Take Action

1. Contact your school board, school adminstrators, custodial staff, teacher's unions, parent teacher association members (PTA), Health and Safety committee (which is mandated in New York), and all parents about testing for PCB in caulking if the school buildings were built between the 1930s and 1980.

2. Contact your legislative officials by phone and in writing, and tell them that you want legislation mandating testing for PCBs in schools. Make sure you contact your legislative officials on the local, state and federal levels. Contact the chairperson and members in your state's Department of Education and Department of Environmental Conservation.

a ) Here is the August 2005 Newsletter from the NYS Education Department on PCB contamination. It is very important to get as many people as possible to call and write in. Your legislator will be more responsive to a chorus of voices.

b) Here are the results from contacting Westchester County Legislator Michael Kaplowitz about PCBs in caulking. Click on the following links: May 2006 Press Release and August 2005 Press Release . Thank you County Legislator Kaplowitz and County Legislator Thomas Abinanti - who chairs the Westchester County Environment Committee for bringing this issue to the forefront.

c) Here is a letter from Congresswoman Sue Kelly to Mr. Stephen Johnson, head of the EPA about PCBs in caulking. Click here to read Congresswoman Kelly's letter to the EPA.

f) Here is a letter to Chancellor Ryan of the State University of New York. Click here to read letter to Chancellor Ryan. Here is the response from the State University Construction Fund confirming PCB-laden caulk at Mahar Hall at SUNY Oswego. Click here to read letter.

g) Here is a letter from the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit Mount Sinai Hospital. Click here for letter.

h) Here are two letters sent from the Edison Wetlands Association to New Jersey Governor Corzine and U.S. Senator Lautenberg.

Always send hard copies of your request by fax or U.S. mail. If you send by email, remember that your legislators get so many emails that there is the possibility that your email could get overlooked or deleted by accident. It is important to make follow-up calls to confirm that your representative did receive your fax, letter or email.

Here is my personal letter to US Senator Charles Schumer.*

Here is an example of a parent letter* to a legislator. Cut and paste and modify this letter for your own legislator.

3. Contact your local newspaper, television and radio stations about this issue.

4. Do your own sampling.

5. Contact exisiting environmental groups or even start your own advocacy group. One group is the Citizen's Environmental Coalition. Their website is www.cectoxic.org.

Here is the result of an email to Dr. Mahmood A. Khwaja from the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Pakistan

6. Inform your local construction unions about PCB in caulking. PCBs are very persistent and may be hazardous for human beings if incorrectly or carelessly handled. It is, therefore, essential that the correct precautions are observed during handling, use and disposal. Under the law, custodians and maintenance people have the "right to know" if they are working with hazardous materials. Please be aware that some unions will resist testing because of the potential loss of jobs.

• Here is workplace protection information on PCB in Concrete Structures from the Victoria.

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