Asbestos Discovered Near Samsung's Former Korean Headquarters

SEOUL - On Tuesday, March 7, 2009, the South Korean government reported that it had found significant amounts of asbestos-a known cancer causing substance-near the former headquarters of the electronics giant Samsung. The asbestos was discovered in dust that had settled near Samsung's old corporate residence in the Taepyeong-ro, Jung-gu section of Seoul - the hazardous material's presence is suspected of being the result of major renovations now going on within the building.

Inspectors from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) were particularly disturbed when a laboratory analysis of the asbestos discovered at the site revealed the material to be of the crocidolite or "blue" asbestos type, which is considered to be, by far, the most lethal form of asbestos. When KOSHA technicians completed the analysis of air samples taken at the site, they had good and bad news to report. KOSHA personnel took a total of 12 air samples from inside the former Samsung building, eight particulate samples from dust that had settled on the floor, and nine particulate samples from construction dust that had settled outside the building.

The good news is that no detectable levels of asbestos had been found in the air inside or outside the building, though, crocidolite asbestos was found in all eight of the floor dust samplings and in five of the nine dust piles outside the building. Because no blue asbestos had been discovered in any of the air samples taken, officials are unsure whether the health of workers or passersby had been placed in jeopardy.

Asbestos was once widely prized and extensively utilized by a broad spectrum of industries that used the material in countless products and industrial processes. Asbestos is virtually fireproof, has a tensile strength higher than steel relative to its fiber size, is resistant to damage from harsh chemical corrosives, and has superior insulating qualities. For all these reasons and more, asbestos found its way into a wide variety of building products, and the toxic substance exists in millions of buildings old and new around the globe.

The widespread industrial uses of asbestos came to a halt in the early 1970s, when it was confirmed that the inhalation of microscopic asbestos fibers could lead to the onset of a variety of diseases, particularly respiratory illnesses such as the deadly, highly aggressive, and incurable form of cancer known as malignant mesothelioma. Because of the extreme toxicity of asbestos, Korean officials are rightly concerned about the presence of the substance at the former Samsung building site.

KOSHA experts speculate that the bulk of the crocidolite asbestos present at the site is the result of applications of a variety of asbestos-containing spray coatings that were widely used on floors, walls, and ceilings to increase the fire resistance of these surfaces. Such spray coatings were once very popular prior to the time when the extreme dangers of asbestos had been confirmed.

As it turns out, KOSHA technicians aren't wholly convinced that all the asbestos contamination in the area is solely due to work being done within the former Samsung building. A researcher at the government agency, Lee Na-ru said, "We are not even sure whether the Samsung building alone is responsible for the detection since nearby buildings could have used the material for the same purpose and the substance could have been carried in the air, too."

Many Korean citizens are alarmed by the KOSHA findings, and a spokesperson for the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements stated the group's case. "The results show that vendors and other citizens who live and walk by the building were exposed to the deadly substance, but the government has done nothing about it." Government officials counter by saying that it was they who uncovered the problem, and that appropriate steps will be taken to protect the public's health.

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