--- title: "18 Elementary Schoolers Hospitalized After Classroom Science Experiment" description: "First responders were called onto the scene in Tennessee last week after a bunch of kids got sick when doing an experiment with dry ice. " date: "2024-02-19" modified: "2024-02-19" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/kids-hospitalized-science-experiment" categories: - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "carbon dioxide" - "chemicals" - "dry ice" - "schools" --- # 18 Elementary Schoolers Hospitalized After Classroom Science Experiment ![First responders were called onto the scene in Tennessee last week after a bunch of kids got sick when doing an experiment with dry ice. ]() *smoke and bubbles \Image: Roz Bannan/Getty Images\* First responders were called onto the scene last week after a bunch of schoolkids got sick after doing a science experiment. As [Nashville's *WKRN* reported](), the third graders in the central Tennessee town of Gallatin were doing an experiment with dry ice, conducted by an unnamed "outside group," when several reported to the school nurse's office with nausea. Fearing a "mass casualty incident," as the Sumner County Emergency Medical Service said in a statement relayed to local reporters, first responders ranging from the fire department to the sheriff and police were brought to the school. Nineteen people, including 18 students and one teacher, were eventually taken to the hospital, and the kids' parents were notified. As the [*Local 12* news outlet added](), the students and their teacher were treated for carbon dioxide poisoning — which makes sense, given that dry ice is just [CO2 frozen solid](). Beyond those initial 19 taken to be checked out at the hospital, another 20 who'd been present for the experiment were assessed by paramedics. In an interview with *WKRN*, the parents of one of the kids who got sick during the incident seemed very ticked off about the way the school handled the situation. "The most information I have gotten at this point is out of a 9-year-old that is not feeling well," disgruntled dad Ben Amboy told the local news. "Not out of a doctor, not out of a representative from the school, nothing." Amboy urged the Sumner County school district to step up its communication game during emergencies, which sounds like a polite Southern way of saying its officials need to get their act together. Given how often schools are [under siege from gunmen]() these days, it's not bad advice. **More on toxic chemicals:** [*Stanley Admits Its TikTok-Famous Mugs Are Made With Lead After All*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()