Laing Middle School

[Guest guest]

Health agents to discuss school pesticide spill

by MARSHA B. GUERARD

Originally Published on 3/17/99

Parents of students at Laing Middle School can meet April 13 with state and

federal health officials to discuss a pesticide spill at the school.

During a Nov. 12 treatment for termites, the pesticide Dursban was

mistakenly injected into two classrooms.

Parents found out about it more than two months later. Pointing to health

problems among students that include flu-like symptoms and one child whose

hands peeled, they asked the ton County School Board to make sure a

similar event does not reoccur.

On Monday night, at a meeting of the school board's Property and Operations

Committee, board member Jackie Ketchen-Simpkins and others said the district

needs a policy.

The panel learned Monday that the district has asked state and federal

agencies to arrange for a toxicologist to review information on the

incident.

The district also has arranged a meeting for parents with representatives

from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry, the

Environmental Protection Agency and the S.C. Department of Health and

Environmental Control.

Those scientists will review reports issued by General Engineering

Laboratories after it took air-quality samples from the school in January

and February.

According to a school district report on the incident, the Dursban spill

wasn't noticed until the day after the chemical was sprayed. A teacher

detected a strong odor and found signs of drilling through her classroom

wall. The damage in the other room wasn't immediately noticeable because a

filing cabinet covered the hole.

Willard Pest Control paid to have the rooms cleaned five days later and

again in December after the principal complained about the persistent smell.

On Jan. 29, parents found out about the problem, and one asked the principal

if the air quality had been tested in the classrooms. Arrangements were made

with Clemson Extension Service.

Upset parents began calling the school district and teachers. The principal

arranged a meeting for parents with two Mount Pleasant doctors; a Clemson

Extension pesticide expert; representatives of the maker of Dursban, Dow

Chemical; Willard Pest Control; and another air quality testing agency,

General Engineering Laboratories. About 75 parents attended.

After air-quality tests came back within a safe range, the two classrooms

were given new paint, carpet and ceiling tiles. Parents were upset, however,

to learn the classrooms were used before further testing was done.

A second air-quality test found a slight level of Dursban in one room. But

it was very low, according to the school district report.

The school district is paying the medical expenses of any students who

became ill from the spill.