HEALTH experts have warned that "disturbingly high concentrations" of asbestos are being found in suburban gardens across Scotland.
The Edinburgh-based Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) said the cancer-causing material was now being regularly discovered in the backyards of homes built on reclaimed industrial land.
The material – used extensively by the construction indu
stry as a fire retardant in the 20th century – has been left in the ground after the demolition of former industrial buildings.
Hundreds of homes could be affected because of the move to build new housing estates on the "brownfield sites", left behind following the decline of Scottish manufacturing base.
IOM experts fear asbestos dust, which can cause fatal lung diseases, can be disturbed in potentially-dangerous concentrations when homeowners dig their gardens.
The part public-funded agency, which is based at Riccarton, on the edge of Edinburgh, held a seminar on the asbestos risk in gardens for environmental health officers in Scotland. In a statement, it said: "We regularly find asbestos contamination in gardens in housing estates, often on redeveloped brownfield sites.
"Concentrations can be disturbingly high. In dry weather, asbestos can easily become airborne as a result of active gardening and children's sports and games.
"Our risk assessments have revealed that these asbestos exposures can cause small increased risks of lung cancer and mesothelioma."
Officials across Scotland were reluctant to reveal exact locations of garden contamination by asbestos amid fears that such information would cause alarm. They stressed that the country's wet climate often mitigated against topsoil drying out sufficiently to allow asbestos fibres to escape.
Several types of asbestos fibre - of which blue is the most dangerous - were used by the construction industry. Dr Alan Jones, the IOM's asbestos expert, said: "The risk will depend on the type and quantity of asbestos. It is only a danger if it is inhaled. If it is trapped under a driveway or even vegetation than it is no problem.
"It is when material starts to break up and you get fibres released, say during rotavation, and when there is a higher concentration that you have a concern. But we think the problem of asbestos in gardens is more commonplace than the public is aware."
Jones said that present-day practice would demand asbestos presence-surveys before former industrial buildings are pulled down and that any asbestos should be removed.
"But it is not always possible to be 100 per cent successful," he added.
"We need to build houses somewhere and there are so many brownfield sites being used it is easy for a developer to miss asbestos, thinking it is just another piece of rubble. If the problem isn't dealt with before construction, it gets harder to handle when the estate is already built and the building land becomes a bit of somebody's garden."
Anthony Carson, principal environmental health officer at Scottish Borders Council, said: "Asbestos is very emotive because of the very clear occupational health risks from it in the workplace. When you do find asbestos in somebody's garden, it is very difficult to risk assess it. Just the presence of asbestos may not amount to a risk.
"When people are advised there are levels of asbestos but that it falls below the level that we would normally be concerned about they still feel uncertain about 'whether there is a risk to me'."
The Health and Safety Executive last week warned Scottish tradesmen about the dangers of dealing with asbestos. Some 20 plumbers, electricians and carpenters die every year from diseases related to its inhalation.
The advice is the same to DIYers and gardeners. "If you do come across some asbestos, tell your local authority and try not to disturb it," an official said.
Some 8,000 people, mostly people who inhaled asbestos fibres while worked in shipbuilding, construction and manufacturing decades ago, die from asbestos-related cancers every year in the UK. The figure is expected to rise to 10,000 a year by 2020. It can take 25 years for asbestos-related diseases to kill.
The IOM is currently acting as a consultant on a case in Wolverhampton where the authorities have uncovered nine danger spots for asbestos in a housing estate built on the site of a former textile mill.
They are now testing some 300 private gardens for what they suspect could be more of the material, which was bulldozed into the ground after the old factory was demolished.
