Asbestos Found in British Schools

Asbestos Found in British Schools - Devon County England

Parents in Devon County, England, received a warning letter after protective suits that may contain asbestos were found near a school. Children at the St Michael's Church of England Primary School in the town of Helston found the suits near a playground. Police and environmental investigators are working under the theory that construction workers may have left the suits during a project on the school's buildings. A portion of that project dealt with removing asbestos-based insulation from the walls.

An agent with the area's health and safety office said that any brief exposure that children may have incurred from being around the suits should not constitute a "significant risk". However, the office also stressed that contractors who use such protective gear when working with asbestos should use proper cleaning and disposal techniques with any clothing that may have been in contact with asbestos fibers.

The children found the suits in an area separated from the playground and off-limits to students, according to police. While the children may not have been aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure, a police sergeant said, they want to "ensure the safety of the children". At this point, authorities are not pursuing a criminal case against the workers or the construction company.

In nearby Wales, according to several reports, asbestos exposure in schools has reached epidemic levels. Nick Ramsay, a member of Wales' National Assembly who hosted a conference on the problem a few months ago, has called the issue of asbestos in the country's schools a "timebomb". An investigation by national newspaper The Western Mail estimates that over three hundred thousand children are exposed to asbestos every day while attending classes in older buildings.

The report cites ceiling tiles, floor tiles and other sources for the prevalence in asbestos pollution. The national teachers' union has begun to exert pressure on local officials to start a complete and immediate cleanup project on the country's school buildings. A researcher with Wales' Association of Teachers and Lecturers called the report "shocking". According to the report, the chances of teachers contracting mesothelioma or other diseases due to asbestos exposure are ten times that of the national average.

Statistics from the office of the Health and Safety Executive show that more than 180 people working in Welsh schools died from mesothelioma from 1980 to 2000. The office also expects the death toll from asbestos exposure all over the United Kingdom to climb to as high as 90,000 by mid-century. Many experts believe that the nature of asbestos and how it causes mesothelioma is what has brought this problem to light. After decades of exposure to asbestos, the fibers enter the lungs and affect the mesothelium, a membrane that surrounds and protects the lungs. When malignancies develop in this sensitive area, the cancer becomes very aggressive and spreads quickly throughout the body. Most patients diagnosed with the disease are only given twelve to eighteen months to live.

An organizer for the Welsh portion of the UK teachers union states that the newspaper story is "very worrying" and shows that the problem is much more serious and more prevalent than authorities had believed. He said that the union plans to exert pressure on both local officials and the Welsh Assembly to authorize funds for a massive asbestos remediation effort.

Sources: BBC, Wales Online

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