NEW MALIBU TESTS SHOW ALARMING CLASSROOM CONTAMINATION-126 is the most toxic of all PCBs

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2014/10/17/new-malibu-tests-show-alarming-classroom-contamination/

For Immediate Release: Oct 17, 2014
Contact: Kirsten Stade [phone]

NEW MALIBU TESTS SHOW ALARMING CLASSROOM CONTAMINATION
Severe Health Risk from Most Toxic Form of PCBs in Stratospheric Concentrations

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 | Tags: California, Toxic Schools

Malibu — New testing in Malibu school facilities shows a significant exposure risk from the most virulent form of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in concentrations millions of times above health standards, according to EPA-certified laboratory results released today by Malibu Unites and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The groups are calling upon the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to immediately move students and teachers out of dangerous classrooms and into portable units.

PCBs are a family of more than 200 related chemical compounds, called congeners, some of which are orders of magnitude more toxic than total PCBs. Congener 126 is the most toxic of all PCBs, causing alterations in hormone production, disruptions in cellular processes, and altered gene expression.

The District had found the presence of congener 126 in their own November 2013 tests. Now, an EPA-certified lab re-ran independent samples from two rooms at the Malibu High School and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School that had high overall PCB levels reported by PEER and Malibu Unites in July. These new tests found the presence of congener 126 at 122 ppm and 57 ppm – up to more than three million times more toxic than the EPA health-based screening level guide.

“These new tests show a serious health risk that warrants direct and immediate action,” said Jennifer deNicola, President of Malibu Unites, who has been calling for comprehensive source testing, expedited remediation and for students and staff to be moved into portable classrooms. “The district has more than $100,000,000 in school renovation bond money ear-marked for health and safety, so there should be no reason for hesitation in employing a precautionary approach immediately by providing PCB-free learning environments for our students and staff. Our approach is reasonable and practical and puts students and staff’s health first.”

FULL story at link.

Look at latest test results
Malibu Middle and High Schools
Juan Cabrillo Elementary School

Read Malibu Unites letter

Learn about PCB congeners

Trace latest developments on Malibu sick schools

See primer on PCB health effects

[valerief]

1. Looks like this is a widespread problem.

http://www.pcbinschools.org/

[Duppers]

4. Thanks! Great info there. nt

[hunter]

2. Good grief. Portables are probably even more toxic.

Mold from leaks, condensation, and sloppy storage, emissions from adhesives, composite wood and plastic materials, rodent nests, etc., etc.

Have any Malibu school employees ever been assigned to a portable classroom or office? Has anybody looked into connections between this initiative and the PCB remediation or portable classroom industry?

No question, PCBs are very bad, but the mention of portable classrooms caught my eye. Portable classrooms tend to have a very distinctive chemical and mold odor and it isn't good.

[proverbialwisdom]

3. Thanks for the update.

Backstory: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10407178

[Duppers]

5. Thanks for that thread.

Good for Cindy Crawford, btw!

[Duppers]

6. Even closer to home: "Are You Safe on That Sofa?"

IF you want a case study of everything that is wrong with money politics, this is it.

... Citizens for Fire Safety has only three members, which also happen to be the three major companies that manufacture flame retardants: Albemarle Corporation, ICL Industrial Products and Chemtura Corporation.

...The problem with flame retardants is that they migrate into dust that is ingested, particularly by children playing on the floor. R. Thomas Zoeller, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts, told me that while there have been many studies on animals, there is still uncertainty about the impact of flame retardants on humans. But he said that some retardants were very similar to banned PCBs, which have been linked to everything from lower I.Q. to diabetes, and that it was reasonable to expect certain flame retardants to have similar consequences.

“Despite all that we have learned about PCBs, we are making the same mistakes with flame retardants,” he said.

...Arlene Blum, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, told me, “For pregnant women, they can alter brain development in the fetus.” Her research decades ago led to the removal of a flame retardant, chlorinated Tris, from children’s pajamas. But chlorinated Tris is still used in couches and nursing pillows (without any warning labels).

“The money is jingling,” notes Senator Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat of New Jersey. Lautenberg has introduced legislation, the Safe Chemicals Act, that would tighten controls — but it has gotten nowhere. ...A generation ago, Big Tobacco played the system like a violin, and now Big Chem is doing the same thing.

This campaign season, you’ll hear fervent denunciations of “burdensome government regulation.” When you do, think of the other side of the story: your home is filled with toxic flame retardants that serve no higher purpose than enriching three companies. The lesson is that we need not only safer couches but also a political system less distorted by toxic money.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/opinion/sunday/kristof-are-you-safe-on-that-sofa.html?pagewanted=print

[Octafish]

7. Endocrine Disruption

PCBs are chemicals that mimic body's hormones to cause disease.

http://enhs.umn.edu/current/5103/endocrine/harmful.html