COLUMBIA – A Food Lion grocery store located at 3890 S. Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach has voluntarily closed while an investigation is underway into the finding of asbestos in dust in the building during a renovation, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control announced today.
“A contractor began removing floor tiles last month with a process that is suspected to have released asbestos fibers from the mastic used to secure those tiles,” said Myra Reece, chief of DHEC’s Bureau of Air Quality. “The process that was used should have been done in a manner that limits the amount of asbestos released into the air thus protecting the workers, store employees and customers.”
Reece said anyone who was in the store between Feb. 18 and March 25 should be aware of the issue.
“Our concern is that people who were in the store during this time may have breathed in asbestos fibers or purchased food products that may have asbestos-containing dust on them,” Reece said. “While air samples in the store during the project showed no asbestos, other DHEC samples on store surfaces found evidence of chrysotile, an asbestos mineral.”
Reece said asbestos is a term given to a group of highly fibrous minerals with separable, long and thin fibers. Asbestos fibers are heat resistant and have many industrial uses. Due to their durability, tiny asbestos fibers can be inhaled deep into lung tissue and remain for long periods of time resulting in health effects and illness decades later.
“While shoppers at the store between Feb. 18 and March 25 could have been exposed, the potential for long term health effects is low,” said Erik R. Svendsen, PhD, DHEC’s state environmental epidemiologist.
Svendsen said DHEC has prepared a fact sheet with answers to questions customers may have about the issue and what to do with food items purchased from the store between Feb. 18 and March 25. That information can be found at DHEC’s Web site at http://www.scdhec.gov. A fact sheet on asbestos is available from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Web site at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts61.html.