Parents call for action on noxious playgrounds
Print Edition
ABOUT a dozen running tracks in schools across China have been reported as giving off offensive odors, triggering calls to address lax regulation in the sector.
Two schools in Shenzhen are the latest addition to the list. Earlier, pupils at 10 schools in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shaanxi reported symptoms including nosebleeds, dizziness and rashes, after new rubber running tracks were laid in their school playgrounds.
Children at Meilian Primary School in Shenzhen have been transferred to other schools, while electric fans are being used to disperse the pungent smell.
“Even adults felt irritation in their eyes and throat,” said a parent outside the school.
The mother of a third-grade student at Meilian said her son started coughing in October and his blood test result showed abnormalities.
A test by the Futian education bureau of Shenzhen showed toluene and xylol substances at 20 times the safe level, but bureau officials said the result is not reliable.
“We plan to run another test in 14 days. If the test shows the rubber is still substandard, it will be removed,” an education official said.
The Nanshan Primary School in Shenzhen, which is affiliated with Beijing Normal University, has also had problems.
Dozens of parents have called for a suspension of lessons, but authorities said the rubber will fully “volatilize” in a few days. Trees have been felled at the school to help the rubber expose to sunshine and quicken the process.
Luo Zhenyang, a professor of chemistry at Nanjing Forestry University, said most of the toxic substances did not come from the rubber, but from the plasticizer and catalysts used to stick it to the ground.
China has standards for the quality of rubber as track material, but not for adhesives and additives used in the process of laying them, said Shen Weimin, deputy director of Shanghai Quality Inspection and Supervision Bureau.
Shanghai has started to make local standards on such materials, he said.
The Shenzhen educational bureau has launched a citywide check of rubber tracks put down in the past two years.
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