The Environmental Protection Agency has released an initial report that said air testing had discovered none of the toxins looked for in the air around Vonore Elementary and Vonore Middle School, Monroe County School System Maintenance Director Charles Underwood said.

Underwood said the EPA was looking for three chemicals generally associated with the boating industry. The EPA also said Vonore schools were chosen for air monitoring because of their close proximity to industry.
Underwood said the testing was done during the summer months. The EPA report is posted online at http://www.epa.gov/schoolair/schools.html.

"The key pollutants of concern at these schools are diisocyanates, which are used to produce polyurethane products," the EPA said in its statement on the report that was released Tuesday.  "The preliminary results show that levels of diisocyanates at these schools are below levels of short-term concern. The full set of results from the schools is being analyzed to evaluate the potential for health concerns related to long-term exposure to these pollutants."

The EPA's Schools Air Toxics Monitoring Initiative announced in March of this year measured air outside 63 schools in 22 states.
The EPA report said testing for the Vonore schools began in April.
A USA Today investigative series based on existing government data on air quality around public schools published in 2008 is credited with prompting the EPA studies published Tuesday.

The USA report had cited the two Vonore schools as being in an area with air quality concerns.
The boating industry in Vonore has been suffering due to economy and boat production had been cut at Vonore plants much of this year.

In a response to an Advocate & Democrat question if lower industrial production could have affected the air testing results, an EPA official said Friday that is possible and that factor could be considered along with other information during a final report.

tommy.millsaps@advocateanddemocrat.com | 337-7101