Editor’s note: This commentary is by Deborah Messing, of Montpelier, who is retired as the wine and cheese buyer at Hunger Mountain Co-op.
I sympathize with the voices of Burlington parents and students who are calling for the reopening of Burlington High School. It is distressing, for sure, to be deprived of the educational and social experiences that only an in-person school situation can provide.
Especially this year, the year of the pandemic, when there have already been enough stressors to go around, and then some.
When I first heard about this, I started to do some research on my own, once I realized that schools built between the 1950s and the 1970s could potentially be contaminated with PCBs.
The two schools my daughter attended — Rumney in Middlesex and U-32 in East Montpelier — were both built during those years. So I am interested to find out if she and other students, teachers and staff were exposed to this serious contaminant.
I learned that PCBs were used in a wide variety of products including transformers and capacitors and other electronic components, pesticides and flame retardants; in schools, mainly in caulking and around fluorescent light fixtures.
Production was banned in the 1970s due to its high toxicity. They do not break down in the environment and accumulate in animals’ bodies. PCBs have been implicated in epidemiological studies as a cause of diverse neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, learning disabilities, sensory deficits, developmental delays and mental retardation, as well they are a probable carcinogen.
Tom Buck, a parent of a student at BHS, is quoted in the Burlington Free Press as saying he “felt he didn’t have enough information to make well informed decisions for his family.” I would respectfully suggest that he dive into some research readily available online.
The most useful publication I found, and the one that I am recommending for anyone interested — students, teachers, parents administrators, politicians, and health professionals — is this:
“The ABCs of PCBs: A Toxic Threat to America’s Schools” was written in October 2016, which makes it fairly current. It goes into great detail, but is not over the heads of non-scientists, like myself.
Another fascinating source of information is the link mentioned by Sara Voce, state toxicologist, which summarizes three studies from 2009 ,which connect exposure to PCB and neurological development.
In the summary of the first study, Isaac N. Pessah, professor of molecular biosciences, director of the UC Davis Center for Children’s Environmental Health and co-author of all three studies., writes:
“We’ve never really understood the mechanism by which PCBs produce neurobehavioral problems in children. With these studies we have now shown how PCBs alter the development and excitability of brain cells. And that could explain why PCBs are associated with higher rates of neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders,”
In another study, Pamela Lein, lead author of the Environmental Health Perspectives animal study and a UC Davis associate professor of molecular biosciences, reports that PCBs are altering dendritic growth and plasticity, which have been implicated in many neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, schizophrenia and mental retardation, she said.
“Dendritic plasticity is important to how we process information and, when you perturb that, you interfere with complex behaviors like learning and memory,” Lein said.
I would also suggest the possibility that although other countries might have lower standards than ours, perhaps Vermont could be a leader in supporting higher standards as research has supported the idea that even low levels of exposure can be seriously harmful. Reading these studies helps me understand why Vermont chose to have higher standards than other places which might not have incorporated the results of these studies in their decisions.
Furthermore, I would remind Vermonters that under the guidance of our state health department, Vermont has been the envy of the country, if not the world, in controlling the Covid-19 virus. Personally, I would defer to its judgment, even if it meant more personal sacrifices in the short run.
I suggest this in the spirit of encouraging dialogue among all the interested parties. Everyone already has the common goal of returning kids and teachers to a safe environment as soon as possible. And if everyone could educate themselves, even to a limited degree, then they would also have in common a baseline of research and information to build on.
And to the students who feel that have been overlooked in the discussion, I applaud you for asking to be involved. I would also suggest that you dive into all this research. It is a fascinating subject that involves scientific research, public policy, and health effects of contaminants in our world — all of which now affect you personally. You can influence the discussion, and the more educated you are, the more effective your voice will be!
Addendum: New Hampshire filed suit on Tuesday, Oct. 27, against Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, asking for damages to pay for a sampling program for PCB contamination in soil, water, fish, wildlife and public buildings.
Assistant Attorney General Allan Brooks said, “The state is working with new evidence, including some recently uncovered in similar suits, that shows Monsanto covered up the toxic effects of PCBs on humans and wildlife.”Given the huge expense predicted for testing and possible remediation in Vermont schools built during the time PCBs were used in construction, joining N.H. in this lawsuit could provide the funds to pursue these projects.
