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There's a "vanishingly small" risk to children from asbestos found in mulch around Sydney schools and parks, a prominent professor of medicine has said, as three more sites test positive for contamination.
Mulch at Allambie Heights Public School returned a positive result for asbestos overnight after seven schools were tested as a precaution, the Environment Protection Authority has said.
Munn Reserve in Millers Point has also returned a positive result, as well as two private construction sites in Sydney's south-west.
READ MORE: Everywhere the asbestos-tainted mulch has been found in Sydney
"Three other sites have returned positive results but are not being identified for privacy reasons," The EPA said. They are not publicly accessible.
The total number of sites found to be containing bonded asbestos is now at 32, but Medicine Professor Bernard Stewart told Weekend Today that there's little to no risk to children.
"(There's) a complete misunderstanding in the community of the difference between exposure to asbestos and a disease burden from asbestos," Stewart said.
"Bonded asbestos is asbestos fibres that are locked into material like fibro, like asbestos cement, where they can't get into the atmosphere.
"The only way such asbestos gets into the atmosphere is if the material is ground or drilled or cut up with a saw or pulverised. Asbestos only does harm if you breathe it in.
"The level of exposure to likely is extremely low, the risk here that is vanishingly small.
"There's no risk here to kids."
A single piece of asbestos was found in a garden bed at Allambie Heights Public School, which has been cornered off since Friday morning.
Testing at North Sydney Public School has found no bonded asbestos, while an additional four schools have been identified for precautionary testing, including:
- Domremy College in Five Dock,
- Edmondson Park Public School in Edmondson Park,
- St Michael's Catholic Primary School in Daceyville, and
- Trinity Catholic Primary School in Kemps Creek.
The University of Sydney has also been identified as a potentially contaminated site, and will undergo precautionary testing this weekend.
The full list of affected sites can be found here.
