Older Window-Caulking Can Contain Hazardous PCB

Here is more environmental health information that can be passed on to your maintenance and construction staff.

• Did you know that schools build around 1960 to 1977 could have hazardous levels of PCB in the window caulking?
• Did you know that PCB in window caulking can volatize into your child’s classroom?
• Did you know that studies have found elevated blood levels of low chlorinated PCBs in children and teachers attending schools with PCB window caulking?
• Did you know that PCB can leak out of joint sealant on to the surrounding ground and to indoor air?
• Did you know that the PCB contaminated soil at the French Hill Elementary School in Yorktown Heights, New York, was due to window caulking?
• Did you know that a building at the University of Rhode Island was contaminated due to PCB in window caulking and other building materials?
• Did you know that construction workers who handle caulking material generally have no knowledge of its PCB content and may contaminate themselves and your child during the removal process?
• Did you know that the Stockholm Convention requires governments to take steps to reduce the release of PCB with the goal of their minimization and, where feasible, ultimate elimination?
• Did you know that PCBs can also be absorbed through the skin following contact with contaminated caulking, equipment, water, or soil?
• Did you know that schools are not mandated to test for PCB in window caulking?

More information can be found at www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/releases/press07202004.html or www.pcbinschools.org. This site also contains information about where you can have a sample of your school’s caulking analyzed.

(This article is from the June 2005 issue of NABCCCE News, an electronic newsletter to members of boards, commissions, and councils of Catholic education.)