Berger to repaint Cooreville Gardens Basic School THE COOREVILLE Gardens Basic School in Kingston should get another facelift but this time from paint providers, Berger Paints. Berger's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Warren McDonald, said yesterday that the organisation would donate some paint as well as technical expertise to the school, which was closed last week after students complained about sore throats, "runny" noses, headaches and burning sensations in their eyes and on their skin. School officials later linked the students' reaction to paint used at the school on Labour Day. The Gleaner was later told that the paint was not made by accredited companies and had been purchased in Riverton City. Samples were also collected by the Jamaica Bureau of Standards (JBS) but the official results from tests, promised yesterday, have not yet been completed. The Bureau's information manager, Norman Hall, said completed results should be available today. Earlier, Mr. Hall said preliminary tests showed that there may have been some fault in the way the paint was mixed. To prevent the recurrence of the case, Mr. McDonald said the company was offering technical advice on how to remove the existing paint safely and apply Berger's paint. "Our greatest concern is the health and safety of the general public and as was demonstrated, the paint was quite potent. What they put on there is hazardous to the health so they have to take it off properly," he said. Meanwhile, the CEO is also urging consumers to be more careful when buying products. "The lesson to be learnt here is that members of the public must be careful of what they buy. They can't go out and buy paint because the price is good. They have to make sure that paint is from companies which have been accredited (and) adhere to standards set by the NRCA (now Natural Environmental Protection division) and the Bureau of Standards," he said.
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