Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08) congratulated the EPA and the City of New York for their agreement to study PCBs and reduce exposure to that noxious chemical which has been found in some New York City schools. This agreement will require the City to study and develop the safest and most effective practices and procedures for containing and remediating PCBs in school buildings. Today’s progress comes on the heels of more than two years of advocacy by Nadler, West Side community members, parents, elected officials and union members after PCBs were discovered in PS 199 in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“Today’s agreement is testimony to the many months of hard work by a committed coalition of advocates and community members on the West Side,” said Nadler. “I congratulate the EPA and the City for taking responsibility for PCB remediation in our schools. We can now feel safer in the knowledge that the appropriate officials are addressing the problem and will soon begin the process of carefully removing these dangerous chemicals from New York City school buildings. Parents should not have to fear that their children will be haphazardly exposed to PCBs when they drop them off at school each morning.”

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyl, are dangerous chemicals found in construction caulk and were banned in 1976 through the Toxic Substances Control Act. They have been proven to affect immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and, through prolonged exposure, can lead to cancer. Nevertheless, the chemicals are commonly found in caulk in windows and door frames of schools and other buildings built before 1976.

Click here to see the original letter sent by elected officials to the EPA in 2008.