Three-quarters of the schools in the area around the capital will be closed, although officials say the health risk from asbestos found in colored sand is low.
Dozens of schools in and around the Australian capital, Canberra, were closed on Monday over concerns about play sand that may contain asbestos, a banned health hazard, education officials said on Sunday.
The move came after two major retailers over the weekend voluntarily recalled colored play sand products, prompting officials in the Australian Capital Territory to check whether any of those being recalled were being used in schools there.
When they found that this was the case, they decided to close the schools affected for cleanup. This could take days, a school official said.
About 70 schools were closed, roughly 75 percent of the public schools in the territory.
Schools in New Zealand are also facing closures over the colored sand products, the national broadcaster reported on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear if the recalled sand is sold in countries other than Australia and New Zealand. Nor was it clear how much of a risk the sand really posed.
The recall notice published by Australia’s product safety agency, echoing language of the voluntary recall notices of the two retailers, Kmart and Target, said the asbestos detected in the sand was not “respirable.” Unless the sand was mechanically crushed or pulverized, it said, the risk of inhaling it was “low.”
Asbestos, a fibrous mineral that can be harmful when inhaled, is banned in Australia and many other countries.
It was the second warning about potential asbestos in colored sand products used in Australian schools in recent days, and the second round of related announcements of school closures in the Australian Capital Territory.
Days earlier, Australian product safety officials announced possible asbestos in other sand products sold by different retailers, leading to an earlier round of school closings in the territory. Local officials had hoped the schools would promptly reopen, only to have those plans thwarted by the new recall that implicated even more institutions.
U.S. press representatives for Target and Kmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether these products were sold in the United States.
