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Like a number of schools serving urban low-income and minority populations, Beard Elementary in Southwest Detroit is overburdened by industrial pollution. In the two-mile radius around the school, there are 58 polluting facilities, including 40 that handle hazardous waste, according to a 2000 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Yet, little is known about how these toxic emissions are impacting the short- and long-term health, performance and success of the schoolchildren who are breathing contaminated air.

A groundbreaking Air Toxics Risk survey of Michigan’s schoolchildren, supported by funding from The Kresge Foundation, promises to shed light on this far-reaching public-health issue and to advance the cause of environmental justice. A University of Michigan research team – led by School of Natural Resources and Environment Professor Paul Mohai and adjunct assistant professor Byoung-Suk Kweon, a research investigator at the Institute for Social Research – will analyze massive amounts of EPA data showing geographically specific estimates of toxic-air concentrations produced by industrial sources. Approximately 650 harmful chemicals are tracked in the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory database. In addition, field teams will visit school locations to assess environmental risks to students and to speak with teachers, school administrators and citizens about their concerns. Special attention will focus on the links between air-toxics exposure and absenteeism, test scores, school dropout rates and health.

“Right now, we don’t have a lot of information about environmental-quality conditions in Michigan public schools, so we don’t know if we are putting children at risk,” says Mohai, who is professor of natural resources and environmental policy.

“Furthermore, Michigan has no state-level laws or policies to guide decisions about school site selection related to environmental quality,” he adds. “If air contamination around schools is a significant problem, we have to ask what impact this has on children’s health, ability to learn and capability to succeed in the work world.”

Nationwide, there is concern that air-toxics exposure – especially to diesel-particulate matter – is contributing to increased rates of asthma among children, since youngsters living in areas close to heavy shipping, trucking and rail-yard areas have much higher rates of the disease.

Asthma is a leading cause of early childhood absenteeism from school, which in turn is an important indicator for school dropout rates. While the EPA, the federal government and, most recently, the state of Michigan have been given authority to act in defense of “environmental justice” where there is clear harm to minority and low-income populations, communities must provide clear, compelling data that such disproportionate exposure exists.

Mohai believes the research project will produce positive outcomes in Michigan and elsewhere by giving community leaders and planners the science-backed information and tools they need to press government agencies and industry leaders for critically needed changes.

“We hope to identify the most severely impacted schools in Michigan, and to inform various levels of government and raise awareness in the community so steps can be taken to ameliorate existing problems and to develop guidelines for choosing the sites of future schools,” explains Mohai, who is known nationally for his pioneering work in environmental justice. He was recently appointed to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Justice Working Group to help develop an environmental justice plan for the state.

Kresge’s decision to award the University of Michigan researchers a three-year $485,000 grant reflects its new Health Program’s objectives to address the environmental factors affecting the well-being of vulnerable populations, and to contribute to the growing body of scientific evidence that poor and minority community residents, especially children, may be disproportionately affected by air-toxics exposure, says David Fukuzawa, a Kresge senior program officer and the Health Program team leader.

“We want to help provide a healthier environment so children and adults stop getting sick,” he explains. “In some cases, the only option may be to shut down or move waste-disposal facilities, although the best-case scenario would be to find win-win solutions for communities and businesses that might lead to green solutions to the problem, such as utilizing new technologies to reduce air pollutants.”   

The bottom line, adds Mohai, is that everyone stands to benefit from having a skilled, well-educated, healthy workforce. “Our school-age population represents our future leaders, and they should be given the opportunity to learn and succeed in a safe environment.”

By Claudia Capos