The Pomezia fire remains a mystery. Except for one thing: we're surrounded by asbestos everywhere.

HEALTH RISKS OF ASBESTOS –

Days, several days, after the tragic fire at the warehouse of the Eco-X in Pomezia, with devastating effects and damage up to the gates of Rome, still all the questions about the fire (starting from the first: how it was released) I am unansweredAnd this is already serious. Rumors pile up, uncertainties pile up, and as usual when there's an environmental disaster in Italy, a mammoth bureaucratic machine has been set in motion. Everyone and no one.

ALSO READ: Asbestos continues to kill 4 people each year, with 2500 schools at risk.

ASBESTOS DUST IN THE AIR –

Local administrators, from mayors to various presidents and councilors, are obviously shouting in a clever attempt to shirk any responsibility. And to stand with "the people," the same people who have been breathing poison in that area for years. Then we have the ministries (Health, Environment, Education), the local health authorities, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the usual ad hoc agencies. And what do we know? What have we understood? Little, almost nothing, and in any case, speaking of collateral damage, For the moment, food produced within an area of ​​50 kilometers from the disaster site has been banned from all school canteens in Rome..

ASBESTOS: WHEN IS IT DANGEROUS –

The only confirmed fact, however, is as serious as the fire and exponentially amplifies the damage: In Pomezia, that poison depot, whose list of contents is truly impressive (batteries, plastics, tires: everything, and more) is stuffed with asbestos.The horrendous and deadly asbestos, with its terrible fibers that it releases, which are inhaled and end up in the bronchi and lungs, through an incubation period that can last 25-40 years. Asbestos, which, after more than twenty years of proven knowledge of its damage, inflates schools, many schools, public and private buildings across half the country.

TO KNOW MORE: The Bari factory that has continued to kill people due to asbestos since 1972

RISK OF EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS –

How much asbestos do we still have in Italy? Unfortunately, a lot. Thirty-two million tons, equal to approximately 5 quintals for each citizen. And this silent killer of our health It hides everywhere: in roofing and garage siding, in offices built with a material that has since become illegal, in water pipes, train tracks, schools, and gyms. Everywhere, in short. With the catastrophic result that, according to the Ministry of Health's calculations, There are still 3 victims per year in Italy, affected by asbestos radiation.

ASBESTOS TUMORS MESOTHELIOMA –

In particular, this authentic massacre of the innocents is manifested through mesothelioma, a particular and deadly type of tumor which develops following exposure to asbestos. In Italy, there are approximately one thousand diagnoses of mesothelioma each year.

ASBESTOS: DAMAGE TO HEALTH –

The absurd thing is that we are still surrounded by asbestos, with its associated damage to the environment and our health, despite the fact that its use has been banned for almost twenty years. Twenty years wasted, in a battle still losing.

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