I recently read an article about industrial plants and the potentially negative health effects on children who live and go to school near them. This concerned me a great deal, as I’m sure it does many parents, so I continued to read and educate myself on the matter. I came across many interesting stories and gathered quite a bit of useful information.

In 2004, concerned citizens in a Cincinnati suburb along the Ohio River noticed a foul smell surrounding the Meredith Hitchens Elementary School. Citizens, with the help of the advocacy group, Ohio Citizen Action, found that the Lanxess Corp, a plastics plant across the street from the school, had accidentally released approximately 1,500 pounds of dangerous chemicals over a two-day period. After two more accidental releases from the plastics plant, the Ohio EPA was asked to help assess the health risks to children attending the school. There were monitors placed on the roof of Hitchens in order to find out what the people there were breathing. Seven months later, state regulators reported that two chemicals from the plastics plant were drifting over the school at levels that made the risk of cancer 50 times higher than the state considers acceptable. These findings prompted the transfer of the school’s 369 students to schools further from the pollution.

Using a mathematical model developed by the EPA, USA Today conducted an eight-month study examining levels of industrial pollution surrounding schools throughout the United States. The model estimates how toxic chemicals are dispensed across the nation and in what quantities. The EPA has never done such a study. Their findings, particularly concerning the air quality at schools here in the Mid-Ohio Valley, were surprising. Practically every school in the area was found to be among the first or second percentile, which means the air quality measured worse than most of the country. Both schools attended by my children, Criss Elementary and Van Devender Middle, were in the first percentile category. Complete results of the study are easily accessible at http://content.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/smokestack/index. Manganese and manganese compounds seem to be the largest pollutants found in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Manganese is used in the manufacturing of pesticides, batteries and other industrial products. It is important to know that manganese is a naturally occurring substance found in several types of rock and soil. Low levels of manganese in the diet are nutritionally essential in humans. On the other hand, according to the EPA, long-term high level exposure by inhalation to manganese may result in central nervous system effects, like visual reaction time, hand steadiness and eye-hand coordination, respiratory effects, such as increased incidence of cough, bronchitis, dyspnea during exercise, and an increased susceptibility to infectious lung disease and a syndrome called manganism. Manganism is characterized by feelings of weakness and lethargy, tremors, a mask-like face, and psychological disturbances. There are no cancer studies available regarding inhalation exposure to manganese. Information concerning manganese is available on the EPA’s website, http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/manganes.html.

Children are more susceptible to air pollution for several reasons: their respiratory systems are still developing; they breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults; and they're more likely to be active outdoors. Some people have also questioned whether air pollution affects the academic and physical development of children.

While we are all aware that manufacturing and industrial plants are a major economic asset to the Mid-Ohio Valley, it is also important to advocate for the health of our children and ourselves. If you’re interested in learning more about the air we breathe here in the Mid-Ohio Valley, an abundant amount of information can be found online and at your local library. I’ve included several links, including a documentary produced concerning the pollution levels from one of the area’s largest polluters, Eramet. The documentary offers information and opinions from local health professionals, educators, business leaders and concerned citizens. Please note that Eramet has recently agreed to spend $150 million in an attempt to drastically reduce airborne manganese emissions and to make their facility more economically and environmentally sustainable.