Members of the Korean Railway Workers’ Union read a statement calling on KORAIL to take steps to deal with traces of asbestos found in insulation materials in train cars during a news conference at Seoul Station, Monday.
/ Korea Times Photo
by Kim Ju-young |
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Traces of asbestos, a grade-one carcinogen, were detected in heating systems installed in Mugunghwa and Saemaeul railway trains, the Korean Railway Workers' Union and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement claimed Monday.
Since the ventilation is poor, the potential impact on the human body could be critical, the groups said, questioning KORAIL's claims that the amount was not big enough to be considered a heath hazard.
According to the workers' union, out of 28 heating and interior material samples collected from 21 carriages, 43 percent were found with traces of asbestos of varying densities but, in some cases, dangerously high.
They attributed it to the failure to refurbish materials installed when there were no regulations.
"The cars we surveyed were made between 1986 and 1998 but those found with traces of asbestos date from 1986 and 1987 in terms of the manufacturing period," said Lee Tae-young, the union spokesman.
Saemaeul and Mugunghwa are cheaper alternatives to the KTX bullet train launched in 2004. "It has been a long time since asbestos has been a hot issue nationwide, but the company doesn't seem to care about the less profitable units," he added.
Currently, there are 1,006 Mugunghwa and 1,130 Saemaeul train cars in operation nationwide carrying an average of 200,000 passengers a day.
The group asked the government to conduct a health checkup on the health of passengers and railway workers. "KORAIL needs to replace its fleets," Choi Ye-yong, an official of the environmental civic group, said.
The World Health Organization has long designated asbestos as a life-threatening substance that is known to cause respiratory diseases such as asbestosis and lung cancer, but it was only recently that Korea started to take it seriously.
In April, the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) confirmed that it had detected asbestos in 11 brands of baby talcum powders. The revelation expanded to capsule wrappings of several drugs, chewing gum, cosmetic goods and many other products. The authorities banned the sales of the respective products and called for a halt of the use of talcum powder in others.
In June, the Ministry of Environment confirmed that nearly one in two residents living in Hongseong and Boryeong near a closed mine in South Chungcheong Province contracted various lung diseases, apparently caused by asbestos inhalation.
Last week, an environmental civic group claimed that traces of asbestos were detected at four salt farms nationwide, apparently due to the slated roof of the salt warehouse.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
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