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How This Started I am the parent of a child attending the French Hill Elementary School in Yorktown Heights and in the fall of 2004, discovered hazardous levels of PCB in the window caulking and soil around his school. Why did I test for PCB in caulking? In the summer of 2004, I read an investigative study by Dr. Bob Herrick of the Harvard School of Public Health who tested for PCB in window caulking in 24 buildings built before 1977. (Note: the EPA banned PCB in 1977). His study found that one third of the buildings tested contained caulking with hazardous levels of PCB. Since my son's school was built in 1969, and had its windows replaced in 2003, I was curious to find out whether the removed caulking contained PCB. If there was PCB, how high was the level? Did the contractors release PCB into the classroom during the window removal process? To help answer some of my questions, I spoke with the EPA. The EPA suggested that I find a piece of caulking on the ground and send it to a lab for testing. Lucky for me, I found caulking on the ground left by the contractors from the work they performed one year prior. The sample came back with levels of 38,000 parts per million (ppm) of Aroclor 1260. Since the EPA's allowable authorized limit for PCB in materials is 50 ppm, the caulking was considered hazardous material. Mathematically speaking, the caulking sample contained 760 times the EPA's allowable limit for PCB. After forwarding my results to the Westchester Department of Health Department, the Health Department ordered the school to remove any remaining pieces of caulk on the ground. Out of concern for the health and safety of the children, I requested that the Health Department perform further testing inside and outside the school . The Health Department refused my request because they felt there was no further hazard. Not satisfied with their answer, I decided to test the soil for PCB. My soil sample came back with elevated levels of PCB above the New York State 1 ppm clean-up requirement. Upon learning of my soil result, the Westchester Department of Health now came to the school and did their own sampling. Their results confirmed what I had found. There were elevated levels of PCB in the soil that exceeded their clean-up level. The Health Department ordered the school to fence off all of the contaminated areas and come up with a work plan to clean-up the soil by June 1, 2005. The school hired Lawler, Matushy & Skelly Engineers LLP as the engineering consultant. The project manager was Stuart Bassell. Mr. Bassell can be reached at 845-735-8300. See Report on Completed Remediation of PCB Contaminated Soil 12-05 Report on right side of page. Based on PCB sampling by Lawler, Matushy & Skelly Engineers LLP, the soil was remediated 10 feet away from the entire perimeter of the building. One area had contaminated soil that was 40 feet from the school building. Approximately 38,000 ft2 of area was excavated. In addition to the soil clean-up, the school encapsulated all masonry caulking at least 6 -8 feet feet up from the ground. This was done because of very high levels of PCBs on both the bulk and wipe samples of the masonry caulking on one of the columns in front the school entrance. See PCB Final Report http://www.yorktown.org. Also, there is PCB contamination on a number of windows, window sills and doors at the French Hill School. The school consultant is of the opinion that the windows, doors and window sills contamination may be a result of a combination of dusting or erosion while the original window was in place, dusting during the removal of the windows, and dusting during the soil excavation. The cost for the exterior building decontamination is around $11,000. See PCB Final Report http://www.yorktown.org. The toal cost for remediation is $300,000. To help the school financially, The New York State Department of Education (SED) has offered partial aid. What happened at the French Hill Elementary School is just a tip of the iceberg. Every school in the country built between 1960 to1977 may contain hazardous levels of PCB in their window caulking. This also includes masonry caulking in expansion joints. PCB can leak out of joint sealant to the surrounding ground and to indoor air. The only way to find out if there is PCB in the caulking, is to test for it. If there is PCB in the caulking, there is the possibility that the outdoor soil can become contaminated. It happened at my son's school. It happened in Europe. What about the inside of the school building? Is it possible for the indoors to become contaminated with PCB? The answer is yes!
Even though many experts believe that ingestion is the major source of exposure to PCB, studies have shown elevated levels of low chlorinated PCB in children and teachers attending contaminated schools. According to Dr. Bob Herrick, "no one is exposed to just a few of the congeners, since they are all present in the Aroclor mixtures, which may have hundreds of congeners in the mix. Also, there is much more tox info on the PCB congeners that resemble 2,3,7,8 TCDD most closely, but the lack of info on some of the others (esp. the less chlorinated, more volatile congeners) does not mean that they are less toxic, it may just be that they have not yet been as extensively tested as some of the others". In Environmental Health Perspectives July 2005, individual congener PCB-118 was identified as a Thyroid Hormone disrupter on human neural development. Though low chlorinated PCB is believed to be not as toxic as the heavier chlorinated PCB, it is imperative to eliminate any and all sources that have the potential to increase ones PCB body burden. PCB is considered a probable carcinogen in humans, resistant to degradation in the environment and bioaccumulates in the body. According to Dr. David Carpenter, "PCBs do the same things that exposure to lead does, causing a reduction of IQ by some 5-7 IQ points, creating a shorten attention span and an increase in disruptive behavior". In his opinion, PCBs have very damaging effects on the brains of children when they are exposed before birth and when they are young and the brain is developing". Europe has recognized the significance of PCB in caulking material and its impact on the environment and human health. It is hard to believe that government regulators and policy makers in the United States have not acknowledged the significance of construction materials as sources of PCB exposure, especially in school buildings. The attitude in the United States appears to be that if you don't look for it, you will not find it. Ask yourself these questions. Would you want your child to sit in a classroom with window caulking that can potentially volatize PCB into the classroom? Would you want your child to innocently touch a piece of caulking that contains hazardous material? This happened at French Hill. Would you want your child to unknowingly play with PCB contaminated soil? Shouldn't a pregnant school teacher be informed about the presence of PCB in her classroom? It is the law for school districts to provide a safe and healthy environment for children. Why are there no school laws mandating testing for PCBs? Schools test for lead and asbestos. Why not PCB? Join me in calling for change, and insist that there be a law mandating testing for PCB in school caulking with a provision for more extensive indoor and outdoor testing if the caulking contains hazardous levels of PCBs . |
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