A Northeast Ohio school is under fire for exposing teens to asbestos for weeks while gutting a building. Student volunteers at the School of Education Buckeye thought they help the community by lending their time to renovate an old building that would become their new school. However, they were unknowingly remove asbestos-contaminated materials inside the building such as pipes, insulation, fabric duct and floor tiles. All these materials have been found to contain asbestos.
Some believe that the school has used volunteers in an effort to reduce costs, because asbestos removal is an expensive process. Was trying to make short-term savings worth if the school must pay the bill for these students 30 years from now if (in the rare chance), they are diagnosed with a disease related to asbestos? I highly doubt.
The fact that the school was trying to save money is ridiculous. If this is true, then they deserve all parts of the criminal investigation is now underway as putting innocent students and their health at risk for the sake of saving money is reprehensible. There are so many problems and diseases that afflict our country these days that situations such as these, which could and should be avoided, should never occur health.
In a society that has become so marred by medical and legal issues in recent years, one has to wonder why school authorities even took a chance to allow students to work in an old building. Asbestos was popular in the construction because it was cheap and provided heat and fire resistance and sound absorption; so many old buildings built before 1980 contain asbestos. However, given that asbestos is a proven health hazard to humans, awareness has grown and its use is regulated by the United States Agency for Environmental Protection (EPA) and security and health administration (OSHA). That does not seem safe.
Now, the student volunteer is supposed to be a rewarding and eye-opening experience for the students, not the one who puts them in danger. As he almost always takes years of exposure to asbestos heavy for someone legitimately be at the risk of mesothelioma, these students and their families may be concerned about the risk for decades.
This is not the first time that innocent people have been exposed to asbestos without knowing it. There have been many cases where people who are not certified to remove asbestos were hired to remove the hardware to reduce costs. In these situations, these workers tend to have no idea of the seriousness of their actions and the risk they face.
The problem does not stop to benefit children. The homeless are known to the victims in scams and illegal asbestos removal.
children are not the only ones
A 1998 case in Wisconsin has made national news that three contractors hire homeless men to remove asbestos without training and proper equipment . Again, innocent lives were put in danger because of the blatant disregard of the law. Janet Reno, the US attorney general at the time, said, "knowingly removes asbestos is bad criminal. Exploiting the vulnerable homeless people and others to do what is just cruel." Correct.
A similar case in Miami involved the hiring of two homeless men to rob a warehouse of 10 square feet of asbestos. Warehouse owners were sentenced to five months in prison. Five months, is it?
The mining town of Libby, Montana has seen over 400 people killed by asbestos exposure from the WR. Grace and Co. mine that once operated there. More than 1,700 others have been sickened by it. Cleaning has been ongoing for 12 years and cost $ 447 million to date. There are still at least six other areas that are not cleaned ?? including the mine itself. Expensive? Yes. Is it worth it? . Certainly
In El Dorado Hills, California, the EPA launched an investigation that led to a harsh reality: -almost each of over 400 air samples taken in a city park contained asbestos fibers. In fact, an epidemiologist from Canada said that the exposure levels were comparable to those in the cities where mining had disappeared for a century; while EPA was vague about the severity of the findings. Unfortunately, people have not seen this as an urgent problem and many have chosen to remain in their asbestos-prey of town. Worse, local officials denied the problem, so that the people of El Dorado Hills continue to breathe air filled with asbestos and act as if nothing is wrong. And this question goes beyond US borders.
In Australia last year, asbestos was illegally dumped in the Corio Bay and left uncovered. It took more than seven months for the Environment Protection Authority of Australia (EPA) to participate and request removal by a contractor. It remains with the area bounded to warn people of the danger of exposure.
For a threat that has existed for decades, officials seem quite relaxed when it comes to the removal of asbestos and exposure. Something has to change.
What do you think of the school's decision to use children for product removal of asbestos? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook.
