A former Sunshine North resident says he feels let down and as if his family “have been poisoned” because they lived near the controversial former Wunderlich factory.
Tony, who declined to give his last name, grew up just 500 metres from the factory and says authorities have not done enough to explore what other health conditions exposure to asbestos may cause. The Wunderlich factory, formerly owned by CSR and James Hardie, manufactured asbestos sheeting for 50 years up until the early 1980s.
“One by one, my family have fallen ill with auto-immune diseases,” Tony said.
“I can’t believe it’s genetic when just my immediate family who lived there have been affected. There were plenty of other contaminates floating around,” he said.
“It [asbestos] can cause much more than just lung cancer. Even if you get a couple of grains in your system, it changes your DNA.”
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has confirmed it is waiting on results of further asbestos sampling.
Tony says he has door-knocked the streets surrounding McIntyre Road.
“I’ve walked the walk. A lot of those neighbours aren’t there any more; they’ve shifted away. I wonder if they’ve suffered from anything related and joined the dots?”
EPA chief executive officer Nial Finegan said results from the second round of sampling would be explained to residents once they were in.
Fifty Sunshine North properties have been tested for asbestos following last year’s discovery of a cancer cluster surrounding the former asbestos factory.
Results from 38 of the properties indicated “a very low risk to householders”, a state government update posted on the Brimbank council website last month stated.
Dust samples were taken from attics, soil samples were taken from gardens, and air samples from living areas.
“For living area air tests, EPA’s expert consultants used ISO [International Organization for Standardization] testing. In air samples, there were no detectable fibres of asbestos,” Mr Finegan said.
“For soil and roof cavities, EPA’s consultants … found no respirable fibres of asbestos.”
Tony said he wanted answers on what other chemicals were floating in the air at the time.
“How can we trust them when they’ve said it’s non-breathable? It was in the air, it was scattered everywhere. Even 40 years after it’s closed down, they’re still finding traces of it in roofs.”
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