Asbestos Awareness in High School

April 20, 2010

Westchester County, NY Not long after a New Mexico contractor was penalized $225,000 under a consent judgment for asbestos air quality violations during the demolition of a school dormitory, high school students in Westchester, New York had an asbestos mesothelioma scare in their school when part of an auditorium wall collapsed.



Both school officials and students feared the possible release of asbestos in the area where the wall collapsed was sealed off. Air quality tests did not reveal the presence of asbestos, but the scare did show that students and their parents are well aware of asbestos and its link to the development of mesothelioma.



Student Felipe Marcelino was in the auditorium just before the wall collapsed. "And if I had been there what would they be saying to my mom today?" he said. "Would they be apologizing for my death or would they be making up some excuse?" Although engineers pronounced the building safe, some parents are reluctant to have their kids return to school.



Meanwhile, asbestos research is moving forward: a new bulletin by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) clarifies the recommended exposure limit (REL) for airborne asbestos fibers, which may impact safety inspections.



The NIOSH bulletin also said the agency wants to develop a broader understanding of the important determinants for toxicity of asbestos fibers and other EMPs, and wants to know more about occupational exposures to them. Of course research is needed, and sooner rather than later, given the amount of people who are still exposed to asbestos fibers.



It is still unclear how many US workers are exposed to asbestos fibers on the job, but according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an estimated 1.3 million workers in construction and general industry faced significant exposures in 2008.



With those statistics, no wonder high school students are aware of the danger of airborne asbestos. Who doesn't know someone who developed a lung disease, often from asbestos exposure? Even with this knowledge, the US imported 3,000 metric tons of asbestos in 2006 and 2007 (down from 35,000 metric tons in 1991).