The Iowa Central Community College Board of Directors may finally come to the conclusion to demolish a Budget Host Inn building that contains asbestos. An asbestos containing building is very dangerous, as the mineral is considered one of the most deadly to inhale.

    The asbestos mineral is not deadly immediately, but after inhalation of asbestos fibers, they will travel into the lungs and lodge themselves deep into the tissue. This causes multiple health complications decades after the initial exposure. Some of these complications consist of mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural thickening, and asbestos related lung cancers.

    The Board of Directors approved of the Budget Host Asbestos Removal Project plan, which consists of demolishing the asbestos filled building.

    The board is also facing problems in regards to asbestos and the amount that is in the building. There is much more asbestos in the building than was originally thought. ICCC President Dan Kinney stated that, “We had a company come in and test it and found out that there is a lot more asbestos in that facility than we had originally predicted. Because there was so much construction on phases over there in different years, so there was more asbestos than we had originally thought it would be.”

    The more asbestos there is, the lengthier and harder the already difficult asbestos abatement process will be. Asbestos abatement is a lengthy and expensive process. All of the asbestos in a building must be properly wet down and removed in hazardous waste barrels in order to limit the amount of airborne asbestos that will come as a result of the building demolition.