LEGAL REASONS

Legal and economic considerations also have made it difficult to change an asbestos policy that doesn’t make sense. Insurance companies don't like to insure buildings containing asbestos.

Some state courts have ordered insurance companies to pay for asbestos removal, ruling that the presence of asbestos is type of property damage covered by the policy, no different from damage caused by a hurricane.

"Property insures treat any building with asbestos very gingerly", says Sean Moody, chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute, an Industry trade group. "The insurers have been burned in the past, so they’re very nervous about issuing policies."

Moody says building owners, realizing the presence of asbestos can send the value of their buildings plummeting, sometimes have torched their properties and filed claims.

Banks are careful about financing the purchase or renovation of buildings containing asbestos.

"The way the law reads is that if there is an environmental problem, anyone in the chain of title can be held responsible, going back forever. Since the bank is the one with deep pockets, we’re the one everyone wants to sue," says Tom Frye, senior vice president of real estate lending at Sun Trust banks in Nashville. "In order to protect ourselves, banks have to make sure that asbestos is taken care of before the loan is made. That could mean containing it or removing it."

"I’m looking out my window now at an old 11-story building that sold for $4.3 million. The new owner spent $900,000 on asbestos abatement and converted it to a hotel. You don’t have to be a mathematician to know the building would have been worth $ 5.2 million without asbestos."

Frye is aware that the danger of asbestos in buildings is minimal. But his job is to protect the bank’s liability, not make social policy.

"It’s ridiculous what we sometimes have to demand of people, "he says. "But that’s what responsible bankers do. That’s the way of the world."

Cut line from photo(s) printed with this story : Spacesuits : In the USA technicians don protective gear and ventilators to remove asbestos. Edward Zalig, a worker at Asbestos Control in Chicago, holds material that had been used to insulate pipes. The right way: Workers from Asbestos Control remove asbestos from the Dirksen Court House in Chicago. As each floor is remodeled, the asbestos disturbed by construction crews is removed. Intact asbestos is left in place because it poses no health risk.