On 2 March, the motion tabled by Asviamie, an association of asbestos victims in the Basque Country, was debated and approved in order to request the preparation and withdrawal of the asbestos census still in municipal buildings. This Tuesday was the turn of Zumarraga, and next week it will be discussed in the plenary sessions of four municipalities in Bizkaia: 28 March in Sestao and 30 March in Santurtzi, Barakaldo and Portugalete, according to the members of the association to ARGIA.

Asviami will require in these six municipalities that all municipal buildings be asbestos-free by 1 January 2028. In addition, the association requests that municipal social services provide support and advice to victims and their families.

Stop in the death row of the Spanish State

According to a study carried out by several media in nine European countries, these countries are among the most affected by asbestos in the Spanish State and Llodio in Álava. In particular, Beasain occupies the second place of this list, after the Cerdanyola del Vallés in Catalonia, where 138 people per 100,000 inhabitants have died from asbestos; in the third is Sestao, in the fifth is Santurtzi, in the seventh Barakaldo, in the ninth Llodio and in the tenth Portugalete.

This is the "sad balance" that the territories of Hego Euskal Herria make of the list of asbestos deaths: "In fact, they are at the head of the entire state, according to the number of inhabitants, with 748 deaths".

Two or three times more lethal than thought

Coordinated by Katharine Quarmby, a Danish investigative journalist, one of the main conclusions of the European-level study is that asbestos can be two or three times more deadly than was thought. In the European Union alone, between 70,000 and 90,000 people die every year from asbestos cancer.

The media Moncloa.com has provided Spanish state data: from 2000 to 2020 7,622 people have died from mesothelioma and asbestosis.

However, Asviami has recalled that in some types of diseases it is difficult to demonstrate the direct relationship of asbestos, for example in cancers of bronchi, lungs, ovaries and larynx.

A lot of asbestos still in buildings

It is not the first time that requests and initiatives have been launched to remove asbestos from municipal buildings. Maps or inventories of asbestos have been approved in several locations such as Hernani, Portugalete or Iruña de Oca. However, Asviami members have reminded this media that with these kinds of petitions they are going around and "time passes" since 2011.

According to European research, there are very different policies in each country to eliminate asbestos. Thus, while in Flanders and Poland they have comprehensive strategies to eliminate asbestos, in the Spanish State there is only one law that obliges municipal institutions to censor before April 2023.

"The municipal authorities must take appropriate measures to ensure that, in compliance with the law, the asbestos that was installed in the day is located and removed", warns Asviami