Page 9 - Indoor Air Quality 3Roda

school closed because of mould, an environmental paint, asbestos, ventilation, and rodent and pest
group called the issue, “just the tip of the toxic dander, all in a school system with $5 billion in
iceberg,” pointing to city-wide problems with lead outstanding repairs. 52

ALLERGIES

It’s hard to learn (or teach) when you have a runny Nationwide, more U.S. schools will find
nose, watery eyes, or a skin rash or you’re feeling themselves contending with student and staff
dizzy or nauseous. Allergy symptoms like these keep allergies, as climate change drives both higher
10,000 American children home on any given school pollen counts and longer pollen seasons. Studies
day. Many allergens are the same substances that confirm a strong link between rising temperatures
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trigger asthma symptoms: mould, VOCs, dust mites, and pollen-fueled allergies. “I think there’s
pollen, and rodent and cockroach droppings. Studies irrefutable data,” asserts allergist Jeffrey Demain,
show these contaminants are prevalent in schools, as M.D., director of the Allergy, Asthma, and
airborne allergens stick to dust particles that burrow Immunology Center of Alaska. 55
into carpets and upholstery.
Some allergens are emitted by students themselves
When Baylor College of Medicine researchers — well, by their vaping devices. Despite crackdowns
collected dust samples from classrooms at 41 by administrators, an estimated 3 million U.S.
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elementary schools in Detroit, Houston, and students vape at school. A CDC Report found
Birmingham, they found dust mite and cockroach e-cigarette use among high school seniors nearly
allergens in all the rooms, often at exceedingly high doubled in one year, from 11% in 2017 to 21% in
levels. “We have demonstrated that schools may be 2018, with dramatic increases among 10th graders
important sources of direct allergen exposure for and middle schoolers as well. 57
children,” the scientists concluded.
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“Students have vaping devices that look like a flash
drive, so you don’t know whether they’re using
We have demonstrated Google docs or vaping in math class,” says school
nurse Mary Ellen Conley. “Depending on what
that schools may be important chemical product is used to flavor and scent the

sources of direct allergen product, the aerosol can be an irritant.”
exposure for children.
According to the CDC, vaping aerosol may expose
nonusers to ultrafine particulates, VOCs, and other
In the study, elementary-school libraries and allergens. Students may be vulnerable to even low
classrooms with upholstered furniture, large floor chemical concentrations, the CDC says, “because of
pillows, and piles of books harbored higher levels their smaller body weight and developing respiratory
of allergens than upper-grade rooms. As the systems.” Aerosol components also can settle on
researchers noted, elementary kids are “typically surfaces and become absorbed through a student’s
more physically active in schoolrooms, thus skin.
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increasing air turbulence.”
Tobacco residue at school can exacerbate allergies
Even well-maintained buildings with excellent as well. Though cigarette smoking has declined on
cleaning protocols are prone to collecting allergens, school campuses, 34 million American adults still
simply because of where they are located. smoke, and children who live in smoking households
unwittingly bring tobacco residue, known as third-
“We’re in one of the worst pockets in the U.S. in hand smoke, to school via their skin, hair, clothing,
terms of pollen and allergies,” says Paul Ziegler of and backpacks.
EducationPlus in the St. Louis area. “We have huge
temperature swings. It could be 70 today and 20 This residue, considered “a danger to children” by
tomorrow.” the American Academy of Pediatrics, does not sit

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