Aussies are besotted with renovating. We’re infatuated with DIY lifestyle programs and the plethora of decorator products designed to excite the renovator in us. But what happens when we ignore the risks and don’t take the warnings about asbestos seriously? We could be risking our lives and the lives of our loved ones if deadly asbestos fibres are inhaled.
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Asbestos-related diseases are not a thing of the past. Every 14 hours, 1 Australian loses their life to mesothelioma. Every 13 hours another 13 families receive the tragic news that a loved one has the disease that will take their life, usually within months.
All too often I’ve heard people say that they don’t worry about the warnings, that they don’t think it will affect them, that they’re bullet-proof when it comes to asbestos. Well, with one-in-every-three homes containing asbestos in some form or another, homeowners and tradies could be risking their lives and the lives of families (even their kids) if they don’t take the warnings seriously.
Asbestos could be lurking in any home built or renovated before 1987 including brick, weatherboard, clad and fibro homes. Asbestos was used in the manufacture of hundreds of products and if these products are disturbed during renovations, that’s when fibres can be inhaled and can kill.
Death from asbestos is not a thing of the past. While we don’t know how many fibres it takes, what we do know is that the more fibres inhaled, the greater the risk to our health. Today, asbestos remains one of the greatest health threats to families and tradespeople who disturb asbestos during renovations and maintenance.
We must stop the ongoing tragic loss of Australian lives. Every Australian needs to know that when it comes to asbestos, they’ve got to go slow. Visit asbestosawareness.com.au to learn what you need to know!”
John Jarratt, Ambassador, Asbestos Awareness Month Campaign
History lessons
Ray Goodlass, in his column “Beersheba victory: nothing to celebrate” on November 7, voices his strong biased pro Palestinian and anti Israel opinion. In doing so, repeatedly, he is unaware of a number of facts or he doesn’t want to hear or know about these facts.
It is a historical fact that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the founding fathers of the Jewish nation. It is also reliably recorded in the book of Genesis what God promised to Abraham and how these promises were fulfilled in the following countries.
There is also this fact - there are 590 amahor prophecies recorded of which 570 have been fulfilled in detail. One of these was the restoration of the nation of Israel in 1948, and the return of many scattered Jews from all around the world.
You would have to be blind and deaf to ignore and discount the miraculous Beersheba victory by the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade and the saving of the vitally important water supply, just seconds from being blown up. And blind and deaf to ignore or explain away the miraculous military victories since 1948 when repeatedly small Israel defeated overwhelming enemy armies.
To be pro Israel does not automatically mean to be anti Palestinian, to the contrary. Palestinians are our neighbours and we are to love our neighbours as ourselves. But we abhor indiscriminate mortar and rocket firing at Israeli neighbourhoods.