Daily News from New York, New York • 359

McefeiD Manhattan and Bronx Daily News, Thursday. July 1, 1982 Al2 3tJ7 11 iT IfePi jij Si Marquee of Apollo Theater announcing renovation as television production center. mm Sir rateou finikin Manhattan wheat-a whole field of it-is tough, like city By MICHAEL NEILL There is a small field near the southern tip of our island where, in the shadow of the World Trade Center, you can stand waist-deep in green, growing wheat as tall and lush as any in Kansas. It is the first grain to be "grown in lower Manhattan in three centuries. It most likely will be the last The wheat was planted on landfill in Battery Park City by Agnes Denes, who describes herself as an environmental artist.

It survived drought and rain and disease and the depredations of the birds. Some of it has grown as high as three feet In a month-and-a-half, ripened by the summer sun, the wheat that Agnes Denes planted will be ready for harvesting. The 325-foot by 300-foot wheatfield is an exercise, not in agriculture, but in public art The seed grain, the top soil and the fertilizer for the project called "Wheatfield" all were paid for by the Public Art Fund, which likes to expose New Yorkers to eye-catching, often controversial, works of art in the city's squares and plazas. THE WHEAT IN "Wheatfield" was grown from North Dakota seed, a breed called hard red spring wheat, a tough hybrid. It was chosen because North Dakota wheat has to grow under much tougher conditions than the wheat grown in New York State.

And the conditions at Battery Park are as tough as any in the world. For a start, the site was landfill rocks, sand and garbage from the excavations for the World See WHEAT Page 5 Panel to mull landmark status for building By RUBEN ROSARIO that for more than 30 years was regarded as the world's capital of black show business, "is one of the last early-20th-century theaters of this size and quality in the city," the study concluded. Covell said that a national landmark designation could lead to tax credit incentives for promoters who are planning to turn the theater into a cable-TV production center. The Inner City Broadcasting owner of the theater, received a $1 million loan last month from the Harlem Urban Development Corp. to reopen the building.

Percy Sutton, head of the communications conglomerate, has asked state commerce officials for a $5 million loan to finance the project The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission launched hearings last April to designate the theater a landmark. An approval will give the city agency the authority to block alteration work by developers. "The developer can open the theater well before Washington gives its approval on the designation," Covell said. "But the tax incentive may be lost if any work does not meet strictly defined standards. State officials will set up a special commission in the coming weeks to review a proposal to designate the once-grand Apollo Theater in Harlem a national landmark.

"I foresee no problem in approving the plan, but it is a long, drawn-out procedure that may take many' months to complete," said Anne Covell, program analyst for the state agency. The move to place the famed theater on 125th St with the National Register of Historic Places came after a detailed inventory survey of the building by the Landmarks Conservancy, a nonprofit group, was submitted to state officials. When the state review is completed, it will be sent to the federal Department of the Interior for possible national landmark designation. The study maintained that the theater, although partly altered since it was built in 1913, is still of architectural significance. The Apollo, a three-story, terra cotta structure Grim picture of kid safety in art class By DON WEINBRENNER i mm pected mutagens (chemicals capable of producing cell mutations), and eight known or suspected teratogens (chemicals capable of producing birth defects in developing fetuses).

"This report only scratches the surface," warned Assemblyman Joe Serrano (D-L-South Bronx). "It points out the glaring need for full chronic toxicity labeling on all art supplies." Among the chemicals found in the school system's art materials and the risks involved, are: Methylene chloride; carcinogen, teratogen and mutagen. Toluene; central nervous system depression. Hexane; nerve damage, skin irritation. Cadmium; lung, kidney, nervous system disorders.

Lead; suspected carcinogen and teratogen. Blood, kidney and nervous system disorders. Formaldehyde; suspected mutagen, animal carcinogen, irritant Donald Ross, Research Group executive director, thought it appalling that "many of the same toxic chemicals found in hazardous waste dumpsites are also in a wide variety of art supplies used by children in our schools." The report also charges that 16 different art materials used in the state's school systems were insufficiently labeled, and that information regarding potential toxic ingredients and their possible health risks were either inadequately detailed or nonexistent on product labels. The bill, which has been overwhelming approved by the Assembly for the. past two jrears," said Ross, aces'u'ncertaih Senate action.

Trusting children of the New York State school system are dabbling with toxic art materials that may cause cancer, cell mutation, and birth defects in developing fetuses, according to a joint report released yesterday by the State Assembly Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, the New York Public Interest Research Group Inc. and the Center for Occupational Hazards. The group, which examined 15 New York State school systems representing almost 40 of total state enrollment from kindergarten through grade 12, called for immediate passage of legislation that would require manufacturers of art supplies to label their products for chronic (long-term) health hazards. A LIST OF ART supplies ordered by the test schools were obtained by a research staff and reviewed by Dr. Michael McCann, director for the Center for Occupational Hazards.

"Art users," said Dr. McCann, "cannot adequately protect themselves from the dangers inherent in such use. Children in particular, because they have faster metabolisms and not yet fully developed immunological systems, are even more exposed to risk." The study culminated in a report called "Children Beware Arts Supplies in the Classroom," and claims that unwary children are using art materials that contain at least 13. known or, suspected carcinogens (cahcer-causirig agents); two known or" sUS-' $M'M if tiki TWfu th W'iM HARRY HAMBURG DAILY NEWS Nicole Picard of Manhattan amid the lush wheat fields of.