The Attorney General was directed by Congress to prepare a report on whether the United States could recover, from any persons determined liable, the amounts expended to detect, contain, or remove hazardous asbestos products from schools. The general background portion of this report contains the results of the factual research and investigation. It briefly sets forth some of the uses of asbestos and describes the asbestos industry and the diseases attributed to inhalation of asbestos fibers--asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. This section also explores documents that indicate industry knowledge of the dangers of asbestos fibers as early as the 1930s. Asbestos problems in the schools are discussed and suits already filed by two school districts are described. The legal issues portion of the report commences with a summary of the problems of duty, breach of duty, injury, limitations, and economic loss. Equitable and common law theories of recovery and the potential liability of parties other than asbestos manufacturers are discussed. The report concludes that litigation by school authorities, rather than by the federal government, should be quickly investigated as one potential means of reducing the fiscal impact on taxpayers of abating asbestos hazards in the schools. (Author/MLF)