Questions over Asbestos Oversight in New York City

New York, NYThe management and public oversight of asbestos, the carcinogen that causes mesothelioma and asbestos cancer, took a major hit recently when the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) admitted that a safety inspector under its supervision falsified hundreds of reports and safety inspections with respect to buildings he had inspected in New York.

The New York Times reported on 7/20/10 that Saverio Todaro admitted to submitting scores of "clean" asbestos and lead test reports after inspecting buildings, without having performed any of the actual tests required.

The joint investigation by the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division and New York's Department of Investigation and federal prosecutors in Manhattan was triggered by a New York Times article that revealed the testimony of Todaro in federal court a month earlier.

The revelations caused serious doubt over the ability of the DEP to provide proper oversight with regard to the more than 500 inspectors in its charge. The inspectors do not directly work for the agency, but in fact are private inspectors certified by the DEP.

Todaro himself operated his own environmental and testing company.

The New York Times reports that the DEP conducted a two-month internal review and implemented a number of changes, as outlined and communicated to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on June 28.

While the conduct of Todaro was unprofessional, the agency said there was no evidence that such lapses were widespread.

Asbestos was at one time in constant use in hundreds of products, until its cancer-causing properties became well-known. Now, its use is banned in all but a handful of applications—notably the production of brake components for vehicles.

At one time a popular use for asbestos was in buildings and pipe/ductwork insulation. Sscores of older buildings contain potentially dangerous asbestos fibers which can, when disturbed, cause asbestos mesothelioma, an incurable disease that can incubate in the body for decades following exposure.

Various lawsuits have been filed on behalf of plaintiffs who were exposed to asbestos decades earlier, either in an industrial or manufacturing environment, or during renovations of older buildings where proper safety measures were not followed.

In the Todaro case, there was no mention of a review of the existing buildings Todaro admitted to not properly handling. However, it was noted that given the scope of Todaro's infraction and the elapsed time, most of the buildings involved have either been torn down, or gutted and completed renovated. Thus it is impossible to determine the levels of asbestos that may have affected not only asbestos workers, but neighbors and passersby.