West Albany high school was built in the 50’s, with materials like asbestos that we did not yet know the dangers of. Now, walking through the hallways, the age of the old building is noticeable. The comparison between the old building and the new building is stark. And the health of students and teachers is always going to be a concern, but the truth is that there’s no reasonable link between people’s health, and the state of the old building.
Correlation is not equal to causation. There is no reasonable evidence to say that there is a direct link from the school building to illness in staff and students. However, the correlation and connections to the school building should not be ignored.
Asbestos is a serious issue, it’s a major carcinogen and it was heavily used in so many construction materials from the 1930s through the ‘70s. That’s why public information about asbestos is so important. All public schools are required to create an Asbestos Management Plan in accordance with the AHERA laws, and have it easily accessible to the public.This plan would include testing for asbestos, keeping track of any asbestos abatement being made, and where exactly in a building the asbestos remains. This plan is not now easily accessible to the public. If certain toxic materials are in the school, the current knowledge of their toxicity or potential harm would prevent them from being used in future construction. For example, the school stopped using the tiles that line the floors of the old building in the ‘70s. According to the district facilities, “Many rooms have what appears to be vinyl asbestos tile flooring.” The asbestos in these tiles can only enter the air when removed or damaged.
However, now we know not to use certain chemicals that were widely used in high schools. Benzene, C6H6 , is a known carcinogen as of the 1920’s, but was used as a solvent in high school chemistry classes until it was slowly taken out of classrooms because of the continuing public knowledge about the dangers of Benzene. The CDC states that: “The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has said that benzene causes cancer in humans. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, a blood-related cancer.”
Carcinogens, like Benzene, are any substance that is capable of causing cancer. Carcinogens don’t mean that they will cause cancer, but that they increase the risk involved with developing cancer. Even without any exposure to carcinogens, it is possible to develop cancer and vice versa. Someone could be exposed to any possible carcinogen and not develop cancer. This may be why it is so hard to determine when there are carcinogens and why it would be wrong to say causation instead of correlation. As science teacher Shana Hains said, “Carcinogens change DNA, they could do that and it wouldn’t change anything, or it could change everything.”
While we have eliminated certain carcinogens in our environment, new ones are possibly emerging, with increasingly concerning data of microplastics and the imminent threat of global warming posing threats to our generation’s future.
The risk to students and staff today is, as far as we can tell, nonexistent. To say that there is no known risk is true. To say that there never has been, or will never be, an environmental risk to the people who walk through the building every day, would not be accurate.
