NEW YORKûMany parents are aware of the health risks posed by lead paint, but there is another toxin pervading New York City public schools. Prompted by a Daily News investigation, the Department of Education conducted tests in several schools to determine
But Department of Education officials insist that there is no danger as long as the PCB-laced materials are left untouched. PCBs are toxins usually found in window and door caulking in buildings constructed or renovated in the 1960s and 1970s.
The U.S. Congress banned the domestic production of PCBs in 1977 due to the increasing number of scientific studies that showed decreased cognitive ability in children exposed to the chemicals, cancer, asthma, rashes and other negative health effects.
In 1976, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation banned all fishing in the Upper Hudson River because of the health risk posed by consuming fish that had been contaminated by 1.3 million pounds of PCBs dumped into the river by General Electric from 1947 well into the 1970s.
This very same toxin is in the caulking of 266 schools throughout the five boroughs. Six of the nine schools tested by the Daily News tested positive for PCBs at concentrations that far exceed federal regulations.
However, the presence of PCBs does not mean the toxins have actually been released into the air and, hence, have affected students. In fact, according to the Department of Education testing, only one of those schools tested positive for PCB leakage into the air. The contaminated areaûthe cafeteriaû was closed off for use and cleaned.
Other schools in the study that exceeded federal guidelines for PCB concentration included P.S. 30 in East Harlem, P.S. 86 in Queens, and Bronx schools P.S. 160, I.S. 131 and P.S. 178. T
he Environmental Protection Agency’s regional director, Alan Steinberg, noted that the EPA has been working on PCB exposure and gave advice to owners and managers of buildings that contain caulk contaminated by PCBs.
“If PCBs are found in the caulk, avoid regular touching of the caulk, clean it up properly and safely, and make plans to remove the caulk. When PCBcontaining caulk is removed and disposed of, it should be done with care to avoid contamination of surrounding materials such as floors, wood, bricks, mortar or soil,” said Steinberg in a statement.
He went on to commend various city agencies, including the Department of Education for their rapid response to the issue of PCBs in schools. Councilman Eric Gioia (DQueens) intends to hold hearings on the issue and U.S. Congressman José Serrano also is preparing to craft national legislation about the cleanup of PCBs.
“PCBs in our schools are putting our children at risk, and we must ensure that they are removed. However, the extreme cost of cleanup and disposal is a difficult burden for our already overstretched school districts to bear.
A problem this serious demands that the federal government provide some help to our state and local governments.
That is why in the coming weeks, we will be introducing the Safe Schools, Healthy Kids Act, which will provide federal assistance for the costs associated with removing PCBs from our schools,” said Serrano. So far, the Department of Education has not indicated plans to remove the contaminated caulking.
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