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If your child says school makes him sick - it may be true
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Schools should be environmentally safe
USA TODAY has released a study on schools where the outside air poses a health risk from chemical contamination to young children and school staff. The study identified 435 schools in "toxic hot spots". They also identified over 20,000 schools located within half a mile of major industrial plants that exposed children to hazardous levels of air pollution.
The study is the result of what the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) has been reporting since 2001. In several reports, beginning with Poisoned Schools, CHEJ presented case studies of school aged children harmed by chemicals in their school environments and called on the federal government to establish school siting guidelines as a tool for local schools boards.
Asthma is a direct result of air pollution and schools should be environmentally safe for children to learn and play. Not a place that endangers their health and ability to learn. There is a critical need for state laws that ensure that the locations for new schools are safe and that contaminated property is properly cleaned up.
CHEJ in collaboration with school, health, and environmental organizations, engineers and health professionals has developed a program entitled Child Proofing Our Communities (CPOC) to prevent environmental health harm to children. It is the only existing National Model School Siting Policy guidelines to help state groups advance protective school siting policies for their states.
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