By Kim Rahn
Cancer-causing asbestos has been found in the soil at baseball park grounds, raising fears that not only players but also spectators might have been exposed to the harmful substance, an environment group said Monday.
The Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health said it detected the toxic substance in soil collected from Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul and four other ballparks nationwide.
It demanded a halt to games at those parks, citing health risk to players, umpires and spectators.
“The detection at the ballparks means players and coaches of the eight professional teams, umpires, facility management staff and spectators have been exposed to the cancer-causing material, while more than 6 million spectators have enjoyed baseball games this year alone,” Choe Ye-yong, director of the group, said.
The five parks are Jamsil stadium, the home of Doosan Bears and LG Twins, Sajik stadium of Lotte Giants, Munhak statdium of SK Wyverns, a ballpark in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, which LG’s farm team uses, and another park in Suwon used by citizens.
In 18 samples taken from the five parks in September, three types of asbestos were found _ tremolite asbestos and actinolite asbestos, the use of which was banned in 2003, and crysotile, which has been banned since 2009. Up to 1 percent of asbestos content was detected in the soil _ 10 times more than the permissible level, according to the report.
The analysis was conducted by the Korea Testing and Research Institute and the Institute of Specialized Analysis for Asbestos, organizations authorized by the environment and labor ministries, the group said.
“The soil was brought from two mines in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, which were once asbestos mines in the past. The government has failed to properly supervise abandoned mines, so the two have been reused as serpentine rock mines,” Choe said.
He added Jamsil stadium has been supplanting the soil from the mines since 2007.
For its part, the Ministry of Environment said it has no legal grounds to take any action against the use of asbestos-containing materials in the ballparks or school grounds. It said a law governing and restricting the use of asbestos will go into effect in April next year.
“Until then, we cannot take any legal action,” a ministry official said.
The civic group demanded games be stopped at the ballparks. “Asbestos can cause serious diseases such as lung cancer. In baseball, especially, players run and slide, stirring up dust, so asbestos can be directly inhaled damaging respiratory organs. The authorities should close the parks and remove the soil,” it said.
It also called for further studies across the nation on all sports facilities using similar minerals, such as golf ranges and tennis courts. “Those exposed to asbestos-containing soil, including players, should get health checkups as well,” Choe said.
Soil study results at another four professional team’s stadiums in Mok-dong in Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu and Gwangju, will be released within the week.