PCB Free

This blog is about Polychlorinated Biphenyls, a toxic compound that the US banned in the 1970s, and their societal impact especially related to schools in New York city. In the 1960s and 70s PCBs were widely used in building materials such as caulk which is still in place in many older buildings including many New York city schools. What does this mean for kids and teachers who spend the majority of their days in these buildings and what is being done to address this issue?

Friday, March 27, 2009

Lawsuit revives NYC Schools PCB issue

One Bronx woman has taken matters into her own hands to force the NYC Dept of Ed to clean up her kids' school. The school, PS 178 in the Bronx, tested positive last year for enormous amounts of PCBs in the caulking, along with several other NYC schools, after the NY Daily News hired a team to investigate this issue. Yet nothing has been done to remove these harmful toxins from the schools.

Here are several news articles discussing the lawsuit:

NY Daily News
Newsday
WPIX-TV 11
Staten Island Advance
Louisville Courier-Journal

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Call for Schools to be PCB Free!

PCBs are a serious health issue that has come to light recently in New York City which has approximately 266 schools that were built in the 60s and 70s when PCBs were widely used in building materials such as caulking. However, PCBs in schools potentially effects children and teachers around the country and must be addressed at the national level. Join us in calling for PCB Free schools across the country. What do we want:

Testing of all suspect school buildings across the country that may contain significant levels of PCBs.
Safe removal of school building materials that have PCB levels above 50 ppm in accordance with federal regulations.
Develop and implement federally mandated cleaning guidelines across all suspect schools until PCB contaminated materials can be removed.