Asbestos-contaminated sand fears close dozens of schools in Australia

Recess is canceled Monday morning at 69 schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) due to a colorful but potentially risky batch of sand.

Kmart and Target issued product recalls Saturday after samples of a widely used play sand revealed traces of asbestos, forcing schools to close, the state government announced Sunday.

Inspections are ongoing and could “take days”, ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry wrote in a Facebook post, adding that tests carried out so far had come back “negative for airborne asbestos” in all schools. People who have been in contact with the sand do not need a clinical evaluation, health officials say.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said there was a small risk the asbestos was airborne or fine enough to be inhaled.

The recall follows a similar sand scare last week, sparking fears the playground drama is far from over.

Several schools and preschools in the area were closed fully or partially on Friday after a warning about asbestos risks in children’s sand sold by Officeworks, before further product recalls were issued.

“Unfortunately, these sand products are even more widely used in our schools than Officeworks products,” Berry said, adding that state emergency service volunteers and school staff spend their weekends walking around buildings and “mapping all the colored sand they see.”

The government is “required to eliminate risks as far as reasonably possible,” she continued.

Exposure to asbestos, once widely used in building materials, is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers, and is linked to more than 40,000 deaths each year in the United States.

Australian law prohibits the import or export of asbestos or products containing asbestos. The US Environmental Protection Agency announced a complete ban on this mineral in 2024.