Santa Fe company charged with improperly handling carcinogenic asbestos materials

A Santa Fe paving firm has been accused of illegally dumping asbestos. The New Mexico Environment Department issued a compliance order against Advantage Asphalt, alleging the company mishandled the hazardous material in early 2009.

The company bagged pipes containing the material during a road project in Bloomfield, New Mexico. Those pipes were then sent to a landfill.

Asbestos is a highly toxic material, which must be dealt with and disposed of properly. Once exploited for its fire retardant properties, the material can be found in tile flooring, roofing and other construction materials.

Extended exposure to the material has been known to cause several diseases, including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the rarest and most aggressive asbestos disease, known to affect the mesothelium.

Unfortunately, treatment for those diagnosed with the asbestos cancer tends to arrive late. For symptoms of the disease, such as shortness of breath and chest pain, lie dormant for 10 to 50 years. Due to the disease’s extended latency period, doctors struggle to diagnose patients in the early stages of their disease. Mesothelioma treatment involves chemo, surgery and sometimes radiation and the incorporation of alternative therapies such as acupuncture and massage, but there is no cure for this cancer.

Advantage Asphalt should have disposed of the pipes in an area which accepts hazardous materials such as asbestos. Advantage Asphalt attorney Matthew Ortiz, however, argues the company shouldn’t be held responsible for their actions.

Ortiz has claimed the city of Bloomfield failed to inform the company of the asbestos, and therefore should not be held accountable.