South Australia’s education minister has sought an urgent nationwide inquiry into the asbestos-laced sand crisis that has led to the closure of almost 450 schools across the country.
Blair Boyer said that he wanted to know how coloured play sand contaminated with asbestos, a toxin, was imported into Australia.
South Australia on Tuesday added hundreds of schools across the state to the list of sites affected by the kinetic sand recall.
The national recall was issued last week by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission after tests found traces of asbestos in multiple coloured sand products.
“I want to know how this stuff got through our borders, how it ended up on the shelves of major retailers like Kmart and Target, and then in schools, preschools and thousands of households," Mr Boyer said on Wednesday.
He had written to the federal government for an inquiry into the origin of the product, the minister said.
“What are the checks that occur with products like this?" he asked. “Especially now that we know in cases of a product that was made and marketed towards kids, what checks occur with a product like that?"
The competition commission told ABC News that some of the coloured sand products laced with asbestos had been traced to a quarry in China. Deputy chair Catriona Lowe could not confirm which company or operation in China was responsible for exporting the sand, but said an investigation was ongoing.
“We are continuing to obtain information on a daily basis, but the focus has been in making sure that the public has got the information that they need," she said.
The regulator first issued a voluntary recall for coloured sand supplied by Educational Colours and Officeworks over concerns about asbestos contamination. Subsequently, Kmart and Target withdrew similar products from sale.
On its website, Educational Colours Pty Ltd, which issued the recall, said: “Independent laboratory testing of Rainbow Sand and Coloured Sand products has detected traces of naturally occurring tremolite asbestos in some samples. Experts have advised that the safety risk is negligible, but the recall has been initiated as a precautionary measure.”
Officeworks said the asbestos was detected when it conducted analytical testing on sand supplies, which identified the presence of the asbestos fibres, according to ABC News.
Tests have detected traces of two forms of asbestos – tremolite and chrysotile – in various coloured sand products, which more than 1,000 schools and early learning centres nationwide have reported using in classroom activities.
Asbestos, once widely used in building materials, is a group of naturally occurring minerals made up of tiny, heat-resistant fibres. They can release toxic microscopic fibres into the air when distributed and lodge into the lungs if inhaled. Prolonged exposure is linked to health issues like asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
In case of the contaminated sand found in schools, though, the commission noted that there was a “low risk” of the asbestos becoming airborne or fine enough for inhalation.
