Sources: StarNewsGroup.com; Science/Tech Insider
With careful management, the school district should be able to use the south gymnasium at Wall High School safely, despite the presence of mercury found in rubber flooring there, according to an engineering report.
Additional testing of the rubber flooring in June confirmed the results of preliminary testing done in May that detected mercury, interim school superintendent Henry G. Cram Jr. reported. Air samples were also taken in the second round of testing.
“All samples indicated that the mercury vapors monitored were below the recommended limits of the New Jersey Department of Health maximum-containment level,” Superintendent Cram told the Board of Education at its virtual June 23 meeting.
“The recommendations from the report are that the mercury levels can be managed by ventilation and temperature control,” Mr. Cram said. “To ensure the mercury vapors are properly controlled, the district will, as recommended, perform quarterly and seasonal air sampling, maintain a room temperature and ventilation system and use non-abrasive methods to clean the floor. The installation of air conditioning was recommended but not required at this time.”
Added school board member Adam Nasir, “Obviously, there is some more investigation that needs to take place, but at least we know for the time being we can use the space safely and put measures in place to maintain a level of safety.”
There’s no such thing as the “clean” part of moldy bread.
Many people rip off the “clean” part of a piece of bread to eat, thinking that because they can’t see any mold they’ll be OK.
Mold is a type of fungus. Like a mushroom, it has a vast number of roots called hyphae that spread beneath the visible surface. Therefore, the whole piece of bread is riddled with mold.
It is also unsafe to eat other pieces of bread from the same loaf. Mold releases spores into the air, which — even though you can’t see them — can infect the entire loaf.
Though some types of mold can be life-saving such as antibiotics and penicillin, most are dangerous. Even rhizopus stolonifer, the mold that commonly grows on bread, can cause a fatal infection.