Canberra, Nov 17 (IANS) More than 70 schools in the Australian capital of Canberra were ordered to close on Monday due to growing concerns about possible asbestos contamination from decorative sand products.

The government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) said that 71 of 94 public schools in Canberra and surrounding suburbs would be closed on Monday after an audit found widespread use of sand products in which asbestos had been detected.

It comes after 24 ACT schools and preschools were fully or partially closed on Friday, with two reopening on Monday.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Wednesday issued a recall notice over a type of decorative colourful sand after laboratory testing detected chrysotile asbestos.

On Sunday, the ACCC revealed that asbestos had been detected in four more sand products and said they may cause a risk to public health.

ACT’s education minister Yvette Berry told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio that the health risk to students and staff is small but that closures could last several days.

She said that education staff, building service officers and volunteers spent the weekend identifying and mapping the sand in schools so that assessors can remove it safely.

The ACCC said on Sunday that respirable asbestos has not been detected in any of the tested samples and is considered unlikely to be released unless the sand is mechanically crushed or pulverised, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the World Health Organization, Asbestos is a group of mineral fibres with widespread current and historical commercial uses, but which can cause deaths and serious ill-health in workers and other people who are exposed to these fibres (more than 200 000 deaths globally every year, along with a substantial burden of ill health).

All forms of asbestos have been assessed by WHO as causing several types of cancer, and asbestos also causes chronic respiratory diseases. Because of its use in building materials, anyone engaging in construction, maintenance and demolition of buildings where asbestos has been used is potentially at risk, even many years or decades after the asbestos was put in place.

–IANS

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