7th April 2008 (Revised version)
The Casitile Effect
Why 90% of Asbestos containing materials may not actually contain asbestos
Asbestos Watchdog's UK research consultants, under Professor F. Pooley, have produced a series of research papers that seem to prove that white asbestos in cement (and probably plaster) undergoes a chemical and structural alteration that makes the fibre significantly different to the white asbestos formula defined in the Governments implementation of the EU asbestos regulations. This being the case then 90% of all asbestos materials should be excluded from the HSE's asbestos regulations and the EA's Hazardous Waste Directives.
So important are the implications of these findings that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) instructed the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) to duplicate Professor Pooley's investigation. However, rather than use the standard scientific approach of repeating Professor Pooley's work, for reasons best known to themselves, the HSL composed tests of their own. Their experiments were apparently designed to refute the findings and their scientific worth is questionable. The results, which we believe had no external peer review, are published on their web site. The findings are dubious to say the least but the reason for them is perhaps understandable when you consider the costs to the HSE & the EA of redrafting their regulations and the political unacceptability of admitting error.
