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Asbestos has been found in yet another school building in Philadelphia. District administrators are scrambling to make plans for keeping school children from being exposed to the airborne toxins. Still, in the thick of an asbestos remediation project that has displaced 1,000 students at the joint site of Benjamin Franklin High School and the Science Leadership Academy in the Spring Garden section of the city, the school district has recognized that there has been a significant delay in dealing with an additional asbestos site inside Thomas M. Peirce Elementary in North Philadelphia, home to an additional 437 students.
Parents at T.M. Peirce are irate that the district still lacks a plan to remediate their school, more than six weeks after the site of damaged asbestos was discovered. The school board and superintendent claimed that recent budget cuts have affected staffing and made it difficult to address the number of active asbestos cases being discovered in the district’s buildings.
Before the use of asbestos in construction materials was banned in the 1980s, homes and buildings, including school buildings, were routinely constructed using the fibrous material that has since become synonymous with airborne industrial hazards. For the most part, the danger remained contained for years behind walls or in ceilings, undisturbed. Builders and renovation companies that would encounter the material on occasion knew to recognize and avoid it by having it carefully remediated before work could continue. However, it is more than just construction workers who face the threat of asbestos exposure.
Students and teachers who learn and work in asbestos-contaminated buildings are wholly unaware of the dangers that exist right under their noses. Without training to identify asbestos products and materials, these educators and innocent children are unknowingly exposing themselves to harmful dust daily.
As asbestos-containing materials age, they become brittle and release harmful dust into the environment. When people inhale the dust, their lungs become damaged by its small abrasive particles. Prolonged or repeated exposure damages the lungs with microscopic lacerations that do not heal. Over time, the damage causes breathing problems, fluid in the lungs, and chest pain. These symptoms are associated with mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer that can incubate for decades before symptoms appear and lead to a diagnosis.
Asbestos is an inhalable poison. Asbestos-caused lung damage is irreparable. If you are suffering from asbestos-related lung damage, contact a Georgetown toxic mold lawyer at Jacobs & Crumplar, P.A. We can help you collect damages for your medical bills and to compensate you for your illness. Contact us online or call us at 302-656-5445 to schedule a free consultation. With offices in Wilmington and Millsboro, Delaware, we serve clients throughout the state, including Dover, New Castle County, and Sussex County.