Feb. 5, 2010
Independent USA Today Survey Ranked Tech Center, Enslow Middle and Highlawn Schools as 56th and 66th Worst Ranked in US
Nickel Emissions Were the Main Pollutant
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- A USA Today investigation of outdoor school air on December 8, 2008, placed several Cabell County Schools in the First Percentile of “worst air.” The Cabell County Career Technology Center ranked as having the 56th worst air of 127,809 schools, per the USA Today results. Not far away, Enslow Middle School (2613 Collis Avenue) and the nearby Highlawn Elementary School (2549 First Avenue) which have a tie ranking 66 of 127,809.
(Note: The new Huntington High School (1 Highlander Way) ranks 762 of 127,809 and nickel and its compounds score a 96% toxicity there. The former Huntington East High School, now Alternative Education Middle/High School, 2850 Fifth Avenue) scored 469 of 127,809 for the worst air with 92% nickel, 3% aniline, 2% manganese , 1% dilsocyanates and 1% chormium
Chemicals responsible for the “toxicity outside this school” were: Nickel and Nickel compounds (89%), Manganese and manganese compounds (6%), Chromium and Chromium compounds (3%), Cobalt and Cobalt Compounds (1%) and Nitric Acid (1%).
At Enslow and Highlawn, nickel and its compounds represented 98% of overall toxicity. Polluters most responsible for toxics outside the school included Career Technology Center: Huntington Alloys – A Special Metals Company, SWVA, Inc, AK Steel Corp. (Ashland, Ky.), Xsys Print Solutions US, LLC, and American Electric Big Sandy Plant.
Nickel has been found in at least 882 of the 1,662 National Priority List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A National Priority List site means one that has known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants . They are often referred to as “superfund” sites.
Nickel does not just occur where the material is made, it is release into the air by oil burning power plants, coal burning power plants and trash incinerators. Nickel attaches itself to dust particles that settle to the ground; industrial waste water ends up in soil or sediment where it attaches to iron or manganese particles.
ALLERGIC REACTION
Did you realize that 10 to 20% of the population has a sensitivity to nickel? When jewelry containing the substance touches skin directly for a long period, a reaction may occur with the most common indication a skin rash at point of contact. Others may have asthma attacks. People can be sensitive to nickel from breathing nickel dust or from consuming water or food with a high concentration of the product.
Workers in nickel refineries or nickel processing plants have developed chronic bronchitis and reduced lung function due to breathing higher than normal levels or drinking water with high amounts. Lung cancer and nasal sinus cancer have resulted when workers breathed high levels of nickel dust at refineries or procession plants. Nickel compounds are human carcinogens; the EPA has determined that nickel refinery dust and nickel subsulfide are also human carcinogens.
For a general background on facts surrounding nickel, the Center for Disease Control has a website: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts15.html#bookmark03
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Independent USA Today Survey Ranked Tech Center, Enslow Middle and Highlawn Schools as 56th and 66th Worst Ranked in US
Nickel Emissions Were the Main Pollutant
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- A USA Today investigation of outdoor school air on December 8, 2008, placed several Cabell County Schools in the First Percentile of “worst air.” The Cabell County Career Technology Center ranked as having the 56th worst air of 127,809 schools, per the USA Today results. Not far away, Enslow Middle School (2613 Collis Avenue) and the nearby Highlawn Elementary School (2549 First Avenue) which have a tie ranking 66 of 127,809.
(Note: The new Huntington High School (1 Highlander Way) ranks 762 of 127,809 and nickel and its compounds score a 96% toxicity there. The former Huntington East High School, now Alternative Education Middle/High School, 2850 Fifth Avenue) scored 469 of 127,809 for the worst air with 92% nickel, 3% aniline, 2% manganese , 1% dilsocyanates and 1% chormium
Chemicals responsible for the “toxicity outside this school” were: Nickel and Nickel compounds (89%), Manganese and manganese compounds (6%), Chromium and Chromium compounds (3%), Cobalt and Cobalt Compounds (1%) and Nitric Acid (1%).
At Enslow and Highlawn, nickel and its compounds represented 98% of overall toxicity. Polluters most responsible for toxics outside the school included Career Technology Center: Huntington Alloys – A Special Metals Company, SWVA, Inc, AK Steel Corp. (Ashland, Ky.), Xsys Print Solutions US, LLC, and American Electric Big Sandy Plant.
Nickel has been found in at least 882 of the 1,662 National Priority List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A National Priority List site means one that has known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants . They are often referred to as “superfund” sites.
Nickel does not just occur where the material is made, it is release into the air by oil burning power plants, coal burning power plants and trash incinerators. Nickel attaches itself to dust particles that settle to the ground; industrial waste water ends up in soil or sediment where it attaches to iron or manganese particles.
ALLERGIC REACTION
Did you realize that 10 to 20% of the population has a sensitivity to nickel? When jewelry containing the substance touches skin directly for a long period, a reaction may occur with the most common indication a skin rash at point of contact. Others may have asthma attacks. People can be sensitive to nickel from breathing nickel dust or from consuming water or food with a high concentration of the product.
Workers in nickel refineries or nickel processing plants have developed chronic bronchitis and reduced lung function due to breathing higher than normal levels or drinking water with high amounts. Lung cancer and nasal sinus cancer have resulted when workers breathed high levels of nickel dust at refineries or procession plants. Nickel compounds are human carcinogens; the EPA has determined that nickel refinery dust and nickel subsulfide are also human carcinogens.
For a general background on facts surrounding nickel, the Center for Disease Control has a website: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts15.html#bookmark03
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
