Health Risks of Classrooms (What do we do about all the other toxins the EPA didn't ban??)

[Guest guest]

The San Francisco Chronicle

October 5, 1999

Health Risks of Classrooms

By Caroline Grannan, Ann Melamed

OUR CHILDREN go to a San Francisco public school where they're absorbing

their multiplication tables, a love of reading and an understanding of how

plants grow.

They may also be absorbing some less beneficial stuff: formaldehyde,

benzene, toluene, arsenic and toxic molds.

That's because they're among more than 2 million California schoolchildren

who learn their ABCs in portable classrooms. Some environmental health

experts worry that those temporary structures, which clutter schoolyards

nationwide and now make up one-third of California's classrooms, harbor

chemicals that can cause cancer, birth defects, brain and nerve damage,

nausea, nosebleeds, asthma and other illnesses.

One of our kids sits in a first-grade portable classroom a few yards from

busy Lake Merced Boulevard, which sends exhaust fumes and a constant din of

traffic noise through flimsy walls into the classroom. Turning on the

ventilation system just increases the noise.

Portables are strewn across post-Proposition 13 school playgrounds these

days -- there are more than 86,500 of them across the state, according to

the Environmental Working Group. " Many California schools now look like

migrant camps -- row after row of drab wooden boxes of uncertain safety, "

writes political journalist Schrag in " Paradise Lost: California's

Experience, America's Future. "

As author Kozol points out, sticking students into temporary shacks

sends a message about where kids and education stand on the priority list:

" It reminds children that their society doesn't think of them very highly, "

Kozol writes in " Illiterate America. "

But it's the structures' safety that worries parents most. " Tighter

construction, fewer windows and inadequate ventilation in portables can lead

to a greater buildup of toxic chemicals (than in conventional buildings), "

notes a report by the Environmental Working Group. " Some portables can

expose children to toxic chemicals at levels that pose an unacceptable risk

of their developing cancer or other serious illness. "

In an extreme case last May, an out break of illnesses was linked to

portables at Rio Vista Elementary in Canyon Country, near Los Angeles. A

10-year-old was diagnosed with chemically induced immune system dysfunction,

and one classmate's headaches and stomachaches were found to be the result

of a poisonous mold growing on her lungs. High levels of arsenic,

formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals were found in the blood of six

children and a teacher. (The teacher has some protection under workplace

safety laws. The children don't.)

Not that traditional classrooms are so much better. Many are in

deteriorating old buildings where hazards like lead paint and asbestos are

common. One survey ranked California dead last among all states in school

environmental quality.

Maintenance cuts add to the problem. In 1975, with 15 fewer schools than

today and no portables, the San Francisco Unified School District employed

600 custodians, a district source tells us. Now only 238 custodians maintain

all the schools, including 200 portables. This translates into hasty

housekeeping, water intrusion, malfunctioning ventilation systems and

deferred maintenance.

Gov. Gray has on his desk a bill that would begin to address

portable-classroom safety. AB 1207, passed by the state Senate and Assembly

and awaiting the governor's signature, will require the state to study

problems with portable-classroom air quality and look for solutions. It will

also provide for school personnel to be trained in environmental health

standards -- so teachers will know to turn on the ventilation systems -- and

require better notification of pesticide spraying around schools.

The bill is only a start. But we hope it signals a new commitment to

educating our kids in a safe and healthy setting.

TO LEARN MORE

-- For information on Tools for Schools, a U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency program on making schools healthier, call (415) 744-1047.

-- For information on school environmental health, e-mail Ann Melamed at

ceh@....

Ann Melamed, a nurse and mother of three, is a project manager at Oakland's

Center for Environmental Health. Caroline Grannan is a writer, mother of two

and PTA board member at a San Francisco school.