Deborah Messing: Halting PCB tests in our schools is a dangerous idea

By Opinion

Apr 15 2023April 13, 2023

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This commentary is by Deborah Messing, a resident of Montpelier.

On March 30, the Vermont House approved H.486, which would put on hold a state initiative to test school buildings for PCBs — polychlorinated biphenyls — until a task force could integrate testing with "longer term plans for our aging schools." As of April 6, this bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee.

I am writing to strongly urge the Senate to vote down this bill as introduced and continue with the testing as planned.

PCBs, a class of chemicals first mass-produced by Monsanto in the 1930s, were widely used in caulking and sealing compounds in schools built between 1950 and 1979, when they were banned by the federal government. Designed to be used in paints, glues, plastics, fluorescent light ballasts, transformers, ceiling tiles, window glazing, and spray-on fireproofing, they were fire-resistant and chemically stable.

However, this chemical stability has also created a huge environmental risk, resulting in hundreds of millions of pounds of PCBs remaining in the environment indefinitely. Over time, the materials break down, releasing the chemical into the air — toxic air that students, staff and faculty may breathe in for years.

In Vermont, there are 378 schools that were built or renovated during this period. According to the Agency of Natural Resources, last updated as of Feb. 2, 21 schools had been tested. Of these, seven out of 21 have contaminated spaces, and two require "immediate action," a category designated by the Vermont Department of Health.

Multiple studies have shown that airborne PCBs are neurotoxic, act as endocrine disruptors, and affect the reproductive system. Other effects include increased risk of stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Prenatal exposure to PCBs may also affect the fetus. As of 2018, over 75 percent of Vermont educators were women, many of child-bearing age.

The promise made by Monsanto to improve the lives of "generations to come" due to the virtual indestructibility of PCBs instead became a terrible legacy passed down from generation to generation.

We now face a choice here in Vermont as to whether we want to take the risk of passing along this legacy to yet another generation. Those not in favor of pausing the testing include Dr. Mark Levine, the Vermont health commissioner, who testified that reevaluating and redesigning the PCB program while it's already underway would be a waste, while immediately reducing health risks to students and staff is a priority.

Those who favor pausing point to the potential high costs associated with remediation, and to the disruption involved.

But isn't our primary societal responsibility to protect the health of our citizens? Every day the testing is delayed increases the risk in these schools.

Furthermore the financial burden of remediation can be lessened significantly in at least two ways:

Precedents exist for this path forward. To name a few:

—In 2005, Yorktown Central School District in New York was the first school district to sue Monsanto for remediation costs relating to PCBs. This suit was settled out of court when Monsanto paid $15 million to the school district.

—In 2021, three schoolteachers from Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington, who sued Monsanto, were awarded $185 million. Their suit alleged that they suffered brain damage from exposure to ballasts in fluorescent lights leaking PCBs during the period 2011 to 2016.

—In February 2022, New Hampshire was awarded a $25 million settlement in its lawsuit against Monsanto, alleging that the company internally acknowledged as early as 1937 that PCBs "produce systemic toxic effects upon prolonged exposure."

—On Dec. 15, 2022, Bayer announced a $698 million settlement with Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who sued Monsanto for polluting the state with PCBs for 90 years.

—In early October 2022, two former Burlington High School educators filed a federal lawsuit, one alleging reproductive issues and the other neurological damage, both from exposure to PCBs. And in December 2022, the Burlington school district filed suit for damages as well.

And finally, an important advantage of proceeding with testing as scheduled is the simple fact that the results would be promptly available to those potentially affected. Wouldn't you as a parent want to know the results of testing your kid's classroom as soon as possible?

For a deeper dive into these issues, I would recommend reading a recent report written by students and professors at Dartmouth College, "PCB Testing in Vermont Public Schools," which was presented to the Vermont House Committee on Education, containing up-to-date research and recommendations.