbestos? I don't think that is 100% correct. There are many forms of asbestos in serpentine rock alone and I don't believe all of those forms have been traced as the source of diagnosed cancers. What do you think?

I think this prick of an author is still trying to stop development in Placer and El Dorado Counties and is just pist because they won't give him a Pulitzer for tryin 75 times to start a panic about asbestosis because of any disturbance of the soil that has serpentine rock... California's State Rock, by the way!!!

Sand can cause cancer; fiberglass can cause cancer. Anything that leads to continuous irritation of tissue can lead to cancer. This has more to do with irritation and inflammation than with anything of an unusual chemical nature of the substance in question. Of substances that occur naturally and abundantly in the environment having relatively little or no consequence to health, different forms of asbestos are some of the more common.

[SierraWasp]

See what I was up against right during my re-election campaign? This A-whole drummed up a fever pitch just in time for the June '98 Primary election and I couldn't do a danged thing about it!!!

They were trying to paint me as wanting to pave over the county, while screaming that all gravel roads with Serpentine must be paved over to "save the chillrun! This killed me in the west end of my district, down near El Dorado Hills and Cameron Park!

So my opinion of this author is prolly colored, but he talked to me for hours on the phone and then stuck it to me even though I was careful not to give him anything to go on. He needled, prodded, cajoled, ranted and raved trying to unnerve me, but it didn't work. That's probably what REALLY pist him off!!!

I also witnessed the fear in State EPA officials up close and personally at this freaked out writer of fiction! It was sickening and disgusting!!! And of course, it didn't help that another Board of Supervisors member that always voted against me and the other three was also in these meetings trying to fan the flames of panic and fear!!!

God bless then State Senator Tim Leslie who helped immensely, but to no avail. The smear was on and the fear ran deep. The ignorance runneth amok!!!

[farmfriend]

I wish I had known you then. I would have helped as much as possible.

[budwiesest]

The smear was on and the fear ran deep. The ignorance runneth amok!!!

You watched the Black and Brown Democratic debate on MSNBC tonight too? ;^)

Seriously, the parallels between what I've just read and what took place tonight in the debate(?) are too deep.

What pisses me off is that for those who's accusations are false, it seems there are few satisfactory remedies, such as tar and feather. They may be full of crap and instrumental in whipping up hysteria, yet the cost to them for such bloviation is:(drum roll.....) nothing. We need a remedy for this and possibly penalties for such abuses in the use of a pen.

The pen being mightier that the sword, perhaps we need another ammendment: "A well imformed populace, necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to kick your sorry ass out of a job when you first deceive with your anti-growth, pro-environmental fear tactics, promotion of socialism at any cost BS, shall not be infringed."

Here's something scary to think about: if you live in California and know anything about earthquake fault lines: the liberal hot-nests currently reside on those areas of land that would most likely become ocean-bottom properties, should a significant continental shelf crack-off occur along the San Andreas.

Scarier still is pondering whether this would be a simple natural act, or an act of God. As a non-denominational Fuller Brush door-to-door salesman, I'd blame it on the Jehovan's who just make my job that much more difficult.

[SierraWasp]

"As a non-denominational Fuller Brush door-to-door salesman, I'd blame it on the Jehovan's who just make my job that much more difficult."

I wish you be best, budwiesest! Hopefully they won't irritate folks so much that the government steps in with a "DO NOT KNOCK" law that effects you like the "DO NOT CALL" law that effects me so that now I am forced to get written permission from you before I call you to entertain the idea of utilizing my professional services!!!

I've been doing that non-denominationally for over 40 years without irritating a soul, but now I'm blocked from free enterprise on the phone by my own government, due to irritating jerks!!!