Asbestos News

The discovery of asbestos at Alvarado Junior High School in Alvarado, Texas, has reportedly halted critical repairs that were scheduled to take place during the summer break, the Cleburne Times-Review reports.

According to the news source, the school district was planning to paint and tile parts of the facility, but testing samples indicated asbestos made up at least 2 percent of most building materials.

As a result, the news source reports that the necessary repairs may never take place.

"Whenever something has to be done in the way of renovation, you have to do abatement, which is a costly process," Alvarado ISD Superintendent Chester Juroska told the news source. "Abatement is [the process of] taking precautions when dust flies. It can be as special as workers going in [the building] with suits and oxygen, or as simple as wetting the material down before anything is done."

Juroska added that painting an area of the building would cost much more due to the necessary precautions for not disturbing the asbestos.

Such precautions are extremely important as the inhalation of asbestos fibers has been proven to cause a range of illnesses including asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma.