Hunter's Point Asbestos: Comments on Fox reporting

Fox news reported last night that a meeting to educate buyers of condos that are under construction in Hunter's Point was shut down by protesters complaining that dust from Lennar's construction site is causing health problems in the community.
http://www.ktvu.com/video/13702088/index.html

A couple of bald faced lies were presented:

Lie #1: There is no scientific evidence that naturally occuring asbestos at the site poses a danger to the community.

Contradiction: A UC Davis study published in 2005 demonstrates that naturally occuring asbestos in certain types of bedrock correlates with increased rates of lung cancer up to 10 km or more from the location of the bedrock, even if the bedrock is not known to be disturbed.
This is remarkable that a significant result should be obtained with this study, considering the other sources of asbestos in everyday life, including until recently, its use in brake shoes for disk brakes on cars.
http://media.http://www.californiaaggie.com/media/storage/paper981/news/2005/07/14/FrontPage/Ucd-Study.Shows.Natural.Asbestos.Linked.To.Cancer-1320921.shtml

http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/0001277/48/


Occupational studies demonstrate that any time asbestos containing materials are pulverized and otherwise disturbed, they can become airborne and inhaled, causing lung cancer 20-30 years later. It doesn't matter if the asbestos is "natural" or not. Also, wetting down asbestos containing materials makes them more "friable", or likely to break up into small particles. So the conventional methods of dust control at a construction site (wetting down dust producing operations) may not be effective at controlling asbestos exposure.
http://www.vcu.edu/oehs/chemical/asbestos.html


Lie #2:

The protesters are paid members of Islam and the "real leaders" of the community (alleged religious leaders mentioned by Sam Singer) are unconcerned about the threat posed by the dust from the construction site.

Contradiction: I doubt that Al'queda has enough money to pay protesters in SF anything, at least not for a small protest like this. The "real leaders" are the people who take responsibility for the saftey of their community.

Personal note: About 15 years ago I was faced with a simillar situation. On 7th avenue in Santa Cruz, a construction crew decided to "tar and feather" the roadway. They put down sticky tar and then put loose, dusty gravel on top and let the cars drive over it for a few days. I had to walk past this mess every day on the way to catch the bus. I also lived about 200 ft from 7th avenue. After awhile I noticed my nose would fill with dust and I had some minor irritation. But what concerned me most was in talking to my Father, who is a civil engineer, he mentioned that if you can see Mica in the gravel (shiny silvery flakes) this indicates that the material contains asbestos. Sure enough, I looked again and saw Mica in the gravel. I called the quarry where they got the gravel from to complain and the guy I talked to acted like everything was fine. I wasn't much of an activist back then, so I didn't know what else to do.

Asbestos is everywhere. But just like second hand smoke, this doesn't mean that it is safe.