PCB Health Risk for SUNY Students
Residence Dorms May Contain Hazardous Levels of PCB Contamination
Jul 15, 2007 Victoria Anisman-Reiner
State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz) has been the focus of controversy since a PCB transformer explosion and fire in 1991 spread dangerous levels of PCBs to four campus residence halls. The buildings have never been fully tested for PCB and dioxin residues. In a major question of integrity and health safety, they are slated to house students again at the end of August, 2007.
The History: PCB and Dioxin Contamination and the Tests that Weren’t Done
In 1991, a PCB transformer burned and exploded, contaminating four SUNY New Paltz residences (Bliss, Capen, Gage and Scudder Halls), a science building, and a theatre with PCBs and dioxins. The buildings were cleaned and reopened, Capen and Gage only a month after the incident.
The buildings were approved safe by the New York State Department of Health using a 1985 risk assessment relating to a different disaster. The college administration has maintained over the years that the buildings are safe, despite refusing to test the heating systems and ventilation ducts – through which the toxins could be spread – except for a partial survey in 1994.
Independent testing in 2004 of the air vents indicated, contrary to official reports, that high levels of dioxins still exist within the residence buildings. The vents in several of the buildings have been cleaned “to arm’s length.”
PCBs and Dioxins
PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are organic compounds, once commonly used as coolant and insulating fluid. They are known carcinogens, yet dioxins may be even more dangerous.
Eric Francis, who has reported on the SUNY contamination since the disaster, writes: “Dioxin is often accurately described as one of the most toxic poisons on Earth. It’s debilitating to the immune system, the endocrine (hormone) system, it’s genotoxic (bursts chromosomes), teratogenic (birth-defect causing) and responsible for… ills in every single organ system, including mental effects like depression and reduced sex drive.” (Eric Francis, December 2000)
These poisons are cumulative and are passed to the children of those exposed, causing autoimmune and behavioural disorders in childhood or infants born with abnormal reproductive organs due to endocrine disruption.
What is the Cancer Risk?
Over the decade and a half since the accident, the controversy has been raised and repeatedly silenced by reassuring statistics like the official risk assessment that stated, immediately after the accident, that there was no more than a “one in a million” cancer risk for those exposed to the PCBs on campus.
In 1994, however, EPA statistics for normal exposure to “typical” amounts of dioxins (present in air and food sources worldwide) gave a 1 in 1000 cancer risk. Current information from the EPA puts that risk at 1 in 10 – for “average” exposure to these toxins, and not for the levels still found in SUNY residences.
What Can Be Done?
Despite controversy, university and State officials do not admit to any real problem with the current or former levels of exposure in SUNY residence halls. About a thousand students live in the four PCB- and dioxin-contaminated residence halls each year, and countless more pass through, with no way to know how many are affected.
The only way to guarantee the health and safety of students and faculty would be to tear down these buildings and replace them - which might, in fact, have cost less than the $50 million spent over the last 16 years on “cleaning” the four residence halls and covering up the issue.
Author’s Note: I was alerted to the SUNY PCB hazard by Eris Francis and PlanetWaves’ coverage of the issue. For the sake of the students who may be moving into these residences in a few weeks unawares, please help spread awareness about this issue. See Eric Francis’ Press Release.
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