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Asbestos, mercury located at Georgia high school
School officials in Carroll County, Georgia suspected that Temple High School contained asbestos, but it came as something of a surprise when officials discovered that asbestos was not necessarily the toxic material they needed to fear the most. After flooding damaged the gym in September, teams were dispatched to test the flooring for asbestos. While their attempts to uncover asbestos were unsuccessful, the team did uncover mercury at the high school. Now, both faculty and students have been banned from the Temple High school gym, where mercury was discovered under the gym floor.
Asbestos materials, such as insulation and floor tiles, are often found in older buildings, and are a major concern for students, parents, and educators. Asbestos exposure has been linked to the development of mesothelioma, a fatal type of cancer that affects less than 3,000 Americans each year. Other asbestos-related illnesses include lung cancer, asbestosis, and pleural plaques.
Mercury presents additional cause for concern. Because mercury can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin, students who were evacuated from the gym area had to leave their possessions behind to be tested.
"If they were exposed to it over a long period of time it could be a danger but like I say we shut the doors locked it up sealed it off as soon as we found out...EPA doesn't even have a protocol for removing the mercury, "said Carroll County School District Official David Golbert.
The school has yet to select a company to clean up the mercury or to conduct asbestos abatement. Under federal law, asbestos materials must be removed by a licensed asbestos professional, and all harmful waste must be disposed of in a designated location. The issue of asbestos in older school buildings is of growing concern in America, because as buildings age, asbestos materials often become friable and release asbestos fibers into the air. Due to strict school district budgets, abatement is often delayed for as long as possible.