The cleanup of the old NSW asbestos mine located at Barraba is set to commence in the second half of this year. Recently, a community meeting occurred in respect to the abandoned asbestos mine as to the proposed cleanup by the NSW government.
The asbestos taken from the Barraba mine was chrysotile, being white asbestos. In the past, there has been some suggestion by a minority of people that white asbestos did not produce mesothelioma. These days, however, it is beyond controversy that white asbestos can cause mesothelioma, although it has less carcinogenicity than blue asbestos and brown asbestos. The ABC News report on the asbestos cleanup quoted Dr Durrheim of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, who said there is no safe level of exposure to white asbestos.
There have been a number of asbestos compensation claims in Australia in which the Australia asbestos victim has alleged that their asbestos condition was caused purely as a result of exposure to white asbestos, for example in asbestos brake lining cases and asbestos vinyl tile cases.
It is hoped that the asbestos contamination of Barraba is cleaned up so as to prevent persons who live in and around Barraba from developing asbestos conditions such as pleural mesothelioma.
