ASBESTOS is present in almost 200 schools in the Bristol area.

Earlier this month MPs and peers said the presence of the potentially lethal material constituted a "time bomb in our schools", and called for a scheme for its removal. Bristol City Council has told the Evening Post that asbestos is present in about 50 of the city's state primary schools and two secondary schools.

But it says it has no plans to remove all of it because of the likely cost.

In South Gloucestershire a total of 81 schools – 63 primaries, 13 secondaries, two pupil referral units and three special schools – have asbestos in the fabric of their buildings.

In North Somerset, asbestos is present in 52 of the council's 67 primaries and eight of its 10 secondaries. The council audited all buildings in 2009 and 2010, risk assessments were completed and it now has a programme of abatement works, annual re-inspections and training for head teachers.

Bath & North East Somerset Council was not able to provide the Post with figures last night but the total number of schools affected in the other three authority areas is 195.

The Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health released a report earlier this month calling for asbestos to be removed from all schools and making recommendations including annually updating parents, teachers and staff about asbestos in their schools, and reinstating inspections into asbestos management.

The report stated that more than 140 teachers had died from the rare asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in the past ten years across the UK and that an unknown number of supports staff had also died.

The city council says that two secondary schools in the city have "some level of asbestos" and about half of the city's primary schools have "varying degrees of asbestos" although "most are low level".

Spokeswoman Julia Walton said: "Like many local authorities Bristol has a number of schools with some remaining low-level asbestos.

"This is carefully managed with schools under health and safety guidelines and includes training for head teachers who are the duty holders. As school buildings are upgraded or replaced then asbestos is carefully removed but there are no current plans to routinely remove all asbestos materials from schools where it is being successfully managed, due to excessive costs."

Asbestos was used extensively as a building material from the 1950s until the mid-1980s, often in fireproofing and insulation. It poses minimal risks in normal circumstances but becomes dangerous if disturbed or damaged, when fibres can be released into the air. If inhaled, they can cause lung complaints such as the fatal mesothelioma and debilitating asbestosis.

Researchers in the US found that for every death of a teacher from asbestos-related diseases, nine children will die. Children are more vulnerable because they have longer than adults to develop diseases related to the material.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, inhaling asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK, accounting for 4,000 deaths per year.

In 2004 asbestos at Hanham High School was disturbed during renovation work in a humanities block.

Classrooms had to be decontaminated and pupils' work destroyed after being covered in asbestos dust.

The clean-up cost South Gloucestershire Council £300,000 and it was later fined £25,000 for health and safety offences.