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May 15, 2008 1:29 pm US/Central

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Illinois Requires Green Cleaners In Schools

Green Cleaning Schools Act Took Effect May 9

LOCKPORT, Ill. (AP) ― There was a time when custodians at Lockport Township High School pushed cleaning cars packed with an array of spray bottles, spritzers and aerosol cans.

Today, they use just four spray bottles, filled with cleaners low on irritating chemicals and safer for students, staff and the environment.

"We took 10 chemicals off the shelves," said Lockport custodial manager Ken Kirkland, whose school went green in 2003. "The whole point is we discovered that you don't need a high industrial-strength cleaner to get a smudge mark off a desk."

Now, all Illinois public elementary and secondary schools must follow Lockport's lead.

The Green Cleaning Schools Act, which took effect on May 9, requires that schools use only cleaners that are certified as green and meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

There are no data on how often cleaners cause children's health problems, but some contain chemicals that can trigger allergies and asthma attacks in children, said Ken Runkle, an Illinois Department of Public Health toxicologist.

"What it should do is reduce exposure in the classroom," said Runkle. "Any time you can reduce exposure, you can reduce adverse health effects."

That also should improve children's learning environment, said Dr. Cynthia Mears, a pediatrician at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

"Anything we can get out of the schools will be helpful," Mears says. "Will it decrease asthma rates? I can't say that. But it makes intuitive sense."

In January, 24 students from a middle school in the Chicago suburb of Country Club Hills were sent to the hospital with headaches and nausea after workers cleaning a bathroom spilled bleach and fumes spread throughout the school.

Green-certified cleaners are less toxic and have fewer fumes, said Mark Bishop, deputy director of the nonprofit Healthy Schools Campaign, which pushed for the Illinois law. He said some of the cleaners are made with natural or plant-based substances, such as soy or coconut.

"You always have to think first of the students; what are the student exposures?" Bishop said. "In a first-grade classroom you're spraying chemicals, but because of the behavior of a 7-year-old, they're touching things and putting them in their mouth."

Catherine Jones, a member of the parent patrol at Francis Scott Key Elementary School in her Chicago neighborhood, says she uses natural cleaners in her home. Her son, Justin Jones, an 18-year-old high school senior, suffered bronchitis when he was young, and she sees many elementary children with asthma.

Jones, a volunteer for the Health Schools Campaign, says the new law is a good start.

"They do better with (natural cleaners) ... It doesn't have a smell to it," she said.

Bill Thompson, Lockport's facilities manager, says his school gradually introduced low-chemical cleaning supplies after custodians stripping floors during the summer became nauseous, dizzy and faint. They called in sick or were sent home because of fumes.

"I can remember the guys walking in the room, it just knocks you over," Thompson said. "You tell when you walked in those rooms that it wasn't a healthy environment for custodians."

The school expanded the idea when it found the green cleaners worked just as well as traditional products and the cost was the same, he said.

Although the law requires that Illinois schools use green products, critics complain there is no punishment for schools that don't comply. Bishop also said his organization would like to have these new green guidelines included in annual school inspections conducted by the Illinois State Board of Education, but that hasn't happened yet.

Schools will be permitted to use any cleaning products bought before May 9, but must buy green-certified products after that. Exemptions are available, but schools must apply. The legislation also includes voluntary recommendations for green schools, including pollution prevention measures.

Compliance among New York schools, where green-cleaning legislation went into effect in late 2006, has varied, according to a June 2007 report issued by the New York Office of General Services. A survey of schools found that schools mostly are following the law, but some have had problems finding suitable floor cleaners. The survey also found that about two-thirds of respondents spent 10 percent more on green cleaning supplies.

Introducing the new products will take time and training, both for schools and parents, said Fred Koelbel, buildings and grounds superintendent of the West Islip School District in New York.

"Two, three years ago, ask them what to use, the parents would all say 'bleach, it's the smell of clean,"' Koelbel said. "It's this educational process now, explaining to them why we use green cleaning."