Call for safer air in classrooms
Print Edition
A LOCAL health official has called for the installation of air quality monitoring systems in schools to prevent pupils being poisoned by noxious fumes from paints and glues used by decorators.
“Air pollution in classrooms has become a major threat to children who are more vulnerable to chemical pollutants than adults,” said Chen Xiaoling, the director of a Pudong New Area health supervision bureau.
“Yet there are no specific regulations to supervise air quality at schools,” she told the Shanghai People’s Congress.
More than 500 kinds of poisonous pollutants have been detected in newly built or recently decorated classrooms, some of which can cause anemia or even cancer, she said.
Zeng Zheng, a fellow deputy to the congress who co-presented the proposal with Chen, said that the threat comes not only from the oil-based paints used on school walls, but also the furniture inside classrooms, such as desks, chairs and cupboards.
“New and refurbished rooms are a major source of harmful compounds, such as formaldehyde and benzene,” he said.
The joint proposal was issued in response to a number of incidents at local schools last year.
In September, 38 elementary pupils in Chongming Island and 11 in Pudong’s Huinan Town were reported to have suffered nosebleeds, itchy eyes, sneezing and even fainting after returning to their recently decorated schools after the summer holidays.
In the wake of those and other “poisoning” incidents, the Shanghai Education Commission promised to conduct a citywide investigation, though it has yet to deliver any of its findings.
Chen and Zeng said that the new regulation should make it compulsory for schools to monitor air quality on a regular basis, and that officials who fail to comply with the requirements should face serious punishment.
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