Warning on schools asbestos risk

Warning on schools asbestos risk

Most state school buildings in south-east England contain asbestos, a BBC investigation has revealed. Freedom of information requests by the BBC's Inside Out programme found out the material remains in more than 90 per cent of schools. Union concerns about the health risks to pupils and schools staff, and that have led to calls for all schools to be properly surveyed and for the asbestos to be removed, appear to be borne out by statistics on asbestos-related cancers. Dr Robin Howie, an independent asbestos consultant, said the number of teachers dying of asbestos-related diseases in the UK had risen from about one every two years to more than five a year. He said: 'We are looking at a substantially higher number of mesothelioma deaths in teachers than we would expect. What it means is that teacher mesotheliomas are important because they are the tip of the iceberg. And that iceberg is the mesotheliomas in children.'

Inside Out South East. BBC News Online.