Student crosses out school markers

SCC student Jennie Bannier has had a bad reaction to the dry-erase markers used on white boards.

Chemicals overwhelm her, especially a substance present in most dry-erase markers, called xylene. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, most people get throat or nose irritation after a 4-5 minutes of direct exposure to this substance, but Bannier is hypersensitive and can feel the effects from afar.

She starts feeling the effects of xylene in a matter of seconds. “I cannot breath at all," said Bannier. "I get physically ill, all over, just like having the flu."

When Bannier was 17 years old she was in a car accident and suffered internal injuries that eventually led to a chronic pancreatitis. With a lack of enzymes due to this condition, her body does not tolerate most chemicals, she explained.

Bannier is not the only SCC student with this condition. According to Special Services director Kimberley Thompson, there are about 20 students who registered last quarter at this office as being chemically sensitive. However, Bannier is the first one to be sensitive to dry-erase markers, Thompson said.

This past spring quarter Bannier signed up for a math class, and after three days of going to class she suffered a pancreatic attack and had to be hospitalized. It took her a couple of days to get well, but she could not go back to the classroom. Her hypersensitivity had become a disability. Bannier decided to look for solutions and spread awareness about chemical sensitivity.

The teacher let her drop the class and take it online instead. Wanting to get back in the classroom, Bannier started looking for markers that would not give her the same reaction. She finally found some that were made in Australia. The markers, called Auspens, were made from vegetable oil and alcohol by a company called Ecosmart World. She immediately ordered a set of markers to test them during summer quarter.

She explained her situation to the teachers and provided them with her new markers before class. Bannier said that her teachers loved them since the markers not only smelled better, but they are also friendlier to the environment since they are refillable.

They were “successful,” said Bannier. “I can even stay in a classroom the entire hour or three.”

This fall quarter Bannier talked to her new teachers again and provided them with the markers. Once again they liked the new markers. “Mimi Harvey loves them,” said Bannier. “And she gets sick from using the original (with xylene) type.“

Realizing that there were more people on campus with chemical sensitivity, Bannier decided to show her discovery and share her story with other students and departments at SCC. She first introduced herself to the Student Parliament’s student advocate Doris Cheng.

Cheng sent her to speak to the Vice President for Student Success, Tonya Drake and Thompson.

With the appropriate medical documentation, Bannier got signed up as a special needs student at the Services for Students with Disabilities office. Being part of this list means that the school will cover reasonable accommodations to ensure that she will get access to services and facilities offered by SCC.

The school is now looking into buying markers for all of her classes. However, this is not the end of the battle for Bannier. She figured that more people suffer from chemical sensitivity and some do not even realize it is a medical condition that can worsen over time, and that Xylene itself can be harmful to anyone exposed to it.

Bannier envisions a campus with chemical free classrooms, but the price of the marker set is too expensive - $59 for 6 markers with 6 refills - to make the switch all at once.

Thompson said that the Special Services Office is in favor of a universal design, “instead of having specific accommodations, everything (will work) for everyone.” However, for a complete change in markers to happen, “we could start slowly replacing 1-2 sets a year per division ,” said Thompson.
Published in the Ebbtide, Oct 23, 2009