Asbestos in soil

Our friends have asked me the following question & as I was unsure thought I'd 'throw it open' so to speak! Last year they planted a Rhubarb root & this year were going to pull some of the stalks but on tidying up the soil around the plant noticed a few small pieces of asbestos. To me the pieces look as if they came from the asbestos sheeting used years ago for cladding sheds etc. I'm surprised out friends did not notice the asbestos when planting out the Rhubarb. Would the presence of asbestos in the soil affect the Rhubarb causing it to be a danger to one's health if consumed?

 

No!!

Val

 

No. Our soil is full of this material and we have survived the last 20 years of eating stuff..............

 

The risk to health is if you inhale the fibres. My mate used to work for a specialist asbestos disposal firm. I'm sure there's more to it than my understanding, from what I can gather from when he's talked about his job, it seems they keep it moist while working on it so that the fibres are too heavy to go airborne. He did talk about injecting cavities with some form of resin before opening them etc, but if your asbestos is in the soil, it is probably low risk, but I wouldn't like to commit to that.

Another thing is, are you sure its asbestos? There is another material that looks like it and was used in a similar way, as corrugated roof sheets, but actually isn't. I'm told its more like a weak concrete mix but I'm not a builder so I might have got that very wrong.

 

Thanks for the advice folks, I'll pass it on.

Regarding your comments clueless1 about a similar material that looks like asbestos. I take your point as I still see this stuff on sheds in the form of corrugated roofing. It's similar to what clad some prefabs after the war.

 

I think the term is "asbestos cement sheeting", or something like that.
I've still got it on my shed roof and its still around in lots of places.

Its not the really hazardous type and I think is mainly cement bound together with fibres.

No way could a plant absorb any nasties from it.