Twenty-six years after Law 257/92 that banned asbestos, this killer fiber continues to be widespread in Italy and to threaten the health of citizens and the environment. The country, still under the threat of asbestos, is also burdened by delays related to legal obligations, and in particular to regional asbestos plans (PRA) - which had to be published within 180 days of the law coming into force and which are still missing in some Regions - but also to census and mapping activities, to the remediation of contaminated sites, which are proceeding slowly, and to information and awareness campaigns.
In Campania, there are 4000 structures where asbestos is present, registered in 2018, for a total of approximately 3 million square meters of asbestos cement roofing. Of these 4000 structures, 3 are industrial sites (they were not present in the 2015 survey); 85 are public buildings (not present in the 2015 survey), 955 are private buildings (not present in the 2015 survey); 3.043 asbestos cement roofing (same number as in 2015).
This is the snapshot taken from the dossier “Free from asbestos? The delays in regional plans, remediation and alternatives to landfills”, produced by Legambiente three years after the last report (2015) and presented in view of the World Day of Asbestos Victims, which will be celebrated on 28 April.
Faced with this situation, the procedures for the remediation and removal of asbestos in our country are still significantly behind schedule: in Campania the only information concerns 3 remediated public buildings and 82 not yet remediated; for the other items the data is not available. The Campania region has approved the regional asbestos plan, provided for by law 257/92, and has completed the census and mapping activities. The Achilles heel remains the disposal of asbestos: in Campania there are no specific plants for asbestos, and they are not even provided for by the regional waste plan.
"With the presentation of the Dossier - comments Mariateresa Imparato, president of Legambiente Campania - we want to reiterate the urgency and the need for our region to act through a concrete action of remediation and reclamation of the territory, which involves the removal of asbestos from the numerous industrial sites, public and private buildings that surround us every day. The lack of landfills in the Region affects both the costs of disposal and the times of removal, without neglecting the widespread practice of uncontrolled abandonment of waste. Exporting abroad the asbestos removed in our country is no longer sustainable, for this reason it is important to implement the plant engineering. Finally, it is necessary to restore and make stable and long-lasting the system of incentives for the replacement of eternit/photovoltaic, given the important results obtained in the past it is absurd that this tool has been removed. This is a very effective tool that in the past has led, for example, to the remediation of 100.000 square meters of roofs and over 11 MWp of photovoltaic systems installed and connected to the grid throughout Italy. An intervention of this type would bring a double advantage, both for people's health and for the production of clean energy".
The overall picture that emerges is quite worrying, even at a health level. The association recalls that according to the latest data released by INAIL, in Italy there were 21.463 cases of malignant mesothelioma between 1993 and 2012, of which 93% of cases affected the pleura and 6,5% (1.392 cases) peritoneal, and over 6 thousand deaths per year. At a regional level, the most affected areas are Lombardy (4.215 cases detected), Piedmont (3.560), Liguria (2.314), Emilia Romagna (2.016), Veneto (1.743), Tuscany (1.311), Sicily (1.141), Campania (1.139).
Article published on 27 April 2018 - 14:14
