Stephen Spiro, professor of respiratory medicine at UniversityCollegeHospital in London, said it was difficult to know how teachers and pupils might be affected by the asbestos.
Professor Michael Adler, Head of Reproductive Health at UniversityCollegeHospital in London, said the study reinforced the importance of taking a good sexual history from people visiting STD clinics.
Professor John Wyatt, of the London's UniversityCollege Hospital's department of paediatrics and child health, said one of the issues was that the debate was extremely "polarised" with some seeing it as a black or white issue.