Snap closure of schools after asbestos found in recalled coloured sand

ABC NEWS (Australia)

More now on the closure of schools in Canberra and Brisbane today, due to potential exposure to asbestos. Dr Oliver Jones is a professor of chemistry at RMIT University. He says it's still unclear how the asbestos got into the coloured sand products.

Transcript

00:00The report suggests that the products came from China, and it might depend on how it

00:06was manufactured. So if the sand was taken from a beach, it's not very likely it was

00:11contaminated. But if the sand was made by crushing rock, it's possible that rock might

00:16have had asbestos in it, and that's where the contamination happened. Or it might have

00:19happened during production, because various industrial processes in some countries still

00:22use asbestos.

00:23Right. So what's the likelihood that anyone would have inhaled dangerous asbestos

00:29fibres as a result of this?

00:32It's a very low likelihood. Asbestos, sort of, the fibres have to be airborne and you have

00:37to breathe them into the lungs, usually for a prolonged period of time. So the likelihood

00:42of any harm occurring is very low. That said, asbestos is not a good thing to be around,

00:47so I think the authorities have taken the right approach here.

00:50Yeah, and what about, because sand blows around, so would there have been a possibility

00:56that it would have been inhaled?

00:59Um, well, anything's possible. I don't think it's particularly likely. The sand is sort

01:02of, you know, it's a bit sticky, it's for the kids to play with and feel tactile.

01:06Um, I presume there's a possibility they may eat some, but more than unlikely they're going

01:11to breathe it in.

01:12And sort of what quantities would you have to, for it to end up being dangerous for your

01:18health in the long term?

01:20Well, you can't really put a set quantity on it, but the risk increases the longer

01:25you're exposed and the more that you're exposed to. So someone that was, say, working in a

01:28mine which had asbestos in it for a long period of time would have a much higher risk than

01:32a child that's just potentially been exposed for a very short period of time.

01:35And what do you make of how authorities have handled the situation today?

01:39Look, I think they've done the right thing. They've found there's a problem. They've identified it.

01:43They're taking precautionary measures. You could argue that, you know, maybe shutting

01:47down the school wasn't necessary, but it's children's health, so you don't want to take

01:50any chances. And, of course, you probably scare kids if you've got people coming in

01:55in hazmat suits to clean up their playrooms.

01:57Indeed. And so this product was sold in dozens of stores across the country.

02:03How careful should people be if they've got some at home? Because we've heard today

02:08about these schools having it, but, yeah, what about people at home?

02:12Well, again, I'd be pretty careful with it if just to be on the safe side, so you probably

02:17would have, there's instructions given on various websites for the recall. Technically,

02:21you could have got to double bag it and label it as asbestos and so forth, but just be as

02:25careful as possible and try and avoid, I think they suggest avoid vacuuming up, because that

02:30might sort of make it airborne, but just follow the instructions that are given, I think.

02:34Are you surprised at this day and age that this kind of thing can pop up in products still?

02:40Yeah, because there's so much awareness about asbestos and the dangers of it.

02:44Well, it's a good question. It's interesting because in Australia, I'm a bit surprised in

02:47Australia because asbestos is banned here, but as I say, this product is alleged to have

02:51come from China and China is one of the countries where they still use a lot of asbestos for

02:55various, particularly in the building industry and various other places, and potentially

02:59regulation on products isn't as strong as it is here. So as long as you're bringing stuff in

03:04from countries where regulation isn't as strong as it is in Australia, there's always a chance

03:07this sort of thing might happen, and that's why we have the testing regimes that we do

03:10when things come into the country.

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