Asbestos News

A neighborhood in the Canadian province of British Columbia was recently alarmed by the presence of illegally dumped asbestos.

As many as 20 bags of the carcinogenic substance were found on a street in North Burnaby, according to CTV News.

While the substance in the bags was sent away for testing, the workers who removed it said that it was old insulation that contained asbestos.

Insulation used to frequently contain asbestos not only because it was useful in this capacity but it was resistant to fire. However, by the mid-1960s it became clear that exposure to asbestos was responsible for a number of serious illnesses such as asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, a rare and deadly cancer that attacks the thin membrane that lines the chest, abdomen and lungs.

Burnaby resident Farris Ataya told the news source that the discovery of the naturally occurring substance on the street was worrying.

"It is definitely concerning," she said. "You don't want to see your neighborhood having something that's no good."

The news provider reports that the city sees about five incidents of illegal asbestos dumping per year and often times the cases remain unsolved.