NO MORE PCB�¢ï¿½ï¿½S: Leon Tulton, father of four-year-old daughter Adanna, calls on the Department of Education to assess all schools built between 1950s and late 1970s for PCB levels. (The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—As another school year begins, many parents are concerned about the level of the toxic chemical polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the city’s public schools.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., other officials, and about 30 concerned parents and their children joined together in front of the Tweed Courthouse in Lower Manhattan to call on the city’s Department of Education (DOE) to test all older public schools for PCB levels as soon as possible.

After an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study showed that three of New York’s schools contain PCB amounts far exceeding federal guidelines, the DOE removed some caulking and lighting fixtures containing PCB.

While applauding the first-of-its-kind study in the country, the advocates said that such “alarming” results from the study suggest that many of the city’s 1,500 other schools may also contain unsafe levels of PCBs.

“While the winds of PCBs begin to grow, we already know that these contaminates can lead to asthma and other respiratory illnesses,” said Diaz. “And in the Bronx we know a lot about asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory illnesses. And we know that PCBs can cause nerve damage, damage to the immune system, and cancer.”

PCBs were often used between the 1950s and late 1970s as coolants and insulating fluids for transformers and capacitors in early fluorescent light fittings, electrical transformers, and plasticizers in paints and cements.

The advocates said that testing all city schools would be expensive, but nevertheless very necessary.

“This is not only for my daughter’s school…but this is for all the schools in the five boroughs,” said Naomi Gonzalez, mother of 12-year-old Devin and seven-year-old Emelia, who attend P.S. 178 on Baychester Avenue in the Bronx, one of the three schools that were tested.

“I will continue to fight until the [department] does clean them up and make sure that our children are breathing clean air. All of them deserve to go to a public school where they are able to learn academics, but also be safe, breathe clean air,” added Gonzalez.

Another parent, Leon Tulton, said that although his four-year-old daughter Adanna is not in school yet, he wants her to be in a safe school when she goes to one.

“There are some [parents] like myself who don’t presently have any kids in the affected schools,” said Leon. “Now I could have said, ‘Oh well, this isn’t my problem because my kids aren’t in the schools,’ but the thing is that I’m a parent, and like many parents, we are here to protect our children.

“Regardless of whether it’s my biological child or someone else’s child, they are all my children and it is my job, just like it’s many other people’s job, to be there to protect our children,” Tulton added.

The EPA has already tested P.S. 199 in Manhattan, P.S. 178 in the Bronx, and P.S. 309 in Brooklyn. It is planning to test a school in Queens and a school on Staten Island next summer.

“What we want is the whole district to be checked,” said Miranda Massie, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest environmental justice program’s lead attorney. “We don’t think [pushing Staten Island and Queens tests to next summer] is reasonable. We don’t think there’s any good reason for that.”

State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal said that she has drafted a bill that requires the government to assess all schools built between the 1950s and late 1970s and will introduce it if the DOE does not take immediate action.

The DOE, which initiated a “pilot program” to assess PCB levels in schools, said that it is aware of parents’ concerns.

“This is an ongoing pilot—we don’t yet have final results of the testing and remediation that we are doing in the three schools this summer. And, while we understand parents’ concerns, the EPA has said that there is no immediate cause for alarm,” said Natalie Ravitz, press secretary for the city’s Department of Education.