The NSW Government is under pressure to ignore a report that says removing unflued gas heaters from classrooms would be too expensive, with community groups saying it puts a price on children's health.
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The report, commissioned by the former NSW Labor government and released by Education Minister Adrian Piccoli yesterday, said unflued heaters should be retained in public schools, despite concerns about their health impact on children.
The latest study of the heaters - by consultant Environmental Resources Management, Deloitte Access Economics, University of NSW professor Bin Jalaludin, and VOS Group Consulting Engineers - said the heaters ''do not need to be replaced''.
Despite finding that they were the only heaters assessed with a ''potential adverse health effect'', the report of the study says it would not be cost-effective to remove them from an estimated 2000 public schools in the state.
''The Health Economics Study cost-benefit analysis provides a clear conclusion that replacing the heaters before the end of their operational lifetime is not a cost-effective health intervention,'' the report states.
The report contradicts a study last year by the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, which found unflued heaters increased minor respiratory problems in some children and recommended that they be replaced.
The Woolcock study prompted the then education minister Verity Firth to promise the replacement of all 55,000 heaters, but the Government provided funding for their removal from only 101 schools in the state's coldest regions.
The ERM report presents a headache for Mr Piccoli and Premier Barry O'Farrell, who in opposition called for the removal of the unflued heaters.
A brief statement from Mr Piccoli's office said the Government ''will now consider the report's recommendations''.
NSW is the only state not to have removed unflued heaters from its schools.
Community group Campaign Opposing Unflued Gas Heaters said the Government would be putting a price on children's health if the report's recommendations were adopted.
Spokeswoman Jo Keown said, ''They were dangerous when the coalition was in opposition and they're still dangerous now they're in government. They're the same heaters''.
NSW Asthma Foundation spokesman Nick Bleszynski was disgusted by the report's recommendations.
''They've moved the goalposts and said there's no need to replace the heaters, there's no health threat,'' Mr Bleszynski said.
''But when the Woolcock report was released last year the Labor government accepted that the heaters needed to be replaced, and committed to do so.''
NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson said the Government could not ignore the health risks of unflued heaters, despite the report's findings.
''The report released today by the O'Farrell Government cannot be used as an excuse not to remove unflued gas heaters from our classrooms,'' Mr Robertson said.
Greens MP John Kaye said the valuation of children's health by the report was ''highly offensive''.
''If you used the value that parents would place on the health of their children, there is no question that unflued gas heaters would be taken out of schools as soon as possible,'' Mr Kaye said.
