Do Old Books Cause Cancer?
This past week, I had the pleasure of visiting Hart Middle School’s newly renovated library. It was a nice and bright place. But it was also pretty empty of books. Many of the shelves were not close to full. In early November, the school tossed most of its books into a pair of dumpsters. The school’s principal claimed the books were too old.
The school’s librarian, Martin Ezeagu, took it a step further claiming that those old paperbacks were extreme health hazards. He told me that every time he touches them, he must wash his hands. He then demonstrated how he washes his hands in a sink located behind the tiny reference section.
But he said sometimes even warm water and soap wouldn’t save him from that dog-eared copy of Invisible Man. Ezeagu told me: “Some of the books are so old they cause cancer.”
So is the Library of Congress just a giant cancer factory? Are old books as unhealthy as cigarettes? Or is this just some DCPS myth?
6 Responses to “Do Old Books Cause Cancer?”
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November 23rd, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Another biohazard in libraries: Smallpox
See http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/2004/01/msg00009.html
Other hazards include getting crushed by falling books, dust allergies from ill-maintained facilities, and hernias from lifting books, which Mr. Ezeagu cleverly avoided by having students lift all the discarded books.
If your quote is accurate, Mr. Ezeagu is on the verge of another hazard: practicing medicine without a license. Perhaps he can provide footnotes?
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
But don’t you see? That’s more money that can be spent on things instead of educating. How else do you expect DC to spend so much money per pupil with so little to show for it?
November 24th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Has Mr. E. see the video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN2VqFPNS8w
November 25th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Gee, I grabbed a bunch of books while the students were chucking them….I don’t have cancer…and incidentally many of them were fairly new! Guess what…no one will be held accountible for throwing away many perfectly good books. DCPS will never improve because no one really gives a damn!
November 26th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I don’t know what kind of condition the books were in, but if there was any mold it was the right thing to do.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
There were many new books and some very old too. It was utter laziness that caused them to throw them away.