PCB and Dioxin exposure is unequivocally linked to cancer, infertility, birth defects, and a hots of other serious and terminal illnesses.

In 1968, PCBs and Dioxins contaminated rice bran oil in Japan in 1968. Twelve hundred people and their unborn children suffered liver damage, severely disfiguring acne, and birth defects in their children.

In 1991, seven transformers exploded on the SUNY New Paltz campus, causing PCB and Dioxin contaminated water to flow through Bliss, Capen, Gage, and Scudder Residence Halls, Parker Theater, and Coykendall Science Building. The cleanup required men in Level B protection hazmat suits (including air tanks) and infiltrated every porous surface in the buildings as well as the air vents and possibly the water supply in Coykendall Science Building (the water was never tested before allowing classes to resume). While the school, county, and state officials claimed the buildings were habitable, many gradute students developed various forms of cancer and experienced miscarriages after being placed back in the dorms.

PCBs and Dioxins need sunlight and micro-organisms to break down, which is not possible inside dorm building walls and vents. While the school initially placed a sealant over some of the contaminated surfaces to trap the toxin, the vents were left virtually untouched and sealant has not been reapplied to any of the other surfaces in over two decades.

Over the years, the issue has been swept under the rug, despite findings from independent testing as recently as 2007 that all of the vents were only cleaned as far as an arm could reach (which means students have been breathing in the harmful PCBs and Dioxins), and some areas (like a Capen laundry room vent and vents all throughout Gage) were never tested before allowing students to move back in. These tests have also found dangerous levels of the toxins in all of the buildings.

Former governors have done nothing to address this health hazard. Please petition Governor Andrew Cuomo to launch an investigation into the safety concerns at SUNY New Paltz dorms relating to this contamination.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/03/prweb109143.html

http://dioxindorms.com/content/content.html

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070504/NEWS/705040339

http://newpaltzpcbs.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

http://www.planetwaves.net/NewPaltz.Tour00.html

http://newpaltzpcbs.blogspot.com/

http://www.planetwaves.net/oracle.html