Asbestos News

According to a report from the London, Ontario city council's finance committee, police are asking the city for nearly $1 million over two years to remove all asbestos that remains inside the London police headquarters.

The London Free Press reports that the city already gave the police $34 million to renovate the facility four years ago. Deputy Chief Ian Peer said that the asbestos removal wasn't included in the initial costs because there had not been enough money for it.

"The original estimates to do what we wanted to do were substantially greater than the amount of money we were actually given," Peer said. "We were not able to get the funds back then to do all of the things we needed to do, so here we are some years down the road."

He added that the asbestos that remains in the building can be found above ceilings, as it serves as a fire retardant.

Since the mid-1960s, it has been known that exposure to asbestos can cause a range of serious illnesses including asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that occurs in the tissues surrounding many of the body's inner organs.