There was a time when custodians at Lockport Township High School pushed cleaning cars packed with an array of spray bottles, spritzers and aerosol cans.

Today, they use just four spray bottles, filled with cleaners low on irritating chemicals and safer for students, staff and the environment.

"We took 10 chemicals off the shelves," said Lockport custodial manager Ken Kirkland, whose school went green in 2003. "The whole point is we discovered that you don't need a high industrial-strength cleaner to get a smudge mark off a desk."

Now, all Illinois public elementary and secondary schools must follow Lockport's lead. The Green Cleaning Schools Act, which took effect on May 9, requires that schools use only cleaners that are certified as green and meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

There are no data on how often cleaners cause children's health problems, but some contain chemicals that can trigger allergies and asthma attacks in children, said Ken Runkle, an Illinois Department of Public Health toxicologist.

"What it should do is reduce exposure in the classroom," said Runkle. "Any time you can reduce exposure, you can reduce adverse health effects."

That also should improve children's learning environment, said Dr. Cynthia Mears, a pediatrician at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

"Anything we can get out of the schools will be helpful," Mears says. "Will it decrease asthma rates? I can't say that. But it makes intuitive sense."

In January, 24 students from a middle school in the Chicago suburb of Country Club Hills were sent to the hospital with headaches and nausea after workers cleaning a bathroom spilled bleach and fumes spread throughout the school.

Full Story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-greenschools,0,4841774.story

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