Cancer warning on clear backpacks prompts delay for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is indefinitely putting on hold its plan to distribute clear backpacks to high schoolers after finding many of the bags had a warning label about cancer-causing chemicals.
The district purchased 46,000 clear backpacks, with a total cost of $441,791, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.
An email provided to the Observer on Monday stated officials unloaded backpacks and discovered most contained a warning tag required by Proposition 65 for California residents. The tags mark items that may contain cancer-causing chemicals.
“We immediately paused the rollout of this safety measure when it was revealed the majority of the inventory had the tag,” Eve White, CMS executive director of communications, wrote in the email. “In an abundance of caution, we will not proceed with clear backpack distribution until this matter is resolved. We are contacting the manufacturer and proceeding with reclaiming any backpacks that were provided to students in advance of school distribution.”
A purchase order shows CMS bought the backpacks in November via Office Depot, which sells but does not manufacture the bags. The order shows 40,000 of the 46,000 backpacks were made by New York-based A.D. Sutton and Sons and are primarily made of a material called polyvinyl chloride or PVC No. 3. The remaining 6,000 backpacks were manufactured by New York-based Bijoux International, Inc. and are made of a similar material.
What the warning means
A state of California website maintained for Proposition 65 states six phthalates commonly found in PVC products are on the warning list because they can cause “birth defects or other reproductive harm and/or cancer.” California’s Proposition 65 “requires businesses to determine if they must provide a warning about exposure to the chemical.”
Besides backpacks, plastic lunchboxes, binders, rainwear, handbags, plastic shower curtains and bath mats, among other products, can contain phthalates.
A warning “informs a consumer that she/he is being exposed to carcinogens or reproductive toxins that exceed certain threshold levels,” states a frequently asked questions page on California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta’s website. “This is not the same as a regulatory decision that a product is ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe.’ A consumer can seek information about the actual levels of exposure from the business that produces the product or causes the exposure in order to decide whether to accept, avoid, or take measures to mitigate the exposure risk.”
A layered approach
Clear backpacks are part of a layered approach CMS is implementing in response to safety concerns on campuses. Eddie Perez, a media relations specialist for CMS, told the Observer this month that 25 firearms have been found on campuses this school year.
The district announced last month students at Hopewell High School and Cochrane Collegiate Academy would be the first to try out clear backpacks. CMS planned to try clear backpacks at Hopewell High and Cochrane Collegiate Academy, consider feedback and distribute to other schools this spring. The district also planned to deploy several clear backpacks to students in the district’s other high schools to provide an opportunity to also experience the backpacks.
Superintendent Earnest Winston told school board members in March that high school students told district officials they wanted to “actually touch and feel and see what the clear backpacks look like.”
Along with clear backpacks, the district also doubled the number of random safety screenings in secondary schools, purchased body scanning equipment and implemented the “Say Something” Anonymous Reporting System for grades 6-12 that allows students to submit anonymous safety concerns. The system had already generated 500 tips in less than two months.
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 4:42 PM.
