Home » “Away asbestos from cities”, the EU asks member states to review the rules

“Away asbestos from cities”, the EU asks member states to review the rules

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“Away asbestos from cities”, the EU asks member states to review the rules

Get rid of the asbestos from the cities. The European Commission takes the opportunity of the sustainability strategy to strongly relaunch the campaign against the carcinogen banned at EU level in 2005 but still too present. Because it is estimated that there are still over 220 million buildings in the whole of the European Union built before that date, and even if it is difficult to take a census of all structures containing asbestos, “it is likely that a substantial part” of houses, offices and warehouses still in use today are not up to standard because the legacy of the past that Brussels wants to erase. The EU executive therefore asks the states to review EU standards, through an amendment to the directive on energy performance in buildings that includes the elimination of hazardous substances such as asbestos.

The initiative combines the Green Deal and the strategy for the fight against cancer desired by the European People’s Party of which the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is an expression. Updated data indicate that 78% of cases of cancer contracted in the workplace are due to exposure to asbestos, and currently between 4.1 million and 7.3 million workers across the EU are in contact, and therefore exposed to this substance. In 2019 alone, about 70,000 men and women died from cancer directly linked to this material, and the Commission has decided to put a stop to this phenomenon through the proposal to also amend the directive on asbestos and the workplace, with the aim of reduce exposure by 10 times. The von der Leyen team wants to reduce the current threshold of 0.1 asbestos fibers per cubic centimeter to 0.01 fibers per cm3.

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“The change we are proposing today will drastically reduce exposure levels for workers and provide training and guidance for employers,” assures Nicola Schmit, the Commissioner responsible for Labor and Social Affairs. Once adopted, states will have two years to comply and lower this threshold.

But the twelve-star action doesn’t stop there. It is proposed to introduce national legislation for the monitoring and registration of asbestos in buildings, public and private, and to modify the protocol and guidelines on the management of construction and demolition waste for a correct management of waste of the substance harmful to human health. Member States and social partners are called upon to ‘accelerate action’ to clean cities of asbestos. Because, recalls the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, “40% of cancer cases can be prevented” and therefore avoided.

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