An NGO warned on Monday that workers' health is being placed at risk of asbestos, a banned cancer-causing building material at demolition sites.

Trevor Sun, project manager of the Hong Kong Workers' Health Centre, told at a news conference that the health of workers and residents in Choi Yuen Village and Lower Ngau Tau Kok (II) Estate was being endangered by asbestos residues found in randomly piled rubble around demolition sites.

Sun showed results of a laboratory test on rubble samples from the sites, showing the presence of asbestos.

He suggested that workers and citizens' health may have been undermined by the asbestos tossed in rubble heaps in Choi Yuen Village by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC).

He said that the contractor had been working against the provisions of the Air Pollution Control Ordinance while demolishing buildings.

He also pointed out that 1,100 of 1,400 buildings given preliminary evaluation under the Hong Kong Housing Society and Urban Renewal Authority's "Operation Building Bright" program contained asbestos.

Asbestos was widely used in construction before the 1980s.

Tse Lap Ah, assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said asbestos may lead to serious illness like pleural endotheliomas and asbetosis, and even lung cancer.

The malignant pleural endotheliomas and lung cancer still lack effective methods of treatment.

Most of the sufferers are shipyard and construction workers, he said.

The government has banned the import and sale of substances containing two kinds of asbestos since 1996.

However, other types of asbestos are still being imported to Hong Kong .

Sun said he hoped the Environmental Protection Department will help to augment building supervision and insist upon proper handing of asbestos rubble in Choi Yuen Village.

He also called on the Labour Department to make more careful examinations of demolishing workers to ensure they are properly equipped.

He also appealed for a physical check for the involved workers and citizens.

The MTRC said it was acting within the law on all phases of its work.

The environment and labor departments concurred that "no unlawful practices" had taken place during the demolition of Choi Yuen Village.

Housing Department replied that the area affected by the reconstruction of Lower Ngau Tau Kok (II) Estate is "quite limited".

China Daily

(HK Edition 03/29/2011 page1)