But what is happening there is serious. Asbestos is nothing to trifle with, and the concrete ceiling that hangs over the playing surface at the Coliseum is covered with asbestos. West Virginia University has been and is aware of the asbestos. What it is not willing to do is do it now, not unless tests show a clear and present danger from the asbestos. The Environmental Protection Agency has been invited in by the university as an advisor, yet the school to date has refused to take the EPA's advice, preferring a less aggressive testing procedure than that group deems necessary.
Experts say that any amount of asbestos taken into the body is dangerous.
They say it remains within the body forever and that the body's reaction to it can produce cancer. The fear at the Coliseum is that there is asbestos knocked loose during basketball games and it that it floats through the air where it can be inhaled by workers, players, fans. No one argues the presence of asbestos on the ceiling. The EPA's preliminary tests have shown traces of it on the seats and floor. It is logical to assume, therefore, that the asbestos on the floor had to float down from the ceiling through the air.