Students Poisoned by Pesticides

By: eNews Park Forest!

Greg Lynch, Dayton Daily News

Washington, DC--(ENEWSPF)--October 27, 2011.  Forty-seven students from Edgewood Middle School in St. Clair Township, Ohio, reportedly fell ill after the school’s hired pest control company sprayed the herbicide Momentum, which contains the toxic ingredients 2,4-D, triclopyr and clopyralid, on nearby playing fields to treat for clover and other weeds. The incident and others like it demonstrate the need for a comprehensive national policy to protect children from harmful and unnecessary exposure to toxic chemicals. Six students were taken to nearby hospitals and twenty-one students total were treated for symptoms, including headaches, breathing difficulties, nausea and dizziness.

Chemical Safety Incidents and Fatalities

For those looking for a compilation of chemical safety incidents and fatalities check out the two sites below.

The AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee tracks laboratory safety incidents HERE. A variety of information can be found on their website HERE.

The Laboratory Safety Institute tracks laboratory fatalities on its Memorial Wall, which can be found HERE.

These two resources are useful for emphasizing the impacts of poor planning and unsafe conditions.

Itching Powder Causes Scare at School

By: news-press.com
Apr. 8, 2011

The Fort Myers Fire Department is at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School responding to a possible hazmat situation.

Firetrucks and ambulances are on scene and the school is currently on lockdown. The nature of the incident is unknown at this time.

UPDATE:
The school is no longer on lockdown.

Lee County EMS Chief of Operations Scott Tuttle said a student brought itching powder into the school. Twelve students and 11 cafeteria workers were affected by the powder.

Students Mistake Poison for Candy

Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, January 14, 2011

Seven San Francisco middle school students were taken to hospitals Thursday after ingesting small amounts of rat poison they found on top of a classroom filing cabinet, thinking the single blue cube was candy, fire officials said.

The Martin Luther King Jr. students, who showed no symptoms other than fear, were transported to three local hospitals, but were not expected to suffer any harmful consequences, said Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge.

Talmadge said one of the students found the small cube and took a little nibble and told classmates it tasted like a cookie. Six others, boys and girls ranging in age from 10 to 12, then licked or bit pieces of the 1.5-inch cube of poison and either swallowed or spit it out.

Food Tainted with Chemical Sickens Employees

By: Katherine Perry
95.9 WATD, Marshfield Broadcasting Company

Two Bridgewater State University employees were taken to the hospital after they were sickened by an unknown chemical Thursday.

At 11:41 a.m. the Bridgewater fire department was called to Bridgewater State University and began a tier 1 haz-mat response-- the least serious response level.

Two food service employees were working near a dishwasher and food disposal area in a kitchen in the east campus commons, when they became ill.

Cleaning Chemicals Improperly Mixed Led to School Closure

By: Kevin MacMillan and Jason Shueh
Sierra Sun
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Photo: Jason Shueh/Sierra Sun

TAHOE CITY, Calif. — A chemical reaction was the probable cause for a cloud of noxious vapors Thursday morning at Tahoe Lake Elementary School that eventually led to the school being shut down prior to students arriving to campus, officials confirmed.

The North Tahoe Fire Protection District received a call at 8:31 a.m. Thursday, said spokesman Dave Zaski, about possible smoke coming from the gymnasium at the school.

School Kitchens Flunk Health Inspections

By: Helena Bottemiller

FoodSafetyNews.com

Oct 14, 2010

More than half of the school kitchens in the Philadelphia School District failed the last round of health inspections, according to state records analyzed by Philadelphia Daily News.

The worst offenders appeared to be charter schools, which were 66 percent out of compliance, compared with the 53 percent failure rate across the district.  According to The Daily News, some schools on the list had as 20 significant violations, ranging from "mouse feces found on cooking utensils to food being stored next to chemicals."

Hazardous Chemical Misused in a School

By DAVID SEIFMAN City Hall Bureau Chief nypost.com
October 16, 2010

NY Post: G.N. Miller 

Two students created a scare at a middle school in Brooklyn by pouring a potentially dangerous chemical into the hands of unsuspecting classmates -- leading to a hazmat response that included cops and firefighters, officials disclosed yesterday.

Six students from Seth Low IS 96 in Bensonhurst were taken to Coney Island Hospital as a precaution.

Several others were taken to emergency rooms by their parents after Thursday's incident.

School Lockdown After Mercury Exposure

By: Maureen Magee and Hailey Persinger

Published: October 8, 2010

San Diego — Toler and Bay Park elementary schools were taken off lock down status at around 4:30 p.m.

UPDATE 4 p.m. - Mission Bay High School has been taken off lock down status and all students were sent home at about 3:25 p.m., said the San Diego Fire Department. Lock downs for Bay Park and Toler elementary schools are still in effect.

UPDATE 2:40 p.m. - About 140 students have been isolated and are being screened for mercury contamination at Mission Bay High School after officials found that they'd entered classrooms with dangerous levels of the substance.

Science Lab Incident Sickens Students

By Shawn Raymundo

Salt River Fire Paramedics rushed on to campus after two students in the Natural Science building suffered from breathing complications while working with pure Ethanol on Tuesday Sept. 21.

The three-hour lab, taught by Professor Anne Healy, had been using pure Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or drinking alcohol, when the two girls began to feel nauseous. Classmate, Diane Hannan, said, "they turned red and blush and couldn't breathe."

Early speculation, from administration, over the cause of the incident was

Mercury Brought into Classroom by Student

By Linda Bock TELEGRAM; GAZETTE STAFF
lbock@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Federal environmental officials told school and health officials this morning that the clean-up of the Grafton Elementary Street School is going smoothly, addressing the potentially hazardous mercury that was brought into a classroom by a student on Tuesday.

“That's really good news,” said Worcester schools Chief Academic Officer Jeffrey J. Mulqueen, who was at the school throughout the morning.  A specialized top-to-bottom cleaning of the building is ongoing.

A sixth-grade student brought nearly a pint of mercury to Grafton Street School to show a teacher on Tuesday, and that prompted an environmental investigation.

Despite the optimistic news

Students Sickened by Odor

The Journal Gazette
Fort Wayne, IN

A mysterious bleach-like odor caused the evacuation of DeKalb High School on Friday as well as the hospitalization of more than a dozen students.

The Waterloo Fire Department was called to the school at 2:44 p.m. after people began to notice a strange odor and some students had trouble breathing.

A school official said the odor was coming from the art room and an adjoining hallway, according to the fire department.

The Auburn Fire Department’s Hazmat Team was called to check the building, but the unit could not find the source of the odor.

Some students complained not only of trouble breathing but also of dizziness.

For original posting click HERE.