Youth in JROTC Marksmanship programs are being exposed
Youth in JROTC Marksmanship programs are being exposed to dangerous lead contamination in their schools, at National Guard armories, and in commercial shooting ranges where they shoot.
Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, (JROTC) at a Glance JROTC programs exist in 3, 402 high schools nationwide – 65% of them in the South – with a total enrollment of 557, 129 students. JROTC courses may sometimes substitute for taking P. E. , Government, History, Art and Music, JROTC classes are often taught by military retirees with no college education. JROTC textbooks teach a false and reactionary brand of U. S. history and government. Students are sometimes required to take the program.
Army Air Force Navy Marines
According to data provided by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), there are 1, 871 military shooting programs in American high schools. Shooting typically takes place in cafeterias and gyms.
Students practice shooting in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS cafeteria, where Nik Cruz learned to shoot. The kids are part of the school’s 300 -member strong Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Program.
An Army Weapon The Daisy Avanti 887 CO 2 air rifle, a powerful cousin of Ralphie’s Red Ryder, is classified as an Army weapon and is used by Army programs in high schools. It shoots a. 177 cal. LEAD pellet at speeds of 600 feet per second.
There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Although airguns kill many and injure thousands every year, their greatest threat to public health is through lead exposure. Cafeterias and gyms are contaminated by lead fragments that become airborne and are deposited on the floor at the muzzle -end at the target backstop. Loose enforcement of regulations creates a health hazard for students and custodial staff. Kids are handling lead and walking through lead-contaminated areas, tracking poisonous lead particulates throughout their schools.
• There are several studies linking airgun use to airborne lead particulate matter. • The military relies on the work of a discredited Colorado firm to maintain that firing airguns does not contribute to airborne lead. • This is important because high school cafeterias and gyms do not have appropriate ventilation systems to handle minute lead particulates.
• The CDC says there’s no safe blood level of lead for children. • The smallest levels of lead can decrease IQ, slow development and cause kidney damage. • The CDC says children with Blood Lead Levels over 5 micrograms per deciliter suffer from lead poisoning.
Lead poisoning at 5 micrograms per deciliter. . Studies of shooters who only fired airguns report blood lead levels of 1. 8 - 12. 7 micrograms per deciliter. According to research on the health effects of blood lead levels on pregnancy and fetus in utero, Blood lead levels of 2. 0 -10. 0 micrograms per deciliter cause gestational hypertension, reduced fetal growth and low birthrate. A Swedish study analyzed the air in an indoor firing range that was used exclusively for air guns and found the air had levels that ranged from 1. 8 - 7. 2 micrograms per cubic meter The study documents the presence of airborne lead as a result of air rifle shooting and calls for special ventilation systems. In 2013, the California Department of Public Health recommended hat the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health lower the permissible exposure limit for lead in air to 0. 5 - 2. 1 micrograms per cubic meter to keep BLLs below the range of 5– 10 micrograms per deciliter
This high school girl in Tennessee is dipping her fingers into a dish of lead pellets. This is horrendous public policy!
Students from the Grissom High School Army JROTC Marksmanship Program in Huntsville, Alabama participate in a Marksmanship Competition. Watch for the plume of lead particulates at 3: 05 -3: 08. The CMP says lead does not become airborne. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Tz. QSQ 8 u 1 To. E
A standard. 177 caliber lead pellet is shown being fired from an airgun. Here, you can see tiny lead fragments discharged at the muzzle end of the gun.
This brief video shows the tiny lead particles that coat the fingers of children while handling airgun pellets. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=v. V 51 v 6 p. GK 6 Y .
The military says the kids just need to wash their hands after JROTC Marksmanship practice. NIOSH says washing hands with soap and water is not effective in removing lead from the surface of the skin.
The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) is responsible for training JROTC instructors and certifying JROTC ranges in the nation’s high schools. It publishes “The Guide to Lead Management”, used by JROTC Marksmanship Programs. It relies on the work performed by Health & Environmental Technology LLC to dispel the science that airguns create airborne lead particulate matter.
Robert Rodosevich Mr. Robert Rodosevich is the sole employee of Health & Environmental Technology LLC. Rodosevich has been cited by Colorado officials for “gross technical incompetence in technical compliance. ” HET’s work performed for the CMP is cited by high school officials defending the safety of shooting programs regarding lead contamination.
• Northwestern High School in Flint, MI shows students remove their targets after a session at the school’s indoor shooting range on Monday, Feb. 3, 2014. • Unenforced CMP regulations call for designated target changers to wear disposable shoe covers before walking over any residues that may be in front of the targets. • A complaint filed with the EPA went nowhere.
Students at the Leadership Academy for Young Men in Rochester, NY use the boiler room of the school to shoot their rifles. Unenforced CMP regulations call for the use of a designated walking path to the targets. Listen to the instructor at 1: 30. http: //www. democratandchronicle. com/
This next video shows NJROTC Cadets at Freeport High School in Freeport, Illinois walking through the discharge of lead on the floor at the muzzle end of the gun on their way down to the lead-filled target backstop, with no shoe covering and no designated lane. 3: 00 - https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=MAE 915 KEFc. Q
• Sometimes JROTC kids shoot in filthy lead-contaminated commercial ranges, like this one. • Lead on the floor at the CMP-affiliated Vancouver (Wash. ) Rifle and Pistol Club was a thousand times higher than a federal housing guideline for allowable lead on surfaces. Twenty children were found to have high BLL’s. • See the data on lead contamination at shooting ranges across the country.
• Inspectors found lead in 424 armories in the past four years, or nearly 90 percent of the places for which results are available. See the data Here. • The Frederickstown, MO Armory, shown above, was found to have 883 Micrograms of lead per square foot of lead detected on its surfaces. • The EPA considers lead to be hazardous to human health when floor surfaces have 40 Micrograms of lead per square foot of lead. • The Frederickstown HS JROTC Marksmanship team participates in shooting competitions with regional high schools at the Frederickstown Armory.
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