By NANCY HILER
Is the new state law mandating "green cleaning" in schools tough enough? Some activists don't think so. Although there is universal support for the move toward healthier schools and widespread acceptance of the new "green-clean" measure, it is what the law does not address that has sparked debate.
The law requires that schools use "green" cleaners to minimize the exposure of children, custodians and other staff members to potentially damaging chemicals found in many common cleaning products. But the regulations provide few specifics about what makes a cleaner "green," and do not include any health or environmental requirements for floor finishers, waxes and other maintenance and specialty disinfectant products used in schools.
Push for stronger rules
Michael Sheehan, president of the Nassau County chapter of the School Buildings and Grounds Association (SBGA), said, "A strong push for safer products in schools is coming from child health advocates such as Deirdre Imus and Patti Wood -- both of them mothers fighting for children." Imus is founder of the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology. Wood, with her husband, Doug, is co-founder of Grassroots Environmental Education, a nonprofit child environmental health advocacy group in Port Washington.
"When it comes to children and their health, there is only one way to go -- to stay with the intent of the legislation," Wood said. "Unfortunately, that's not what's happening here."
Current requirements
Christine Burling, spokeswoman for the New York state Office of General Services, explained, "The requirements were developed as a practical approach to eliminating or minimizing exposure to chemicals that cause or potentially cause certain types of health effects while still maintaining the availability of effective and useful cleaning products.² The OGS is the contract-procurement wing of the state government, the regulatory division that recently issued the list of recommended cleaning products approved for use in schools under the new "green-clean" law.
³The OGS took months to come up with the list and then just basically said that Green Seal-certified industrial cleaning products are good enough,² Wood said. ³Those products meet an outdated, adult cleaning product standard called Green Seal-37, which does not go far enough to protect children.² The not-for-profit Green Seal organization is a certifying agency for environmental standards for large institutional purchasers.
"OGS disagrees with comments suggesting that the guidelines are an Œadult standard¹ not intended to protect children," Burling replied.
Much unknown
The federal Environmental Protection Agency says that once a toxin like asbestos enters the body, it can stay in the lungs, be exhaled or move around (sometimes undergoing chemical changes, becoming less or more toxic in the process), or be stored in hair, bone or fat for an indeterminate amount of time, depending on the substance or combination of substances and the exposure level.
"There are more than 82,000 chemicals in our environment," the Imus Environmental Center reports, "yet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reviewed fewer than 2 percent for safety." "The Pollution Within," an article in the October issue of National Geographic, says, "Only a quarter have ever been tested for toxicity."
"Children may be more vulnerable to environmental exposures than adults, in part due to the fact that their organ systems are in various stages of development," explained Maida Galvez, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that children's exposure to toxins may be linked to a variety of illnesses, including asthma, childhood cancers, developmental and learning disabilities.
"You send your kids to school to learn," Wood said, "not to be exposed to chemicals that might cause cancer 15 or 20 years later."
Strengthening the law
The National Parent Teacher Association, the SBGA, the state teachers' union and many health professionals are calling for tougher state green-clean standards in the schools, Wood said. Children's health advocates like Wood and environmentalists want the green-clean law strengthened in two key ways:
€By including additional cleaning products and floor finishers in the measures.
€By defining "truly green" in the law.
Currently, the state-issued list of recommended products for use in schools stops at general cleaners. Other products, such as waxes and other maintenance and specialty disinfectant products used in schools, are not addressed. There are no health or environmental requirements for these products as yet.
"While substantial work has been done by a variety of manufacturers to develop 'green' or environmentally sensitive floor finishes and floor strippers, no proven 'green' standards have been developed to date," OGS spokeswoman Burling said. "Once it has been proven that 'green' floor protection products perform equal to or better than the best of what is presently available, OGS can re-evaluate these guidelines."
Although there is no mandate yet to do so, some local school districts have voluntarily tried to broaden their green-cleaning efforts beyond the general requirements. Without guidelines for other types of cleaning products, however, school officials are finding it challenging to figure out which ones are safe and effective.
Environmentalists and children's health groups are also calling for a definition of what makes a product "truly green." Right now, "none of the approved products list contains ingredients that have been identified as capable of causing cancer or developmental or reproductive effects," Burling said.
But that criterion does not go far enough to safeguard children, according to Woods. Since the new law "has no legal definition or standard for 'green,'" the term was interpreted "very loosely," Wood said. Activists presented a variety of recommendations for what they consider "truly green" products to the OGS during the public comment period last spring, long before its list was issued, Wood explained. "The product guidelines recently issued are only a first step, at best, in protecting children's health," Doug Wood said.
The Woods and others believe that schools should use only "truly green" products everywhere, defined as those that do not contain:
€Added fragrance, a major asthma trigger.
€Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which may interfere with the proper functioning of hormones in human physiological systems.
€Volatile organic compounds, chemicals emitted as gases from certain substances, which may cause adverse health effects.
(See sidebar, "Truly Œgreen¹ products?")
Some activists also appeal for other ingredients to be banned from various types of cleaning products used in schools, particularly metals and ozone-depleters.
"To the fullest extent possible," specialty disinfectants (such as those used in toilet cleaning) should "not contain heavy metals that are toxic or any ozone-depleting ingredients or phosphates," the Imus Environmental Center says. Known ozone depleters include fluorocarbons released by aerosol spray containers. Phosphates, an overload of which can sap oxygen from aquatic ecosystems, are banned from laundry detergents in many states, including New York, but are still used in some automatic dishwasher detergents.
Is a switch to strictly bio-based products the answer? Not necessarily, according to child health advocate groups. "The effectiveness of [products at killing germs is paramount, and synthetic microbiocides] are simply more effective than potential replacements of natural origin at this time," states the Imus center.
"It is critical that schools carefully examine all cleaning products used regularly in order to minimize children's exposure to harsh chemicals," said Mt. Sinai's Galvez.
The OGS says it continues to review and may consider revising its product list. With regard to fragrance additives, while not eliminated, products that contain them are indicated on the current OGS list, Burling pointed out.
Wood said her organization and other environmental groups would continue to promote stricter standards and ³green² products for schools. "The OGS will have to make changes," she said. "This issue is not going away. We'll stay on it."
Next week: Schools find it's not easy going "greener."
Comments about this story? NHiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
