Environment Ministry still in the dark about asbestos on IDF bases

By SARAH SECHAN
Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan contacted Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday and urgently demanded that his ministry immediately forward the results of the survey mapping the asbestos in army bases to professionals in the Environmental Protection Ministry. Erdan noted that it has been more than two and a half years since the Defense Ministry received the data results, and that they have not yet been transferred to the Environmental Protection Ministry. Erdan emphasized in his missive to Barak that there has been a consistent disregard of the Environmental Protection Ministry's repeated requests for the information over the past year, thereby preventing ministry representatives from being able to work to prevent the exposure of soldiers and civilians alike to the carcinogenic hazards of asbestos. Erdan added that according to reliable information which has been revealed in recent days by a knowledgeable source, the IDF survey points to asbestos hazards in dozens of bases, which means that soldiers and civilians are exposed daily to asbestos fibers without their knowledge. "The failure to share the data mapping of the asbestos in the IDF bases prevents the Ministry of Environmental Protection from reducing the exposure of thousands of people to environmental dangers," he said.