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February 5, 2008
By JILL TUCKER
San Francisco Chronicle
At first, the East Oakland class project on local air quality was a lot like other schoolwork - science and math and writing up stuff.
Then it got personal.
The classroom samples taken by the 20 Excel High School students came back from the lab showing high levels of lead - a dangerous metal known to cause a wide range of neurological and developmental problems, with small children most at risk.
In announcing the results Monday at the school, the students and their advisers said one of the tests showed levels at least five times above the federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for an indoor windowsill.
Those levels could be up to 54 times higher than EPA standards for indoor samples, said Denny Larson of the Global Community Monitor, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that promotes community involvement in environmental issues. The group sponsored the testing and helped train the students.
> Click here to access the full article on The San Francisco Chronicle's website.
For more information on Tides Center project Global Community Monitor, see www.gcmonitor.org.
