Blood Tests For Spanish Fort Teachers

By Jessica Taloney Reporter

Lead paint discovered at Spanish Fort Elementary School has many people wondering if students and teachers are at risk for lead poisoning. Blood Tests For Spanish Fort Teachers

Published: Mon, January 07, 2008 - 5:18 pm

Jessica Taloney

Dressed in protective suits and breathing through a respirator, Hazmat crews removed lead paint from the same buildings where kids were learning just last month.
In a press conference Monday morning, Ruth Underwood of the Alabama Department of Public Health said the discovery of lead paint at Spanish Fort Elementary School has prompted the largest lead paint clean up she's seen in years.
"One of this magnitude has not come to us in the recent past," said Underwood. "It involves 700 students and teachers, and we'll do everything in our power to bring closer to this as soon as possible," she said.
The lead was found in the original layer of paint on several steel beams on the outside of the school. But, because the beams had been repainted several times over the years, health officials do not believe anyone's health is at risk.
"It's spread out all over the campus and it needs to be cleaned up, but it's not that big in terms of the immediate hazard," said Dr. Rusty Ross, Director of Occupational Health for the Infirmary Health System. Ross says lead is typically not an airborn toxin, and poses the biggest health threat when it is ingested.
Fortunately, the steel beams were too high for elementary students to reach. "Preschoolers will sometimes eat things like bugs, dirt, leaves and paint chips," said Ross. "The concern with lead based paint chips is they taste to children a little sweet, kinda like candy," he said.
School officials say the school will be closed for at least ten days, but classes will resume Wednesday at alternate locations.
The school district is offering free blood testing to employees who are concerned they may have been exposed to the paint.