Booklet Outlines Ways to Deal With Asbestos

People who find asbestos in their homes or other real estate should check out the problem but avoid panic, the state government has advised.

The Contractors License Board has issued a free 12-page booklet advising property owners how to deal with asbestos.

Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-South San Francisco), who carried a bill last year to fund the publication, said it is designed to cope with “fiber phobia” because asbestos in the air has been found to be a cause of lung cancer.

“Asbestos in good condition should be left in place,” Speier said at a news conference. “If you have to disturb it, follow the procedures set forth in this book.”

Speier, who has emerged as the Legislature’s specialist on the asbestos issue, said recent publication of new asbestos regulations by the federal Environmental Protection Agency has led to “a ridiculous amount of fear of asbestos not based on evidence.”

The booklet, entitled “A Consumer Guide to Asbestos,” makes three key points. One is that asbestos is only dangerous when it is “friable,” or subject to dispersal in the air.

A second is that property owners should make sure that suspected insulation really is asbestos.

The third is to find out if the asbestos is really dangerous, and the fourth is to hire a qualified expert to get rid of it, if it has to go.

Asbestos, a material mined from the ground, was a widely used insulating material in the United States for about 50 years starting in the 1920s. Furnaces and heating pipes in homes and public buildings were covered with it until the 1970s, when asbestos in the air was found to cause lung cancer.

About 100,000 deaths in the United States have been attributed to it.

The booklet warns that if asbestos in a building is not in friable condition, it can be made dangerous by cutting it up in remodeling or repair work.

David Phillips, registrar of the Contractors License Board, said property owners should deal only with licensed asbestos contractors. About 160 are registered with the state at present.

Free copies of “A Consumer Guide to Asbestos” can be obtained by sending a request and a self-addressed label to the Contractors State License Board, P.O. Box 26000, Sacramento, Calif. 95826.

The state has printed 100,000 copies of the booklet.