The Brooklyn Rail

Contaminated Education? Toxic Schools and the Leasing Loophole

From 1999 to 2002, Katie Acton’s daughter attended PS 65 in Ozone Park, Queens, a school built on land that formerly contained an airplane parts factory. Though there is no history of respiratory disorders in the family, Acton’s daughter developed asthma, while at PS 65. Other students and teachers at PS 65 also developed asthma, nausea, fatigue, persistent headaches, facial paralysis and cancer.