Australian students may have suffered asbestos exposure

Australian students may have suffered asbestos exposure

Australian students may have suffered asbestos exposure

Friday, July 16th, 2010

A number of students at a school in Queensland, Australia, may have suffered asbestos exposure.

Asbestos was discovered at Wulguru state school while workers were installing electronic whiteboards and projectors, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company. The discovery forced the Education Department to inform the parents of 70 students that their child may have been exposed to asbestos.

Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten said that there was no reason for workers to be exposing students or themselves to asbestos.

“We have had issues in the past - some of them relate to Q-Build , others relate to Education Queensland," he told the news source. "They’re not always a Q-Build issue because Education Queensland - sometimes schools themselves - contract people.”

Q-Build is part of Australia’s department of public works.

Schwarten asserted his commitment to resolving the issue.

"So I’ll have a look at, that but as my father died with asbestosis, I have no intention of covering up anything to do with asbestos,” he said.

Asbestos exposure can cause a range of serious illnesses like asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, a rare and deadly cancer.
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Australian students may have suffered asbestos exposure