[CPEO-BIF] PCB's in New York City schools

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Toxin turns up in school buildings, but officials say there's no danger

BY BILL EGBERT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
April 7, 2008,

Worker wipes down windows at PS 199 on the upper West Side. City health 
officials said PCBs were found but did not pose a danger. Pace for News

Worker wipes down windows at PS 199 on the upper West Side. City health 
officials said PCBs were found but did not pose a danger.

Window sills  and door frames in dozens of city public schools contain a 
toxin that can lower IQ scores, causes asthma and is linked to cancer, a 
Daily News investigation has found.

Polychlorinated biphenyls are common in window and door caulking found 
in 266 New York City schools built or renovated in the 1960s and 1970s, 
officials concede.

Random tests, conducted in February and last month for The News, found 
the PCBs in eight of nine schools. Six of the nine contained levels of 
PCBs deemed unacceptable.

Last week in response to The News' findings, the Department of Education 
performed its own air and wipe tests in the affected schools. In all but 
one test, the PCBs in the caulking had not leaked into the air or 
surrounding environment.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2008/04/07/2008-04-07_toxin_turns_up_in_school_buildings_but_o.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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