John Barnett,President

October 2015

QuanTEM ChronicleAn Informative Newsletter for Environmental Professionals

In This Issue

Toxic mold spores found inStockton school classrooms

How risky is drinking watercontaminated with lead?

Bill Shorten calls for crackdown onimported building products

containing asbestos

Realtor now convicted criminal forhiring cheaper day laborers toremodel asbestos­laden home

Michigan's largest asbestos releasenets probation for Kalamazoo

woman

Turnaround Tracker

QuanTEM's overall ontime reportpercentage for September:

99.5%Click here for a breakdown by lab

Monthly Musing

"The greatest risk is nottaking one."

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John's ViewHi everyone,

This was an interesting month. First I spent a week inLas Vegas and then then next week I was in Branson,MO. It's really hard not to compare the two cities asboth are designed to attract you and your hard earnedcash.

It was interesting to find that they both have manysimilarities; both cities have a main street or stripwhere the excitement can be found, both depend onmass transit to bring the public to their cities (LasVegas uses aircraft and Branson relies on tourbuses). Both depend on stage shows with top notchentertainment to draw visitors. Finally, both provide agetaway where you can forget about your day to dayproblems and just have fun. Just in case you arecurious, they both tout Wax Museums. Additionally, traffic in both citiescan be a nightmare.

Many of the differences should be obvious but there were some that wereunexpected. The lack of alcohol and gambling makes a huge difference. ALas Vegas casino sells more alcohol than the entire city of Branson. People visit Las Vegas on their search for a taste of the dark side of lifewhile Branson is strictly a family venue. Oh yes, we can't forget taxicabs; Las Vegas has hundreds while in Branson you have to hunt for acab. Another major difference is that almost every show in Branson endswith something patriotic.

While both cities are enjoyable to visit, I'm not sure I'd want to live inether place. They both have pluses and minuses and they work hard toensure you have a good time, no matter what it costs you. I guess it'skind of like life, it all depends on what you're looking for.

Have a great day,

John Barnett

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Safely removinglead paintBy Jodi Mohrmann,http://www.news4jax.com/

More than 40million housesin the UnitedStates havelead paint.And Angie's

List says it's really important if youhave small children to be verycareful when you're remodelingbecause you do not want to end upwith lead paint poisoning ­especially for children under 6years old. Ingesting lead paintchips or breathing in lead dust canlead to lifelong learningdisabilities, nervous systemproblems, or even brain damage.Just a little dust can do a lot ofdamage.

"If you took this much lead dustand you spread it over a 1,500square­foot home, that housewould be contaminated," explained

Toxic mold spores found in Stocktonschool classroomsBy Leticia Ordaz, http://www.kcra.com/

School district officials are working Wednesdayto get rid of toxic mold that was found in acouple of Stockton elementary schoolclassrooms.

The Lodi Unified School District announced thatairborne mold spores were found earlier in themonth by two teachers in two classrooms at

Julia Morgan Elementary School when the teachers pulled backwallpaper.

Mold growth in a third classroom, which was cleaned and deemed safe,led other staff to take a closer look at their own rooms, in which thepair of teachers found the mold spores.

Officials said the mold was making some teachers feel sick, but thereare no reports of any students getting sick.

The school was never shut down after the mold discovery.

Students and teachers were relocated to other classrooms while crewsclean up the rooms, which will be completed sometime next week.

The principal told KCRA's Leticia Ordaz that mold has been an issue oncampus since 2007, and a total of 11 classrooms have tested positivefor mold.

Many parents KCRA spoke to were frustrated the whole school wasn'tnotified, as just the parents of the students who used those classroomswere told of the mold problem. Read more

How risky is drinking water contaminatedwith lead?By Mary Brophy Marcus, http://www.cbsnews.com/

The public health emergency declared in Flint,Michigan, over high levels of lead in thedrinking water raises concerns about the long­lasting impact lead exposure could have on thecity's residents, especially children.

After the city switched its municipal water supply from Detroit to themore local Flint River in 2014 to save money, some 100,000 residentsmay have been exposed. Chemicals used to treat the water leached leadfrom old pipes leading to homes, contaminating the water people gotfrom their taps.

Reports of smelly, discolored water began to flow in last fall andresearchers have since found elevated lead levels in dozens of children.Just how much lead people have been exposed to isn't clear yet, saidDr. Eden Wells, Chief Medical Executive for the Michigan Department ofHealth and Human Services.

"My understanding as of yesterday is that they don't have all of thatmapped out yet ­­ that's part of the investigation. We on the health sidehave a lead testing program and since the 2014 Flint River waterswitch, we have seen about 100 children with lead levels greater than5 micrograms per deciliter [in their blood]," said Wells. Read more

Bill Shorten calls for crackdown onimported building products containing

Lead­Certified Program InstructorGreg Sauer.

In order to remove it, find acontractor who is certified by theU.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency in safe lead practices andask specific questions on theremoval process.

"A good contractor will list all ofthe things that they do becausethey're proud of the fact that it'spart of their business," Sauer said.

Thanks to the E­P­A's Renovation,Repair and Painting Rule of 2010,it's illegal for any contractor todisturb lead paint without firstacquiring lead­safe certification.You can find more information onlead paint and find a national listof certified contractors on theagency's web site at www.epa.gov.

Read More

asbestosBy Stephanie Smail, http://www.abc.net.au/

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten hascalled for a crackdown on imported buildingproducts that contain asbestos following newevidence showing the potentially deadlymaterial's presence in a product from China.

Australians are at risk of being exposed toasbestos in imported building products

according to the Asbestos Industry Association, which said the bannedmaterial was discovered in cement compound board from China twomonths ago.

It was the latest in a number of imported building products that havetested positive for asbestos in the past year, including cementcompound board in Canberra.

"Border security isn't just about people movements, it's also aboutdangerous substances coming into this country," Mr Shorten told mediain Adelaide today.

"It really is as important as any other form of security in this country."

Read more

Most teddy bears are covered in foodpoisoning bacteria, tests revealBy Plymouth Herald, http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/

Eighty per cent of teddy bears arecontaminated with bacteria linked to foodpoisoning and a quarter harbor bugs commonlyfound in feces.

That is according to new research carried outby Dettol ­ which also found that 90 per cent of

children regularly drop their teddies on the floor and 75 per cent ofbears aren't washed after a child has been ill.

New laboratory research also revealed cuddly toys have the highestlevels of bacteria in the family laundry basket.

Microbiologists swab­tested a variety of children's teddies and foundthat over 80% were contaminated with staphylococcus spp (a pathogenassociated with food poisoning) and almost a quarter contained coli­forms, indicating a possible presence of harmful organisms.

Read more

Realtor now convicted criminal for hiringcheaper day laborers to remodelasbestos­laden homeBy Aimee Green, http://www.oregonlive.com/

A Lake Oswego real­estate agent whoinvestigators say tried to cut corners ­­ byhiring untrained day laborers to removeasbestos from a trendy Southeast Portlandhouse that he was flipping ­­ pleaded guiltyMonday to a misdemeanor crime.

William Gaffney had no previous criminalhistory, but state investigators say his actions in March 2014 movedinto the criminal realm when he failed to hire a trained asbestos­

abatement company to gut the 1908 Craftsman­style home, just stepsfrom hip Hawthorne Boulevard.

Instead, investigators say Gaffney hired six less­expensive workersfrom Labor Ready. The workers were covered in dirt, had only dustmasks and no protective suits, investigators say. As a dust cloudsettled around the home, neighbors shared their worries first withGaffney ­­ who brushed off their concerns ­­ and later with stateofficials, investigators say. Read more

Why is lead poisoning still an issue incities?By Raven Rakia, http://grist.org/

We already know that urban communities ofcolor are more likely to lack access to healthyfoods and to suffer from air pollution. Butremember lead poisoning? Yeah, that's still aproblem, too.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Controlreleased a study that showed elevated levels oflead poisoning in children living near a shuttered factory in NorthPhiladelphia. While the factory hasn't operated since 1996, theCDC study showed that a heightened level of lead exposure persists inthe surrounding neighborhoods.

Today, we know exactly how to prevent lead exposure ­ but the toxicmetal still lingers in many cities. Exposure to lead can lead topermanent health damage, including kidney failure and high bloodpressure. In children, it can permanently affect brain and nervoussystem development, and pregnant women who are exposed are athigher risk of miscarriage and stillbirths, according to the World HealthOrganization. Read more

Michigan's largest asbestos release netsprobation for Kalamazoo womanBy Rex Hall Jr., http://www.mlive.com/

A Kalamazoo woman who was behind a salvageoperation that federal prosecutors sayled to thelargest release of toxic asbestos in the state'shistory will spend the next three years onprobation, according to court documents.

In February, LuAnne LaBrie, formerly known as LuAnne McClain,pleaded guilty to failing to notify federal or state authorities thatasbestos material would be stripped and removed at the formerConsumers Energy power plant in Comstock Township.

LaBrie's two co­defendants, Cory Hammond, of Hastings, and Robert"Mike" White," of Kalamazoo, who supervised the salvaging of scrapmetal at the power plant, pleaded guilty in February to failing toadequately wet asbestos material during the operation.

Investigators said LaBrie controlled and supervised the facility andvisited the site and communicated with Hammond and White regularlyabout the savage operation.

Despite knowledge that Hammond, White and other workers werestripping and removing asbestos­laden insulation from pipes at theformer Consumers plant, prosecutors said LaBrie failed to notify theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency or the State of Michigan that theoperation involved the removal of asbestos inside the facility. Read more

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