Asbestos Concerns Raised for Several UK Schools

2009-03-26 04:25:49 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Mesothelioma Asbestos, Press Releases)

The UK School Minister is set to provide a response for the growing concern over low-level asbestos in schools.

Mesothelioma Cancer News – UK Schools Minister Jim Knight is set to give a response for the growing concerns over low-level asbestos in schools. As reported by Politics.co.uk, Rochdale MP Paul Rowen is requesting a government audit of 100 of the country’s schools to assess the risks associated with the asbestos exposure.Rowen is quoted in the report as stating of the issue, “I was a deputy head of a secondary school. Nobody gave me any training, advice, told me what I should or shouldn’t do, yet when things happen headteachers are the people responsible… Most local authorities know where the asbestos is. They know where it’s supposedly being managed. But when you look at it there’s a very patchy picture across the country in terms of the expertise that local authorities have got.”As noted in the report, as estimated 400 teachers have been afflicted with asbestos related diseases. Rowen is further quoted as stating, “It’s hugely emotive… You have people working long-term in an environment for which they are potentially at risk. I will be giving an example today of a Dorset teacher who’s worked for 28 years in Dorset schools. She’s now contracted mesothelioma. She could only have got that from exposure in her working environment which is her school.”Photo Credit: Aram Dulyan