Is air at 3 area schools toxic?

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Is air at 3 area schools toxic?

http://www.indystar.com/article/20081208/LOCAL/812080356

Indianapolis Star - United States

Monitoring finds pollutants, but no one can say how harmful they

might be

By Tim and Andy Gammill

Posted: December 8, 2008 Read Comments(20)

An investigation by The Indianapolis Star and USA Today found

significant levels of potentially harmful pollutants at three metro-

area schools. But just how harmful is impossible to know because no

one -- local school districts, county health departments or the

state's environmental agency -- is actually measuring air quality at

schools.

The pollutants, including traces of the carcinogen benzene, were

identified during brief monitoring conducted earlier this year by

The Star and USA Today outside School 49 in Indianapolis, North

Elementary in Noblesville and Pittsboro Elementary in Hendricks

County.

The three schools are among thousands in the U.S. where levels of

air pollution may pose a health threat to children, based on an

examination of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Interactive: See where the toxic schools are in Indiana

An eight-month review of that data indicates the air outside at

least 22 Indiana schools, including Pittsboro, may be even worse

than the air in the Cincinnati suburb of Addyston, Ohio, where

officials closed Meredith Hitchens Elementary School in 2005 after

tests showed high levels of chemicals coming from a plastics plant

across the street.

Those findings were bolstered by monitoring conducted at School 49,

North Elementary and Pittsboro Elementary, which were among 95

schools in 30 states where air quality was examined as part of the

project. Although those were the only metro-area schools where

monitoring was done, the EPA data indicate similar problems might be

found at many other schools in the state.

Should parents of children who attend these schools be concerned?

Nobody really knows for sure. Here's why:

No federal, state or county agencies conduct ongoing monitoring at

schools.

The EPA hasn't set a limit for how much of a substance can be in the

air before some kind of action is required to cut pollution levels.

Few studies have examined the effects of toxic chemicals on children.

Schools rely on government

" There is more that could and should be done, " said Janet McCabe,

executive director of the Indiana advocacy group Improving Kids'

Environment and a member of the Indianapolis Air Pollution Control

Board.

" It would be great to have the ability to spot-check air quality

near sensitive sites like schools, day cares and hospital. "

That only happens now if a problem is suspected, which may be too

late for children exposed to toxins that could affect their health

now or later in life. Even then, the lines of authority detailing

how such cases should be handled are not clear.

" The Indiana Department of Education is committed to ensuring the

health and safety of Indiana students, " spokesman Bearce

said, " but school air quality and related environmental issues do

not fall under our purview. "

Myers, the environmental safety and risk management officer

for Indianapolis Public Schools, said his department routinely tests

air quality inside schools for airflow, oxygen content and the

presence of carbon monoxide but not for the presence of heavy metals

or other toxic chemicals.

IPS, he said, typically relies on the Air Pollution Control Board

and the n County Health Department to alert it to potential

problems from outside air.

But neither the Indiana Department of Environmental Management nor

state and local health departments do widespread, comprehensive

monitoring near schools.

Myers was unaware that EPA's models predict School 49 would be in

the path of dangerous pollutants. The USA Today analysis suggested

that further testing would be warranted there.

The district had expected that local and state environmental

agencies would alert it to potential hazards after major problems

tied to air pollution were discovered at School 21, Myers said.

Those problems were discovered after officials, responding to

complaints from residents, determined that high levels of pollutants

created an elevated risk of cancer near School 21, which is not far

from Schools 46 and 49. IDEM then sought a grant for a two-year

monitoring project, which is winding down. Findings should be made

public next year.

" I would have thought after our experiences at School 21 that we

would have had concerned regulators already talking to us, " Myers

said. " Now that we're aware of this situation, we're going to get

that information, I guarantee you that. "

School Board member W. Diane Arnold, who represents the area that

includes School 49, said she had always thought someone in another

government agency was responsible for keeping tabs on air pollution

and how it might affect children, whether in their schools or in

their homes.

" I leave that to the government -- whether city, state or federal,

whoever regulates air quality, " she said. " Certainly that should be

done and the results should be shared not only with us or the

parents of the children in our schools but the people in the

neighborhoods. "

Leo Philbin, superintendent of Northwest Hendricks Schools, which

includes Pittsboro Elementary, said he was unaware of any potential

health threat from air pollution. He said he would look into the

findings.

Need for more information

Experts disagree on whether the levels of dangerous pollutants --

including benzene, chromium, manganese and toluene -- found during

the recent monitoring project at the schools pose a serious health

threat.

Breysse, a professor at s Hopkins University's School of

Public Health, said results from monitoring at the three metro-area

schools " point very clearly to the need for systematic evaluation. "

He worked with USA Today and other Gannett newspapers on the project.

Parents and school officials " should not take these results and

abandon their schools, " Breysse cautioned. " But they certainly need

to start asking people in authority to find out more. "

The results, however, are not alarming to Beranek Jr.,

president of the Indiana Environmental Institute, a nonpartisan

policy institute.

" The levels of benzene (found at the schools) are about the normal

concentration you would expect in an urban area, " said Beranek, who

has a doctorate in chemistry. " That comes from gasoline and the

transportation system. "

Beranek said the monitoring project was too limited to provide an

accurate picture of the potential threat from pollution. Still, he

said, it is important to focus attention on air quality near schools

and across communities.

McCabe, from Improving Kids' Environment, agreed with Beranek's

assessment of the monitoring results.

" I'm not going to say, 'Get those kids out of those schools,' "

based on those levels, she said.

Although she would like to see more data, she said that placing

monitors at all schools would be cost-prohibitive.

" We'll just never be able to monitor at every school, " said McCabe,

who headed IDEM's office of air quality from 1998 to 2004.

Instead, she said, school and government officials must do a better

job of working together to make other changes that will improve air

quality and address specific pollution threats. That can be done by

instituting policies such as bans on vehicles idling outside schools

and planning that does not allow schools to be built near pollution

sources.

She and Beranek said local, state and federal officials also must do

more with the information they already have on industrial discharges

and from the monitoring that is being done on smog near specific

industries.

The USA Today project found that the EPA and many states are not

using that information or the EPA's own models to look for potential

problems around schools. Ruth McCully, head of the EPA's Office of

Children's Health Protection, doesn't see that as her role.

" It's not my job responsibility to initiate those types of

activities, " said McCully, who took over this year.

Her predecessor, however, said the current system leaves children

and parents in limbo.

" There are health and safety standards for adults in the workplace,

but there are no standards for children at schools, " said Ramona

Trovato, former director of the office.

" If a parent complains, there's no law that requires anybody to do

anything. It's beyond belief. "

Call Star reporter Tim at (317) 444-6204.

USA Today reporters Blake on and Brad Heath contributed to

this story.

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