Asbestos ban in schools pushed

MANILA, Philippines - Saying teachers and students are prone to cancer and other diseases due to exposure to asbestos in classrooms and laboratories, the Associated Labor Union (ALU) yesterday called on the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education yesterday to ban the use of asbestos in colleges and universities nationwide.

Alan Tanjusay of ALU’s policy advocacy and campaign office cited the need to prohibit the use of wire gauzes containing asbestos in chemistry and biology classes.

“Wire gauzes are used to separate the beaker and flask from direct heat of the flame. Repeated exposure to high and direct flames, wire gauzes become fragile and crumbly. When the crumbly gauze is disturbed, first and second-hand exposure from its dust begins. We cannot see the dust because each dust is invisible to the naked eyes. It is five thousand times smaller than a piece of hair in diameter,” he said.

Tanjusay said samples of wire gauze used at schools and professional laboratories in the Philippines were found to contain three percent Chrysotile asbestos in a testing and analysis conducted by a private laboratory using polarized light and dispersion staining technique.