Regulations on the safe disposal of asbestos during renovation work on buildings were broken in over half of the 1,680 cases controlled by inspectors in 2005 and 2006, reports ANP news service on Thursday.

The inhalation of asbestos fibres can lead to cancer and its use in construction work has been forbidden in the Netherlands since 1993.
There are also strict rules on disposal. Asbestos can only be dumped at 26 designated sites nationwide. But 75% of these dump sites also break regulations, according to the new labour inspectorate report published today.