August 15, 2018
Reading Time: 2 minutesAIA New Jersey opposes the use of asbestos in building materials and urges the federal government to prioritize and take all necessary steps to completely and permanently ban its use. Regarding the Asbestos Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 11, 2018, I offer the following:
Asbestos is a dangerous material that has resulted in unnecessary loss of life and handicap of people. As architects, we are responsible for protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Part of that responsibility includes specifying the use of safe materials. Anything that allows the potential for dangerous materials, such as asbestos, to enter any part of the construction chain not only poses a risk to the public, but also unnecessarily increases the liability and cost of the design professional’s work. Therefore, there is no justifiable reason to include asbestos in the marketplace of today or tomorrow.
AIA New Jersey is proud to join with AIA and AIA 2018 President Carl Elefante, FAIA, in taking a stand against any use of asbestos.
Sincerely,
2018 President
AIA New Jersey
.
By AIANJ | Posted in AIA-NJ News, Architecture in NJ, Codes & Regulations, Environment, NJ Architect Newsletter | Tagged: Presidents Message, Verity Frizzell | Comments (1)
Architects are creative professionals, educated, trained, and experienced in the art and science of building design, and licensed to practice architecture. Their designs respond to client needs, wants and vision, protect public safety, provide economic value, are innovative, inspire and contribute positively to the community and the environment.
414 Riverview Plaza, Trenton, NJ 08611
(609) 393-5690
info@aia-nj.org
Architects are supposed to be purely objective professionals who do not latch onto every bandwagon. Smoking is about 25 times as dangerous as asbestos and the interactions are severe with many with asbestos issues also being smokers. Also, in the rush to demonize asbestos, the dangers of substitutes such as fiberglass have been ignored. There is credible research that it is the size and shape of the fibers more than the chemical composition. Check out naturalsociety.com. We have have to suffer through some architects pontificating on global warming due to political bias rather than investigating the issue and seeing the outright fraud that has pervaded that movement. Architects must not be simple political operatives, but scientific persons who weigh the benefits and liabilities of various materials and make intelligent decisions for the best interests of their clients.