Canberra Government to demolish asbestos-contaminated homes

Our plain-English summary of Canberra Government to demolish asbestos-contaminated homes, by T. Kirby (The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine, 2014).

The study

• Author: T. Kirby
• Journal: The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine
• Published: 2014;2(12):975
• Type of article: News
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a short news report, not a research study. The author reported that more than 1000 asbestos-contaminated homes in Canberra, ACT, Australia, were to be bought and demolished by the Territory Government. In the 1960s and 1970s a company called Mr Fluffy used large quantities of asbestos as insulation in then newly built houses. A clean-up programme in the 1980s and 1990s was not fully successful, and tests showed substantial volumes of harmful asbestos fibres still lingered in many of the homes. The ACT Government accepted AUS$1 billion (US$888 million) from the Commonwealth Government for a 5-year programme to buy and demolish the 1021 homes containing loose fill asbestos fibres and then sell the land. Participation was to be phased to give families time to consider their options. Matthew Peters, President of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, was quoted as saying that demolition and complete removal was the only strategy that acceptably addressed the health risks occupiers would face. Ian Olver, President of the Cancer Council of Australia, said occupants were still being exposed to asbestos dust despite an earlier all clear.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: news report (not a research study)
• Who was studied: 1021 homes in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia, containing loose fill asbestos insulation (described as more than 1000 homes); no people were studied
• Exposure: Loose fill asbestos used as insulation by a company called Mr Fluffy in houses built in the 1960s and 1970s; the fiber type is not named
• Main results:
  • A national clean-up programme in the 1980s and 1990s was not fully successful.
  • Tests showed substantial volumes of harmful asbestos fibres still lingered in many of the homes.
  • The ACT Government accepted AUS$1 billion (US$888 million) from the Commonwealth Government.
  • A 5-year programme was to buy and demolish the 1021 affected homes and then sell the land.
  • Participation in the scheme was to be phased to give families time to consider their options.
  • Ian Olver, President of the Cancer Council of Australia, said home owners had been given an all clear some years earlier, yet occupants were still being exposed to asbestos dust from the insulating material.
• The authors' conclusion: The news report draws no conclusion of its own. It quotes Matthew Peters, President of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, as saying that demolition and complete removal was the only strategy that acceptably addressed the health risks to current and future occupiers.

Related studies

• Increasing incidence of malignant mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos during home maintenance and renovation — N.J. Olsen, P.J. Franklin, et al. (2011)
• Asbestos exposure during home renovation in New South Wales — E.K. Park, D.H. Yates, et al. (2013)
• A study of fibrous aerosols in the home environment in Sosnowiec, Poland — J.S. Pastuszka, A. Kabala-Dzik, et al. (1999)
• Asbestos exposure during home renovation in New South Wales — R.A. Lemen, A.L. Frank, et al. (2014)
• Asbestos exposure during home renovation in New South Wales — A.R. Johnson, D.H. Yates (2014)
• Evaluation of take-home exposure and risk associated with the handling of clothing contaminated with chrysotile asbestos — J. Sahmel, C.A. Barlow, et al. (2014)

Browse more research in The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine, or return to medical research.