Mesothelioma Medical

Park Elementary School was closed for Thursday after asbestos was disturbed during the construction work near the stage.

"A small amount of asbestos was disturbed and was affecting the air quality in the building. We closed the school so students would not come in contact with it,” Katie Mathews, the Principal of the Park Elementary School said.

The cafeteria and gym were the contaminated area at Park which was closed off. Mathews said that rest of the building would be cleaned.

The air quality in the school is being monitored.

"It was several years ago an asbestos abatement was done at the school during the summer," she said.

Mathews said that the school officials didn't expect the asbestos to be disturbed though they were aware of it's presence in the stage area. It was Mr. Art Hansen, the Building and Grounds Director who discovered in an inspection of the construction last night, that asbestos had been disturbed in the area.

Kearney Building Inspector Max Richardson said if asbestos is discovered, there is a disclosure act which says the the contractor needs to notify the proper authorities so that they can come in for inspection and proper removal. He pointed out that there could be some real issues if the asbestos was disturbed.

Although so many new schools have been built recently without using the deadly substance, still there significant numbers of older buildings which were constructed when the hazards of asbestos was not known fully. Asbestos was a common building material from 1945 until 1975 which was used for electrical insulation, roofing and ceiling panels. Experts say that even the use of drawing pins in asbestos cement walls can be dangerous as there is a chance for the deadly fibres to be released into the air. Inhalation of asbestos can cause serious diseases including: asbestosis, a chronic disease of the lungs that makes breathing more and more difficult; cancer; and mesothelioma, a cancer of the membranes that line the chest and abdomen.