Toxic City: Read the full series by the Inquirer exposing environmental hazards facing Philly children

Toxic City

The Ongoing Struggle To Protect Philadelphia’s Children From Environmental Harm

The Investigations:

Sick Schools

Tainted Soil

Lead Paint

Toxic City: SICK SCHOOLS

Part 1

DANGER: Learn at Your Own Risk

Part 2

Hidden Peril

Part 3

Botched Jobs

How safe is my school?

Find detailed reports on hazards at more than 200 Philadelphia district schools

Sick Schools Related coverage

How the ‘Toxic City’ investigation has protected Philadelphia children from environmental perils

Here's what city and school officials did to help protect children from health hazards in the wake of the Inquirer's two-year investigation, Toxic City.

How we did the testing

How Philadelphia investigative reporters collected dust samples at district schools to test for mold, lead and asbestos.

Olney Elementary School located at 5301 N Water St, in Philadelphia, Monday, May 7, 2018. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia sent workers to fix an asbestos-ridden pipe in a school. Instead, it got worse

New tests show off-the-chart levels of asbestos fibers on surfaces at Olney Elementary School after officials at the School District of Philadelphia had ordered a cleanup.

Furness High School student Susila Magar, right, takes part Thursday in a “Toxic Teach Out” at her school to bring attention to lead paint contamination there.

School District cleans Olney Elementary after 10.7 million asbestos fibers found

School District cleans and shuts areas at Olney Elementary amid public pressure in wake of newspapers' investigation that found 10.7 million asbestos fibers on a floor

Sign for the A.S. Jenks Elementary School June 11, 2018, where Maria Greco teaches second grade in Room 106. Tests in early December 2017 revealed high levels of asbestos fibers in dust on the floor in her classroom and in a closet, where kids hang their coats and backpacks. After an Inquirer and Daily News story about asbestos, detailing high asbestos at Jenks, came out last month, a parent called the city Health Department to complain. And Greco did too. TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Solving the asbestos mystery in Philadelphia’s A.S. Jenks School

A parent and teacher had a simple but pressing question: Did the Philadelphia school district clean up toxins in a second-grade classroom? The district would not provide an answer. So reporters did.

After hazards were exposed, Philadelphia school district launches massive summer cleanup

A month after the "Toxic City: Sick Schools" investigation found dangerous levels of asbestos fibers in rundown Philadelphia elementary schools, the district said it has begun cleaning them up.

Gov. Tom Wolf, left, with State Sen. Vincent Hughes during a press conference announcing funds to clean up hazards in Philadelphia schools.

Wolf pledges millions to tackle lead paint in city schools

Gov. Wolf announces millions in new funding for an emergency cleanup of toxins at Philadelphia district schools, responding to an Inquirer and Daily News investigation.

State Sen. Vincent Hughes (left) and Gov. Tom Wolf (center) arrive at Roosevelt School in Philadelphia, prior to a June 29 news conference to announce $7.6 million in state funding to repair damaged lead paint and plaster at 40 city schools.

Can Philadelphia school officials be trusted with millions in state money to clean up lead paint?

With $7.6 million in new state funds, the School District of Philadelphia this week picked four contractors to clean up toxic lead paint in 40 schools after an Inquirer and Daily News investigation, “Toxic City: Sick Schools,” exposed widespread problems.

Philadelphia school kids will get added protections from lead paint perils

A new law in Philadelphia will require for the first time that public schools must be certified as safe from lead-paint hazards.

Despite recent cleanups, Philadelphia schools still expose kids and teachers to asbestos

The Philadelphia school district spent the summer cleaning up seven schools where the Inquirer's "Toxic City: Sick Schools" investigation found the highest numbers of cancer-causing asbestos fibers. Then, new problems surfaced.

Without $700M, Philly might not be able to fix crumbling schools, Hite and Kenney say

"It's up to elected adults to take care of our kids," Mayor Kenney said. "Right now, only Philadelphia can secure this needed funding.""

Lawmakers call for a restart to Pa.'s school-construction program

The report, released Wednesday, recommends the state set aside money not just for new buildings, but repairs to the state's aging schools. It also calls for targeting money to projects to enhance school safety in the wake of shootings at Parkland and elsewhere.

Philly congressmen seek federal help to fix ‘unconscionable’ condition of city schools

Philadelphia's three congressmen urged House leaders to dedicate federal money to repairing the city's schools, which are suffering from mold, deteriorated asbestos, and peeling paint likely to contain lead.
The letter from Democrats Bob Brady, Brendan Boyle and Dwight Evans came in response to the Inquirer and Daily News series "Toxic City," which detailed the conditions and the sometimes devastating health consequences for school children.

OUR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS TALK ABOUT THE PROJECT

About the series

Toxic City is an investigative series about the ongoing struggle to protect Philadelphia’s children, many poor and minority, from environmental harm. Over the course of two years, reporters examined lead paint in old homes, contaminated soil in once-industrial neighborhoods, and unhealthy conditions in public schools that made children sick.

The series has been supported by funding from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism and the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism.

How the ‘Toxic City’ investigation has protected Philadelphia children from environmental perils

OPINION AND EDITORIALS

(Left to Right) Four-year-old Eliana, David Pagan, eleven-year-old Johan, Cristine Gonzalez, and six-year-old Dean, shown here at one of the entrances of Dean’s school, Comly Elementary School. Dean suffers from severe lead poisoning.

Sen. Vincent Hughes: We must act to stop crumbling schools in Philadelphia | Opinion

Cristine Gonzalez, back, holds her six-year-old son Dean Pagan, front, at a playground in Philadelphia. Dean was severely lead poisoned at Comly Elementary School.

Cleaning up Philly’s contaminated schools has a huge price tag | Editorial

Philadelphia Schools Superintendent William Hite says that addressing Philly’s aging school buildings require an all-hands-on-deck approach.

Superintendent Hite: The community must come together to fix our aging schools

If not higher taxes, find another way to help cash poor Philly schools | Editorial

City moves to take the pain out of paint, other school hazards | Editorial

Signe Wilkinson

Toxic City: TAINTED SOIL

In booming Philadelphia neighborhoods, lead-poisoned soil is resurfacing

Breakneck construction has unearthed a toxic legacy, coating playgrounds and backyards with dangerous levels of lead dust.

Tainted Soil Related coverage

Rachel Kaminski holds her daughter, Emma, 2, outside their Fishtown home on June 30, 2017. Rachel and other residents have been reaching out to lawmakers about lead in the soil.

River ward residents want city, others to protect kids from lead in soil

As construction disturbs dormant lead in the soil, river ward residents call on the city and other officials to help protect their families.

Wolf: All kids should be blood tested for lead by age 2

The aim is to reduce childhood lead poisoning.

Fishtown residents, city halt smelter demolition until safeguards in place

The City of Philadelphia stopped the demolition of a former lead smelter in Fishtown after residents complained they weren't given notice and that controls for airborne toxins didn't take place.

Results from the former Anzon lead smelter factory area show highly contaminated soil around the now busy shopping district.

State confirms extreme lead levels in Kensington soil

The state Department of Environmental Protection confirms that its own testing, prompted by an Inquirer/Daily News investigation, found unacceptable levels of lead spread over the footprint of a former lead smelter.

Resources

Concerns about lead paint

Concerns about lead in soil

Opinion and Editorials

Jana Curtis and her three year-old-daughter, Nolyn Pace, in their neighborhood park. Curtis is a mother of three whose daughter was poisoned by lead in their backyard.

Philly should take the lead to protect its children from lead

Ringgold Street is in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city for lead hazards.

4 easy changes that can protect thousands of Philly kids from lead poisoning |Opinion

Toxic City: LEAD PAINT

Philly ignores thousands of kids poisoned by lead paint

With the worst deep poverty of the nation’s largest cities, many Philadelphia families find themselves trapped in toxic houses that make their children sick.