Safe as asbestos....

Dear readers

This is another “you just couldn’t make it up” story from the Somerset village of Isle Brewers. In which various agencies trip over each other (and the facts) to explain how a bund that the Environment Agency asked to be removed more than a decade ago still exists and a public footpath is blocked by said bund, which is now strewn with builders’ rubble containing asbestos.

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Andrew Lee - Editor

On 20 July, just as the school holidays were getting underway, the Government put out a press release expressing concern about asbestos in toys. Headlined “Stronger asbestos controls needed to keep kids safe”, the release noted a number of recent product recalls relating to asbestos contamination in toys.

“Businesses”, they said, “should have robust supply chain assurance in place to demonstrate that products are free from asbestos contamination. Product testing may form part of that assurance, but testing alone is not sufficient.”

By an unhappy coincidence, on the same day a reader of Somerset Confidential® drew our attention to another asbestos problem that could affect children. This one is in the heart of Somerset and it has nothing to do with children’s toys.