Document aDagZXXvm6G6z2yDv0GXMEV8M

---- wUJkrvO*/V/i3 1 XSJrt o~ By Susan Manndla Pos!-G:iie Sta v.mji (* Students and teachers who were in Northview Heights Elementary School IS yean ago when an asbestos coating wa; sprayed on the ceilings lace a much higher health risk than this year's pupils. V- Asbestos experts gave that news to more than 20u parents yesterday, but many of them, confused and upset about possible effects on their children, wer en't satisfied with explanations that haz ards (or them are minimal. Superintendent Richard C. Wallace Jr. said the district will contact students and staff members who were in the building in 1965, when the asbestos coat ing was sprayed on ceilings in an addi tion that houses the gym, main lobby and classrooms. He said X-rays or whatever tests ore neecssary will be administered. Health experts who spoke at yester day's meeting said the tests are not necessary for current pupils because levels of asbestos found during tests this week are 100 times below acceptable levels. They sometimes had to scream over the voices of parents who disputed their conclusions during the two-hour !lo meeting. One parent. Annie Parks, left the meeting near tears. She was upset, she said, because she still doesn't know what the chances are that traces of asbestos are trapped inside (he bodies of her children and because many of the most vocal parents at the meeting were more concerned about the reassignment plan. "We are concerned about the busing and the time schedule and everything else, but 1 can be concerned about that tomorrow." she said. "I'm concerned today about asbestos and whether oi not it got into the bodies of our children The rest of this stuff is trivia!" Concern about former pupils and teachers also was raised when Bta Jonseof. who taught health and physical cducatiun at Northview for 17 years, said she remembered standing around with other employees watching workers spray the asbestos. *!0?m trergri/Posi-uire:' Annie Parks bad a list of questions prepared for meeting. Asbestos, until recently used exten sively for insulation and improved acoustics, has been identified as a can cer-causing substance Jonseof said the workers did not wear protective masks Although pupils were not attending classes in that part of the building during the work, she said she was u-nmeri because ihev were nearbv and vents were circulating air thrnugl out the school David Parkinson, a former pcdiatn clan and now associate professor o industrial health at the University o Pittsburgh, said the levels oi asbestos it the air during spraying "are exceeding!; (Continued nn p*ec 3. Column 4i Pupils ran higher asbestos risk 15 years age (Continued from Page II high" and he said methods used in the past were "very irresponsible " He said that in some places. SO per cent of asbestos workers will die Irom related diseases. He said the levels of asbestos inside the school now pose only a "very slight risk" Because ol that risk, though. Parkinsun said he supporied Wallace's decision to close the 16-year-old Northsidc ele mentary school for three to luur months while ceilings arc stripped and reiiled In the interim, most ol North view's 534 pupils will attend classes at Wightman Elementary School in Squirrel Hill, which was closed in June. Head Sun and kindergarten classes will be held at the Ernest T. Williams dr. Memorial Center in Northview Heights. Abbas Labbauf. an occupational and environmental health consultant lor the Penn Environmental Health Co., said air samples tic collected this week were 100 times below levels considered accept able by the Occupational. Health and Safety Administration. Parkinson said given the levels re ported. there is a very slight risk that in 30 or 35 years, one child from the building could develop cancer in the lining of the lungs He said there was absolutely no danger at those levels that any children would develop lung cancer or asbestosis. a scarring of the lungs. Bui many of the parents said they are afraid the effects of asbestos on children may be higher than research indicates because most tests have been conducted on adults. Parkinson said he thinks it would be irresponsible and unnecessary to admin ister X-rays to present pupils because of the low asbestos levels and because disease from exposure takes years to develop. No signs would be apparent. Some parents wore more upset about the half-hour bus ride their children will take to Wightman school and a change in school hours that was mace because no school buses were available at me regu lar time Classes will rur. irom 6 4s a m to 3:45 p.m. compared wun Normview s starling lime of 6 40 8005 0990 SCF-FA-0024 FD-1382 PRODUCED BY FORD