(Frightening bit of news that shows just how far we are from a precautionary framework. – promoted by eli_beckerman)

According to the EPA, more than 53 million children and about 6 million adults spend a substantial part of their days in schools.  The EPA has recognized that many schools have environmental problems, and, in 1995, released the first edition of its Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools kit to encourage school districts to address environmental problems. The EPA estimates that an average of one out of 13 school-age children has asthma, and that asthma is a leading cause of student absenteeism.  

Health concerns in schools are not limited to indoor air quality.  Recently, schools are identifying and remediating PCBs found in building materials.  As the public considers how to develop policies to respond to school-based health issues, they often consider AHERA, the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act as a model for regulating health issues in schools.  

We have great reservations about the efficacy of AHERA – at least, in Massachusetts.  Researchers at UMass Lowell have examined Massachusetts Cancer Registry data with regard to occurrence of malignant mesothelioma – a cancer attributed only to asbestos exposure — over the time period 1982 to 2003.  There were 28 cases in school teachers and 30 in “janitors and cleaners.”  Nine cases in teachers were reported during the period 1982-1987; and 19, during the period 1988-2003.  For janitors, distribution for the two time periods was 7 and 23, respectively.

Risks for students have not been examined in epidemiologic studies for a number of reasons. It’s difficult to get good estimates of their variable and inconsistent exposures and the logistics of locating and evaluating students 20 or more years after initial exposure is at this point insurmountable. In addition, death certificate data do not give “student” as “occupation.”  Their younger age at initial exposure, however, makes them a particularly vulnerable population for malignant mesothelioma with its latency period of 35-45 years on average.

In 1998 EPA gave authority to enforce AHERA in Massachusetts to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Division of Occupational Safety. The Division conducts inspections of schools in response to complaints, as well as annually on a routine basis for a sample of the schools. A review of the summary reports of these activities for the first ten years of state supervision revealed that 90 percent of the schools surveyed (not including complaints) were violating AHERA requirements.  Some of this may simply be paperwork violations, but a law requiring management of such hazardous materials requires careful record-keeping: paperwork compliance may not be sufficient to assure safety but it is essential in assessing how well the schools are handling the problem.

Unfortunately, teachers and custodians in Massachusetts are serving like canaries in the mines.  Mesothelioma cases are warnings that alert us to problems in the schools and in the enforcement of AHERA.  Here is a serious problem we thought we had solved – but laws not only have to be passed, they have to be enforced.  

Charles Levenstein, Ph.D., M.S.O.H., is Professor Emeritus of Work Environment at UMass Lowell.