By ALEX PINEDA

Two science classrooms at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) were evacuated and underwent a check Friday for any sort of hazardous material following complaints of a foul odor and a feeling of numbness on the lips.

Teachers James Morrison and Mabel Wong were forced to hold classes in the school cafeterias. Morrison and Wong’s classrooms were cleaned along with the storage room that held the bodies of cat that were being dissected by students in the physiology class. The cats had to be discarded Friday.

“I’m actually really sad and mad because I got attached and I was also learning,” said senior Stephanie Venegas.

The preservatives that were being used to keep the cat bodies from molding contain a chemical known as phenol that is a carbolic acid that is often found in chloraseptics. However, the ingredient in phenol known as formalin makes up 40% of the chemical. Formalin has been known to cause cancer and the product cannot be used in a school environment especially in a school like DPMHS that does not have the complete science equipment to conduct these sorts of experiments.

Due to such dangers, all the cats had to disposed of and Morrison will be forced to change all his lesson plans because they were all meant to reflect the lab that was taking place.

“I’m upset and mad because we had to pay for them ourselves. Besides the fact that it was going to be a great learning experience,” said junior Crystabel Muñoz.