Scientists with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have reported toxic substances found in the air outside Follansbee Middle School are not a cause for short-term health concern.

But they cautioned it has not been determined if the substances pose long-term health risks to the school's pupils and staff.

Under the direction of the EPA, officials with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection installed two air quality monitors on the school's roof in August as well as monitors at the Cabell County Career Technology Center in Huntington and Neale Elementary School in Vienna.

Larry English, an assistant director with the DEP's Division of Air Quality, said the monitors in Follansbee would measure the presence of volatile organic compounds, metals and polacrylic aromatic hydrocarbons, all chemical compounds associated with industrial activity but also related to automobile use.

Bonnie Smith, a spokeswoman for the EPA's Philadelphia office, said the monitoring will continue into the early winter. Smith didn't know how soon final results from the study would be reported.

The three West Virginia schools are among 63 schools in 22 states targeted for air monitoring after the USA Today reported high levels of pollution near them.

Smith said it's too early to determine specific sources for the pollution.

English said if a source is found to be industrial, a normal course of action is to determine whether existing environmental controls at local plants are operating properly. English said if adjacent traffic is found to be a source, remedies can include a change in the traffic pattern or timing of traffic signals nearby.