I fully agree with the instructor and plaintiff, Michelle Leahy, in Lulu Ramadan’s article “$185M verdict for toxic lights in WA school upheld by state’s high court” (Oct. 30, Instances Watchdog). Colleges’ bodily constructions can’t comprise hazardous supplies, which may topic college students and academics to potential well being points.
Colleges are the infrastructure supporting our future generations and must be a haven in a capitalist society the place waste dominates. The Sky Valley Schooling Heart is one instance of how firms create sacrifice zones the place waste is revenue’s inevitable final result. Monsanto, the producer that constructed the sunshine fixtures containing polychlorinated biphenyls, plans to struggle the Washington Supreme Courtroom’s resolution, highlighting how capitalism permits companies to contemplate individuals and locations disposable. It refuses to confess wrongdoing and prioritizes revenue over individuals’s lives.
I help Leahy’s name for each college in Washington to be examined for PCBs, as there are over 2,000 faculties constructed earlier than the federal government banned PCBs. Nonetheless, Washington will not be doing sufficient to guard communities from the destructive results of PCBs as a result of testing just isn’t obligatory, and solely three college districts have used the allotted funding.
To guard educators and college students, we want each a coverage motion and elevated public consciousness.
Nicole Strella, Seattle
