Cleaning up contaminated CedarBridge Academy could be "a very expensive process" according to a US microbiologist ? but new Education Minister Randy Horton said this week he did not care about the cost.

Dr. David Straus, a mould expert from Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center, said it was impossible to say how much it would cost to get rid of the mould at the Island's largest public school but added that the Government should have asked for an estimate before work began.

Mr. Horton told a press conference on Tuesday that he had no idea what the final bill would be.

"I'm not even interested in the cost," he said.

"I don't know what it is, I don't care what it is.

"I haven't asked for an estimate. Right now my concern is getting the kids back in school, making sure the school is cleaned up."

He said money within the Education budget would have to be shifted to pay for the clean-up. "Hopefully, we'll use it where it will have the least impact on instruction."

Dr. Straus told : "It can be a very expensive process. What has to be done is to correct the water intrusion problem and then remove all building material that has mould growth on it and replace it with new building material.

"Also if the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) system is heavily infested with mould, that must be cleaned as well."

He added: "Cost estimates can only be supplied by someone who knows how much something like this would cost in this building. That means they must examine the building and give a cost estimate before the work starts."

CedarBridge was closed by Mr. Horton last Wednesday due to environmental health concerns. It is now yet known where its 800-plus students will be schooled after next week's mid-term break.

Reports from Texan laboratory Microbiology Specialists Inc. (MSI), which were leaked to this newspaper, revealed that the potentially harmful fungus aspergillus versicolor was found on the premises, that the school building had a host of problems and that the air-conditioning system was heavily contaminated with mould.

The company's vice-president Paula Vance wrote in a letter to the school's facilities manager that her recommendations might seem "undoable" or financially costly but she added: "The costs will not be so astronomical if proper management and scheduling are used and all the disciplines can work together as a team."

Dr. Straus said he was familiar with MSI. "I have heard of them and if Paula Vance still runs the company then you are in good hands," he said.

"It sounds to me like MSI is doing the right thing."

But he said Mr. Horton was wrong to describe the Center for School Mold Help ? which told that CedarBridge might have to be demolished if the mould was very severe ? as "not a creditable source".

He said the non-profit group was a reputable organisation and that he had contributed scientific advice to its website. Another American expert, Dr. Richard Lipsey, who has a Ph.D in mould toxicology, agreed. "They are the real thing," he said.

"They are people that I depend on when I want to know what's going on in schools. That's a real clearing house for useful information for schools."

Dr. Straus said the fungus found at CedarBridge by MSI was a "particularly bad" type. He said even healthy adults could be affected by spores from aspergillus if they inhaled them in high concentrations.

He added that science had yet to prove a link between microtoxins ? or fungal poisons ? produced by mould and lung cancer and that ingestion rather than inhalation would more likely be the cause.

"It's very possible that there is none of this microtoxin in this building," he said.

"But certainly I think you can see that we do not want this organism in the building, especially where kids are.

"You need to remediate the building. You need to get all the mould out of the building. That's a good thing."

Meanwhile Gerald Swan, chairman of the school's Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), has backed Mr. Horton's decision to close the school.

"It was his decision to avoid any other problems and get things back to where they are supposed to be."

He added that dwelling on the fact that parents were not informed by the school of the mould problem would not help the situation.

"The only thing that can fix the problem is as we go on we try to get more communication to parents," he said.

The PTSA is due to hold its next meeting on November 21.