Helping Kids Breathe Easier: Campaigns to Rid Schools of Toxins Promote Eco-Friendly Cleaners (continued)

5. Idling diesel school buses pose a health hazard to children who must breathe their fumes while waiting. Buses should sit with their engines off.

6. Paper products for the lunch room and restrooms should use the highest post-consumer recycled content available and not be processed with chlorine.

Sources: Grassroots Environmental Education, Healthy Schools Campaign, Healthy Schools Network

Resources

Environmental Grassroots Education - www.grassrootsinfo.org. On the Grassroots website, click on "Safe Schools" for more tips on how to improve the cleaning practices at your school, or click on "Films," to order short films about greener cleaning in schools.

EPA Cleaning Products Purchasing Wizard - www.epa.gov/oppt/epp/pubs/ cleaners/select/matrix.htm. Developed by the EPA's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program, the Wizard selects products based on single or multiple specified environmental attributes, such as recyclable packaging, potential for skin irritation, or potential for air pollution.

Green Seal - www.greenseal.org. The certification program for greener cleaners, Green Seal offers product recommendations and tips for a greener cleaning program on its website.

Healthy Schools Network - www.healthyschools.org. The Healthy Schools Network promotes the development of national and state policies to improve the environmental health of school facilities and provides a web-based "Green Squad" environmental education program for middle-schoolers.

Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) - www.healthyschoolscampaign.org. This fall, HSC will publish the "Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools," a how-to guide for school administrators and custodial staff. For a copy of the guide, email New American Dream at RPN@newdream.org.

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) - www.masscosh.org. MassCOSH works with a broad base of professionals to promote safe workplaces, schools, and communities. The group helped to pioneer municipal green cleaning work and their recent report, "Who's Sick at School," discusses the relationship between asthma and indoor air quality in Boston public schools.