Asbestos News

A large quantity of asbestos was recently dumped illegally near a cemetery in the UK.

The asbestos-containing waste, which included sheets of the dangerous material, were found at the gates of a Hampshire cemetery, according to the Southern Daily Echo.

West End Parish Council will reportedly have to pay £650 to have the asbestos removed.

Council chairman Neville Lovett said that he will do his best to find the illegal dumpers. He also said that such illegal dumping was harmful to the community.

"It is disgusting. People who just don’t care and expect the taxpayer to bear the expense of their inadequacy," he told the news source. "What if children had played in this? Lots of people experience problems in later life after being exposed to this."

Asbestos exposure can cause a number of serious illnesses such as malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. According to the World Health Organization, these diseases kill about 107,000 people each year around the world.

Funeral director Simon Waters, of Waters & Sons, said that the waste dumped near the cemetery could potentially affect those in mourning.

"We try to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible on the day of a funeral and it is terrible that a person could be so disrespectful and deceitful as to use a place where people’s loved ones are buried as a [dump]," he told the Echo.