PESHAWAR, March 12: The high level of airborne asbestos fibre content produced by sheet cutting units in or near residential areas was a major cause of environmental pollution besides posing a hazard to the health of the local residents , researchers said here on Friday.

They said this while speaking at a three-day international conference on 'Environmental Challenges'.

Noor Jehan, an environmental researcher at the University of Peshawar, said that asbestos, a mineral found in the Mohmand Agency, was stored in the open, adding that cutting units were located near the Dagi Killey in the Mardan district. She said that inadequate care during its storage and production threatened the health of industrial workers and local residents.

"Out of a sample of 80 people, 40 were found to be suffering from lung ailments and of these patients who were brought to IRNUM or Lady Reading Hospital, 30 women were exposed to the airborne asbestos," Noor Jehan said.

Participants were shown photographs with workers handling asbestos sheets without adequate protective gear. A photograph showed asbestos sheets being placed and processed near a maternity care centre.

She referred to another instance, in which asbestos sheets were used in the building of a madressah, exposing its students to a host of diseases caused by the exposure to the hazardous mineral.

Dilating on the carcinogenic properties of the element, she said that asbestos caused cancer in lungs, larynx and abdomen besides causing fibrosis in ovaries and lungs, skin irritation and eye allergies even in cases where the exposure to the element was of a short duration.

Industrial workers, she said, were exposed to the mineral for at least eight hours.

The research showed that air samples taken from near these units contained a very high concentration of asbestos fibre with nine fibres per cubic centimetres found in a 15-minute period whereas the permissible airborne level was 0.01 fibre per cubic centimetre.

Air samples showed that the airborne asbestos fibres concentration was higher in Sari Killey and the exposure limit was 1,000 times more than the international permissible levels.

These fibres originated from the cutting units and migrated towards the local neighbourhood, where 70 per cent of the residents were found to be affected by lungs diseases, a survey report revealed.