health

Fiberglass fire fumes irritating

LA PRENSA

dumped: Fiberglass is causing problems in Los Santos.1019716

People who make their living collecting scrap metal from municipal landfills throughout the Los Santos province have alerted authorities that fiber glass particles remain after passing through the incinerator, creating a health hazard.

During a tour through the Las Tablas dump last Wednesday authorities discovered three piles of fiberglass, seemingly unaffected by the controlled fires and the passage of several weeks.

Two collectors, also known as "pepenadores," told La Prensa reporters that the smoke produced when fiber glass is burnt causes irritates the skin, eyes, nose and throat.

Melquíades González, mayor of Las Tablas, corroborated the pepenadores´s complaints, and acknowledged that illegal dumping of the material at municipal dumps has impeded incineration processes.

He added that the current operator of the tractor, whose job it is to layer earth and trash at the landfill, has refused to work when fiberglass is present.

González said that an investigation is underway to find those responsible for dumping the hazardous material without advising the incinerator´s management.

Last Monday, Catalino Dominguez, regional director of the Ministerio de Educación (Meduca) in Los Santos, announced the temporary closure of the Colegio Manuel María Tejada Roca in Las Tablas, after 250 students were treated for inhaling fiberglass particles. It was not the first time fiberglass had affected the school year there.

Last February, more than 2,000 students complained of itching and allergic reactions to the fiberglass insulation in the roof of the school´s gymnasium.

Dominguez said that Meduca has hired the firm STI Panama to collect samples from the campus which will be sent to a laboratory in Canada.