COUGH campaign heats up

The COUGH Alliance is calling on the NSW Government to remove dangerous unflued gas heaters from school classrooms. NSW is the only state that still allows them and Education Minister Verity Firth says they’re ’safe’ despite evidence to the contrary. Read Ben Cubby’s articles in the SMH. “Children have become seriously ill from exposure to unflued gas heaters in schools, contrary to the assurances of the state Education Department, doctors and teachers have told the Herald”.

Join the COUGH campaign today to rid NSW schools of dangerous unflued gas heaters!

Parents fume as sick list grows over controversial school heaters ~ Ben Cubby SMH 16.2.2010

Study delay creates alarm over school heaters ~ Ben Cubby SMH 15.2.2010

Delay in acting over toxic school heaters ~ Simon Santow 27.5.2009

Pollutants emitted from unflued gas heaters

Carbon monoxide: binds with haemoglobin to reduce the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity. At high concentrations this can be fatal; at lower concentrations symptoms include headache or loss of concentration.

Nitrogen dioxide: an oxidising gas that irritates the lungs. There is evidence that it suppresses the body’s immune system. At very high levels, nitrogen dioxide can cause fatal swelling of the lungs. At lower levels, symptoms include exacerbated asthma and more frequent and more severe respiratory illness. Australian epidemiological research confirms overseas findings that there is a significant correlation between exposure to nitrogen dioxide and adverse health outcomes, including increased hospital admissions for sufferers of childhood asthma and heart disease.

Carbon dioxide: at elevated levels can cause headaches and may cause changes in respiratory patterns.

Formaldehyde: an irritant gas that potentially affects the skin, eyes and lungs. Some people can become hypersensitive to its effects, resulting in symptoms at very low concentrations. There is evidence that it is a nasal carcinogen.
(Source: Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies Occasional Paper Series Number 5, October 2002, Indoor Air Quality in Australia: a Strategy for Action, pp 9-28.)

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