Faced with parents' concerns about air quality around Lincoln and Sacred Heart elementary schools after a Dec. 8 USA Today article, Warsaw Schools and Sacred Heart conducted air quality studies of their own.
The schools received the reports Tuesday.
The results of the studies, conducted by Grauvogel & Associates, Granger, on Dec. 12, showed that "results were below the (Environmental Protection Agency Reference Concentration for Chronic Inhalation Exposure), indicating that there is no appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime of exposure for children at these concentrations, and below the (U.S Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Minimal Risk Level), also indicating that no adverse health effects would be expected over a lifetime of exposure to these concentrations."The reports also conclude that the air quality outside Lincoln and Sacred Heart schools presents "no risk of significant exposure."
According to the USA Today story, the newspaper used the government's most up-to-date model for tracking toxic chemicals. It spent eight months examining the impact of industrial pollution on the air outside schools across the country. The model is a computer simulation that predicts the path of toxic chemicals released by companies near the schools.
Using the model, the newspaper identified schools in what it called toxic hot spots.
As a result of their study, the newspaper came up with a ranking of 127,800 public, private and parochial schools based "on the concentrations and health hazards of chemicals likely to be in the air outside." Emission reports filed by 20,000 industrial sites in 2005 were used by the model.
The news article put Lincoln and Sacred Heart in the 1st percentile. That means the air is worse at only 101 other schools across the nation, according to USA Today's information.
Chemicals most responsible for the toxicity outside Lincoln and Sacred Heart, according to USA Today, include: manganese and manganese compounds, 63 percent of overall toxicity; nickel and nickel compounds, 33 percent of overall toxicity; chlorine, 2 percent of overall toxicity; copper and copper compounds, 1 percent of overall toxicity; and naphthalene, 0 percent of overall toxicity.
For their own study, Warsaw Schools Assistant to the Superintendent Chris Gensinger said they hired a certified industrial hygienist, Grauvogel & Associates. Warsaw Schools and Sacred Heart each paid Grauvogel & Associates $1,900 for the study.
"They are the only people that can do an air quality study that means anything," Gensinger said.
Mary Ann Irwin, Sacred Heart, and Gensinger said the money paid for the study could have been used elsewhere. However, after the Dec. 8 USA Today story, the air quality studies were something both schools believed had to be done.
The industries named in the USA Today article received negative attention from the story, Irwin said, that they didn't deserve. One of those industries was Dalton Corp. Irwin said Dalton has improved its processes and is doing everything they can possibly do to control their emissions.
In Grauvogel & Associates' summary of their evaluations, the reports state that "for a gray iron foundry such as the Dalton operation, manganese and nickel are emitted as elemental manganese, elemental nickel and their oxides. It should be carefully pointed out that manganese and nickel in any of these forms are not carcinogens. Other manganese and nickel compounds are much more toxic, for instance nickel refinery dust and nickel subsulfide. Actually, both of these elements are necessary for normal human metabolism, that is, they are essential in the proper concentration within the body to good health."
Gensinger said, "We just want our parents to be comfortable with knowing our kids are safe in and outside schools."
Irwin said if the USA Today article was accurate, it wouldn't just be the schools that would be affected. "All of us shop and live in the same proximity," she said, and all would be affected.
"I feel very badly that USA Today jumped to conclusions on something hypothetical and not on facts," she said. Gensinger said the USA Today article carried it too far. Not one person doing the air samples for USA Today was certified, Gensinger said. And no air samples were taken in the Warsaw area, he said.
"Both of our boards wanted to do this study and make sure everyone felt safe. And now we do," Irwin said.
Irwin said the summary of the study will be sent home to Sacred Heart students' parents today. The report also will be available in the school office and parish. Gensinger said the report for Lincoln School will be posted on Warsaw Schools' Web site within a week. Anyone with questions about the reports may contact the schools.
"The nice thing about anything done by a professional (company) like this is that is should have more merit than an article. I'm pleased with the results," Gensinger said.
The report includes a summary of the study, background information, methodology, results and discussion, a conclusion, a recommendation and references.
The recommendation states: "Since the air quality was found to be acceptable compared to the appropriate criteria, no further action is necessary at this time."
