ENVIRONMENT-TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Asbestos Problem Closes Schools

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Peter Richards

PORT OF SPAIN, Nov 6 1999 (IPS) - The government has indicated that it is considering legal action, but for teachers and students who have been exposed to asbestos dust which research has shown can be a factor in some forms of cancer, this may be a question of being too little too late.

Over the past four weeks students of some 19 schools mainly in the rural areas, have been forced to remain at home, as teachers refuse to enter the buildings for fear of inhaling the asbestos dust.

The schools cater for an average 600 students each.

“Once the asbestos is discovered you cannot continue to work,” says President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Trevor Oliver.

Oliver says some 34 schools built during the 1970s should be closed and examined properly so as to ensure there are no traces of asbestos.

But a local contractor associated with the construction of the junior and senior comprehensive schools, under a 1973 World Bank education programme, told a local newspaper that the number is 22.

He says British architects who worked on the project used the material as an insulator.

The Trinidad and Tobago Parents-Teachers Association has also supported the move to close the schools until a proper investigation is carried out.

The teachers’ fears of exposure to asbestos dust has been heightened following disclosure that within the last five years, three teachers in schools where asbestos is said to have been used in the building, have died from stomach and lung cancer.

And newly-appointed Education Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has had first-hand knowledge of exposure to the substance. Last year, as Legal Affairs Minister, she was forced to vacate the building, which housed her then office after staff members complained of feeling unwell,

while the asbestos was being removed.

Now as teachers from across the island refuse to enter classrooms for fear of exposure to the cancer-causing substance, Bissessar says she has been “considering whether the government should take legal action against those who are responsible for placing unsafe and hazardous materials in our schools”.

“It’s a matter that I have my legal officers looking at, and I certainly will make an investigation,” she says.

“I tell you that the Ministry of Education and the government are exceedingly concerned for the health and welfare of everyone in our schools,” she added.

Less than 24 hours after she was appointed Education Minister following the decision of Prime Minister Basdeo Panday last week to re-shuffle his cabinet, Bissessar has had to confront angry parents, teachers, students and union representatives over the issue.

She immediately established an Asbestos Task Force to investigate the situation. The Task Force has been holding meetings with parents and teachers in a bid to get them to return to their classrooms.

Bissessar also dismissed the call by TTUTA for closing the schools for two weeks until all investigations have been carried out.

Her position seems to be supported by the findings of the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) whose investigations found that the asbestos at the schools was not high enough to constitute a hazard to the health of those occupying them.

But despite CARIRI’s findings, teachers and students are not convinced.

“I don’t care what they (government) say about the asbestos and who is to blame. I am afraid because the roof still has asbestos and I support the action by the teachers,” says one student.

But Carol Bhagan-Khan an occupational and environment physician says the asbestos levels in the schools are of negligible risk.

“The safest approach to solving the problem is to leave it alone where it poses no threat and consider removal only if the building is targeted for demolition or renovation,” she says.

Still according to Professor S. Satcunanathan of the Caribbean Institute of Technology, the present controversy appears to emphasise that the “school is a dangerous environment” but people are not paying attention to the fact that many homes in Trinidad and Tobago could have a similar problem.

“Perhaps the proponents of this (the removal of asbestos from schools) do not realise that their own homes may be as, if not more, dangerous than the school environment.

“The long-term goal should be the elimination of asbestos containing materials from our total environment. In this we should distinguish between those products that are prone to more easily release the asbestos fibre into the environment and those that are slow in doing so.

“Our institute plans shortly to launch a serious of seminars and short courses to educate the general public and train the resource persons dealing with the disposal of asbestos-containing materials.”

Meanwhile, environmental officials and waste disposal experts say it would take at least a week to get rid of the hazardous material in the schools, with the clean-up process taking much longer.

Asbestos is said to be an excellent insulator, but the problem lies in the inhalation of dust. Workers involved with the product have been told that they must wear a special respirator to filter particles that may damage the lungs and other parts of the body.

Earlier this year, the Solid Waste Management Company Ltd. said that a 1995 Oily and Hazardous Waste Study for Trinidad and Tobago had showed the country to have at least 25 tons of asbestos, scattered all over.

Engineers have warned that trucks dumping refuse at the main dump have been turned back after they were found to be carrying asbestos.

“Asbestos is treated as hazardous waste and has to be specially disposed of,” says one engineer.

And this is not the first time that Trinidadians have expressed concern about the presence of asbestos in buildings.

Four years ago, students at the San Fernando Senior Comprehensive School were joined by teachers and parents in giving the government an ultimatum to clear the building of asbestos before they returned.

In 1994, the Employers Consultative Association (ECA) of Trinidad and Tobago called for the banning of the use of asbestos in buildings following rumours that it had been found in the Hall of Justice.

“We understand the health damage to persons exposed to asbestos dust is serious, painful, largely irreversible and fatal,” the private sector body said in urging the government to remove asbestos and its products from all buildings.