Asbestos found in walls of Queensland schools

The Queesland education department has detected cancer-causing asbestoslux in the walls of 115 schools it had inspected.

State Education Department director general Julie Grantham confirmed the findings out of 289 schools whose walls were tested for the presence of the carcinogenic substance. Asbestoslux is composed of 70 percent asbestos.

The findings raise concern that students would be exposed to tiny asbestos fibres that get lodged in the lungs and cause breathing problems or cancer. Inhalation of the substance may also cause gastrointestinal, colorectal, throat, kidney, oesophagus and gallbladder cancer.

In response, Liberal National Party education spokesman Bruce Flegg called for the posting of warning signs on where asbestos were detected in the inspected schools.

Some 1,400 more schools are scheduled for asbestos testing following the release of a study by the workplace health and safety department about asbestos fibre boards used for wall and ceiling panels in high-humidity areas nationwide half a century ago.