Measurement and removal of asbestos in residential dwellings to be demolished-urban transformation experience in Izmir, Turkey

Our plain-English summary of Measurement and removal of asbestos in residential dwellings to be demolished-urban transformation experience in Izmir, Turkey, by Y.Ö. Tetik, İ.B. Zümrüt, A.G. Çamurcu, et al (Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, 2024).

The study

• Authors: Y.Ö. Tetik, İ.B. Zümrüt, A.G. Çamurcu, Ö.A. Kale, S. Baradan
• Journal: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International
• Published: 2024;31(6):9857-9866
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Asbestos has been used extensively in the construction industry for its superior insulation properties before its health hazards were discovered and its use eventually banned. It is likely that many residential buildings built before the 2000s in Turkey contain asbestos. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness of the potential danger of asbestos exposure during demolition work and to identify asbestos-containing materials and ensure their safe removal and disposal. This study is executed to determine the residential dwellings containing asbestos in Izmir, Turkey. The research included field studies to determine asbestos presence in the buildings that were damaged during the 2020 earthquake. Air measurements and bulk samples were taken from 50 buildings that would go through the demolition process. Eleven buildings were found to contain asbestos which corresponds to 22%. The detected asbestos type was 60% chrysotile (white asbestos). Results could be helpful for future demolition work, which are conducted in the same region that includes buildings with similar properties. Also, it is expected that the database created for this study could be useful in other studies in Turkey, where accurate statistical data related with asbestos measurements is essentially non-existent.

© 2024. The Author(s).

In plain English

This field study sampled 50 residential buildings in seven districts of Izmir, Turkey, due for demolition during urban renewal. The buildings were built between 1955 and 1998. The team took 505 bulk samples from materials such as floor tiles, wall coverings and roofing, analyzed by polarized light microscopy, plus air samples analyzed by phase-contrast microscopy. Asbestos was found in 11 of the 50 buildings (22%). The article reports the asbestos type as 60% chrysotile and does not say what the rest was. Chrysotile was most common in roofs and basements, and the asbestos roofing was corrugated asbestos-cement sheet. The text says the share of asbestos-containing material per building ranged from 4% to 25%, although Table 1 lists 33% for one building. During removal, outdoor air near the buildings measured 0.0066 to 0.0242 fibers per cubic centimeter. Workers' personal 8-hour time-weighted average exposures were 0.0053 to 0.0192 fibers per cubic centimeter. The authors concluded that worker exposure did not exceed the 0.1 fiber per cubic centimeter limit, which they linked to precautions such as applying a binder solution and removing materials without breaking them.

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: Field survey of buildings before demolition, with bulk material sampling and air sampling during asbestos removal
• Who was studied: 50 residential buildings (total area 10,325 m2) built between 1955 and 1998, in seven districts of Izmir, Turkey (Karabağlar, Bornova, Çiğli, Karşıyaka, Buca, Konak, Bayraklı), chosen because they were due for demolition in the urban renewal process
• Exposure: Asbestos-containing building materials. At least 10 bulk samples were taken per building, 505 in total, and analyzed by polarized light microscopy (PLM). Four air samples were taken per building: one outdoors during removal, one personal sample from a worker during removal and transport, and two reserve (blind) samples. Air samples were analyzed by phase-contrast microscopy (PCM) following NIOSH 7400.
• Main results:
  • Asbestos was found in 11 of the 50 buildings (22%): Buca 3, Bayraklı 2, Bornova 2, Çiğli 2, Karşıyaka 1, Karabağlar 1
  • The detected asbestos type was 60% chrysotile (white asbestos). The article does not identify the remainder.
  • Chrysotile was most abundant in roofs and basements. The asbestos-containing roofing material was corrugated asbestos-cement sheet.
  • In the text, the ratio of asbestos-containing material per building ranged from 4% to 25%. Table 1 lists 33% for building B-06.
  • The total floor area of the 11 asbestos-containing buildings was 2,112 m2, about 20% of the total. The article prints this as 2.112, and the Table 1 floor areas add up to 2,112.
  • Outdoor air near the asbestos-containing buildings during removal measured from 0.0066 to 0.0242 PCM fibers/cm3
  • Workers' personal 8-hour TWA exposures in Table 2 ranged from 0.0053 to 0.0192 fibers/cm3, below the permissible exposure limit of 0.1 fiber/cm3 as an 8-hour TWA
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that 22% of the sampled dwellings contained asbestos, which showed the significance of asbestos surveys and removal before demolition in Izmir. They also concluded that worker exposure did not exceed the 0.1 fiber/cm3 limit, which they attributed to precautions taken during removal, and that outdoor fiber levels were relatively low compared with other published results.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors used PLM and PCM, and recommended that future studies use transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which can identify fiber types and the type of asbestos more reliably

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Chrysotile, Construction.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos-Containing Material (ACM), Chrysotile.

Related studies

• Measurement of asbestos emissions associated with demolition of abandoned residential dwellings — R.L. Neitzel, S.K. Sayler, et al. (2020)
• Occupational exposure in the removal and disposal of asbestos-containing materials in Italy — A. Scarselli, M. Corfiati, et al. (2016)
• Spatio-seasonal variation of airborne asbestos concentration in urban areas of Shiraz, Iran — M.K. Fathi Fathabadi, A. Abdolahnejad, et al. (2017)
• Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit — A. Franzblau, A.H. Demond, et al. (2020)
• Letter to Editor regarding Franzblau et al. 2020: Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit, Science of Total Environment, v714,1-8 — A.L. Frank (2020)
• Response to Letter to the Editor regarding Franzblau et al., Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit, from Prof. Arthur Frank, MD, PhD — A. Franzblau, A.H. Demond, et al. (2020)

Browse more research in Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, or return to medical research.