out after Government MP Arthur Pitcher demolished asbestos filled homes on Southside last year.

Shadow Health Minister Kim Young attacked Government for not releasing the report and said it had been nine months since the incident and the report was long overdue.

Mrs. Young was speaking in yesterday's session in the House of Assembly where MPs were gathered to debate the health budget.

Mrs. Young said: "The Texas Road residents and the workers who demolished the buildings want to -- and should know -- what danger they are in.'' And she added that it could be years before any physical effects stemming from exposure become apparent.

Shadow Minister of the Environment, Gary Pitman also questioned Government about cell tower radiation emissions and the asbestos pollution on the Island.

Mr. Pitman said that an environmental study concluded that 70 percent of the 2.5 million square feet of buildings on the former US base contained asbestos, and 25 percent of this was the "friable,'' more dangerous kind.

He also criticised Government for not releasing the report concerning Mr.

Pitcher's handling of asbestos at Southside, as well as the hundreds of containers in the Works and Engineering Quarry which he said had rust holes big enough for a person to look through and see the asbestos.

He said there were additional containers at the airport and asked if these posed a health risk.

Mr. Pitman said it should be rectified sooner rather than later and he suggested that the initiative used overseas whereby asbestos is mixed with concrete and used to create artificial reefs could also be used in Bermuda.

Concerning cell tower emissions, Mr. Pitman said that some of the Island's 50 towers were near homes and several were near schools.

And he said that despite the efforts of CARE, a community action group opposed to cell towers, the tower in a highly residential area near Faraway in Warwick was going ahead.

Mr. Pitman asked: "When will it stop? Where will it stop?'' Mr. Pitman also questioned why the owners of the towers could not share them and said they were operating in a totally unregulated fashion.

PLP backbencher Dale Butler also raised concerns about cell tower emissions, but said that the jury is still out, and depending on who you talk to they either do no damage at all, or were extremely harmful.

Health Minister Nelson Bascome said that Government had brought down a highly qualified professional that had been recommended by the Federal Communications Commission and he had said that there were no dangers from Bermuda's towers.

And Mr. Bascome said the expert adhered to regulations that were used both in the US, Bermuda and elsewhere around the world.

Mr. Pitman also called for reports concerning the high incidence of cancer among Police officers who lived at barracks at Prospect over twenty years ago to be released.

And in a similar vein, he asked what happened to the report concerning the Girls School at Prospect where again a high incidence of girls later developed cancer.

Mr. Bascome said that reports concerning these matters had been produced and his department had reviewed them, and these would be provided to the National Cancer Institute.

Also relating to environmental health, Mrs. Young asked if there was a safer way to lay rat poison so that children would not be at risk from poisoning.

Kim Young