Mississippi Jackson County students sickened by crystals thought to be candy

Below is the link to a Sun Herald newspaper article about school children injured by ingesting crystal they were told was candy, but was actually a part of a science project.

This frightening poisoning of school children stresses the need for stronger regulation of hazardous chemicals on school grounds. Even more frightening is that schools in Mississippi are not required to warn parents of hazardous chemicals and cancerous conditions on school property. Nor are schools required to inform parents if children have been harmed by dangerous chemicals and poor environmental conditions.

Readers of the article below should note that vital information was omitted or missing concerning the source of the chemicals ingested, the name of the chemicals, and other vital health information needed by parents.

Rumors abound when viable information is withheld from parents and the community and not given in a timely manner. Failure to provide chemical and health information further threatens the health of children.


I was injured while teaching in Long Beach School District in Mississippi. More than two dozen children were injured as well. Chemical information was withheld from the public at that time, including that the cancer causing chemicals also caused brain damage and asthma.
Mississippi parents should be outraged when school districts withhold valuable information that affects the health of children and staff members.
Nancy Swan
Director, Children's Environmental Protection Alliance (Children's EPA)
Join Children's EPA on facebook, Children's EPA (Children's Environmental Protection Alliance)

Jackson County students ingest crystals thought to be candy

ead more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/02/27/4495472/jackson-county-students-ingest.html#storylink=cpy

Twenty-one students and two adults at St. Martin Upper Elementary School ingested aluminum potassium sulfate crystals that were mistakenly thought to be candy, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office said today.

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/02/27/4495472/jackson-county-students-ingest.html#storylink=cpy

Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/02/27/4495472/jackson-county-students-ingest.html

SPF Spray on Foam roofing and insulation injuring school kids and homeowners

Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing, Spray on Foam roofing and insulation, and Spray on Foam sealant have been heavily marketed to school boards around the world for the last 30 years as a "green solution."   A bill has been introduced in Connecticut to regulate the use of Spray on Foam products.  If you live in Connecticut, call your lawmaker to support this bill. 

http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=91060&sitesection=WTIC_hom_non_fro&VID=24462819

Spray on Foam products may help to reduce energy consumption BUT SPF increases a children's exposure to deadly, asthma causing, and cancer-causing chemicals.

Spray on Foam is a dangerous product which if properly or improperly applied, cured, and maintained can seriously injury or kill you or your child. 

The terms "Green" and "Green solution" are not regulated by USA and most other countries, and therefore have no useful meaning to school boards or to the consumer.  "Green" and "Green solution" are product and advertiser hype words only.

Sale and use of this product needs to be tightly regulated throughout the USA and other countries.

Spray on Foam products seriously and permanently injured me and more than two dozen children at the school where I had been teaching.   Toxic Justice - Nancy Swan 

This tragedy is happening in every city and thousands of schools across the USA. 

How can you prevent this product from harming you or your child? 

After watching the video below, please visit http://www.childrensepa.org/ 

Bill to regulate Spray on Foam use in Connecticut http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=91060&sitesection=WTIC_hom_non_fro&VID=24462819

Tags: SPF, Spray Polyurethane Foam, SPF Insulation, Spray On Foam, Spray On Foam Roofing, Spray on Foam Sealant, Spray on Foam products, School Board, Brain damage, Asthma, Green Solution, Green, Connecticut, WTIC, Homeowners, insulation, Children's EPA, Toxic Justice, legislation, environment, health, children's health, asthma, brain damage, respiratory irritant, cancer 

Call today, February 20 to keep lung health from federal spending cuts

Call Your Representative today: Save Vital Lung Health Programs
Its easy and will make you feel good that you helped

Please join the American Lung Associations request to call your representative today, Wednesday, February 20, with others across the country for the American Lung Association's Fiscal Cliff Call-in Day:
http://action.lung.org/site/R?i=tzScP03QGe3D72PsdfMeug

  Call your Representative today to urge a stop to the automatic cuts to federal programs that matter most to lung health:

http://action.lung.org/site/R?i=mpDds-cgw7PrpdEEfKWfxQ

The more calls we make, the bigger the impact, so please invite family
and friends to call their Representatives too.

Together, our voice against cuts to lung health programs is stronger.

Thank you for being part of this important effort fighting for essential lung health programs.

Please Share this Message with Your Friends and Followers

Tweet about it: Use the hashtag #callinday


To Contact President Obama: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call#call

Hi this is __________ from ____________ I am calling on behalf of [Children’s EPA] [Healthy Schools Network] [American Lung Association]  to request that Representative __________ stop cuts in funding to lung health programs in the  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
These cuts would seriously harm efforts to:
1. to reduce air pollution,
2. to find cures and treatments for lung diseases such as lung cancer,
3. to help those suffering from asthma and COPD,
4. to prevent another generation of kids from addiction to tobacco.

Use an example of work that would be harmed.  See this week's news about children required to spray pesticide at school. This product irritates skin and respiratory systems,and can harm lungs of young children http://childrensepa.blogspot.com/2013/02/use-of-hazardous-products-in-tn.html

Call your Representative today to urge a stop to the automatic cuts to federal programs that matter most to lung health  The more calls we make, the bigger the impact, so please invite family
and friends to call their Representatives too.

http://action.lung.org/site/R?i=mpDds-cgw7PrpdEEfKWfxQ

Thank you,
Nancy Swan, Director of Children's Environmental Protection Alliance known as Children's EPA

Use of hazardous products in TN Williamson County Schools continues

Children's EPA Director, Nancy Swan, has been following the unfolding school disaster linked below for several years.  Untrained school officials given authority to purchase dangerous disinfectant and pesticides to be used by and around children is like giving a loaded gun to a five year old, or to a madman.  Similar story- http://www.toxicjustice.com  Children's EPA- http://www.childrensepa.org

Mrs. Kunz told Mrs. Swan that Tennessee Williamson County School District (Oak Grove) Oak Grove elementary school children have been required to spray and wipe cafeteria tables with an industrial product that states that the product is not to be used by children.  Mrs. Kunz writes that she witnessed the children playing with the spray and spraying it onto their skin and inhaling the product.

This product clearly states on the ready-to-use labeling that the product is an irritant and requires use of protects gowns, eye goggles, and face mask.  http://www2.hawaii.gov//hdoa/labels/8017.24_2013.pdf

For four years Mrs. Kunz, has tried to stop this practice.  She has spoken to the school board, emailed, spoke, and wrote to Williamson County school officials.  Kunz has repeatedly provided clear and convincing evidence that this product has been used by children, used inappropriately around children, and use of the product violated the products own safety requirements. Despite knowledge of the harmful use of dangerious industrial products the practice of use of the dangerous product has continued.

Williamson County School officials should not only acknowledge that they have required hazardous chemicals to be used by elementary school children, they should alert all parents in the school system about the product potential health hazards. 

FRANKLIN — A Williamson County Schools parent has had concerns about chemicals used in her son’s school for four years now.Daniela Kunz plans to speak at the county school board meeting 6:30 p.m. tonight about her worries, in addition to what she considers a failure on behalf of the district to release information under the Tennessee Open Records Act.

Read more: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013130218019
NBC TV news: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50848200#.USQAA_JvarE

Tomorrow is call-in day. Please call in to keep your lungs and your child's lungs from falling off the fiscal cliff. Hard to protect jobs if you are too sick to work. Protecting health of children and our work force is less costly than paying for disability and federal and state programs to treat illnesses.

Lung Health Call-in Days | American Lung Association

www.lung.org

The American Lung Association invites you to participate in a series of call-in days about issues that you care about and matter most to lung health. Join us and others across the country to tell the President and Congress that you want smart policies in place that will protect your lung health.

Substance in chewing gum killing thousands of bird of the UK coast.

What is in your child's chewing gum?

PIB, a substance in chewing gum, is killing thousands of bird of the UK coast.  Can PIB harm children? 

Chemical and product safety standards are only set for health, mature, adult males.  Children, fetuses, infants, and other vulnerable populations are not included in safety standards.  More over, most product and chemical safety standards, such as OSHA are intented for workers, not consumers.  Like medication dosage, what is deemed "safe" levels of exposure by industry or government standards may kill or seriously harm a child.

The title of this article linked below is misleading: Pollution that killed seabirds cannot be traced, rules investigation

The substance was eventually identified as PIB – polyisobutene – which is used in products ranging from adhesives to sealants and even chewing gum.

The source of the pollution that killed hundreds of seabirds off the UK coast may never be known after the maritime and coastguard agency said it had wound up its investigation.

Read more:
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/19/seabirds-uk-coast-pollution-investigation

Chemical and product safety standards and laws need to include safety and health of bystanders and children

Research studies report on the effect on adult health from endocrine-disrupting chemicals in food, water, soil, and the air.  Exposure levels to harmful chemicals may be deemed "safe" by government standards, but safety standards are only set for a healthy, mature, adult MALE worker. Users of harmful products and chemicals, including children, are not considered in any safety standard set by industry or set by countries.

Similar to medication dosages, levels of exposure to harmful chemicals that are deemed "safe" for a healthy, mature, adult, male worker can kill or severely injure an unborn fetus, infant, or child.

The US EPA and CDC acknowledged that children are more vulnerable to harm from dangerous chemicals and environments.  The bodies, organs, and reproductive systems of children are still developing.  Children contact, drink, eat, and breathe more harmful chemicals and environment per body weight than adults and therefore the harmful effects on health are multiplied. 

It is time to change our safety standards and protocol for government allowances for harmful environments and chemicals. The effect of chemicals and products needs to be extended to include the health and safety of all persons or wildlife impacted in the chemical/ product manufacture, storage, transportation, on-site storage, application, on-site off-gassing or by-products, removal, and waste collection and storage.

Decision makers and law makers should be required to attend workshops and test for competency on the effect of harmful chemicals and environments on child (and adult) health. Without competency status, no decision or law makers should be allowed to vote or decide policy that allow for these chemicals to be used and released in substances or environments that could harm the health of a child or adult.

"There is now 'emerging evidence for adverse reproductive outcomes' and 'mounting evidence' for effects on thyroids, brains and metabolism, the report summary says."  Read more:    http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/who-report

Share this commentary and commentary.  One small "share" click can have a large impact on the health of children.  One of those children may be yours or that of a loved one.

Join Children's EPA (Children's Environmental Protection Alliance) on Facebook for timely news, research, conferences, and commentary. 
Children's EPA (Children's Environmental Protection Alliance)

 

Please protect kids in harm's way- Hattiesburg MS tornado

Children need to be protected from widespread hazardous substances in the aftermath of tornadoes that hit Hattiesburg MS today. This is a frightening but impressive video of the tornado.

Several of my relative's homes were damaged. I worry about the children and so many friends in a town that we lived in for twenty years. 

 

Please share to help get the word out and to urge government and volunteers to post notices to protect children in disaster areas from widespread dangerous substances and chemicals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kPDvBMp18us

Tornado in Hattiesburg, MS 10 Feb, 2013

www.youtube.com

Hi! Smilin Observer here! I was at work when I heard what sounded like a "freight train". The power went out in the small building I was in. So I went outsid...