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National expert on PCBs, University of Iowa engineering professor leading research on school exposure
Toxic chemicals likely in Iowa schools as researchers look to reduce risks
IOWA CITY — University of Iowa Engineering Professor Keri Hornbuckle was a key witness in a recent jury trial that led to an $857 million verdict against Monsanto, which manufactured toxic chemicals used for decades in schools and other buildings.
The verdict brings attention to the risks of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, releasing gases that can cause cancer and other illnesses.
But with thousands of public buildings built while the chemicals were being made in the 1930s through 1970s still in use, Hornbuckle and her team are more focused on helping school districts pinpoint PCB hot spots and find ways to affordably reduce the risks.
“These chemicals are nasty and they shouldn’t still be in our environment and they definitely should not be in schools, but yet, they are,” said Hornbuckle. “And so we can’t just give up. There’s a lot that can be done and we don’t need to feel like we’re helpless.”
PCBs are a family of 209 chemical compounds manufactured from 1929 until 1979, when they were banned in the United States. Because they are non-flammable, PCBs were used as insulation for electrical, heating and hydraulic equipment as well as added to paints, plastics and rubber products.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Americans started questioning whether human-made chemicals were making people sick. PCBs were some of the first chemicals banned by the Environmental Protection Agency, created in 1970.
“PCBs have been more studied than any other chemicals because they were used in such tremendous quantities in so many different environments,” said Hornbuckle, one of the nation’s leading experts on the compounds. “Many toxicology studies have shown they are related to many, many different kinds of diseases.”
Unlike asbestos, which can be sealed off to prevent toxic fibers from escaping into the air, PCBs diffuse their gases from solid building materials
A Washington state jury in December ordered Monsanto to pay five former students and two parent volunteers at Sky Valley Education Center, north of Seattle, $73 million in compensation and $784 million in punitive damages. The plaintiffs alleged PCBs from fluorescent light fixtures caused health problems including brain damage and autoimmune disorders, CBS News reported.
Monsanto is appealing.
Vermont studying PCBs in schools
On the other side of the country, crews in May started tearing down five high school buildings in Burlington, Vermont, that were discovered to have PCBs in building materials, reported Seven Days, a Vermont news outlet. Voters there approved a $165 million bond to replace the high school by 2025. Meanwhile, students have been going to school in a former Macy’s department store since 2021.
“Four years ago, when they discovered high levels of PCBs in their building, they didn’t know what to do,” Hornbuckle said. “After that, everyone says ‘What if my school is as bad as Burlington?’”
In June, the state of Vermont sued Monsanto, alleging the company knew the harmful effects of PCBs and continued to use the chemicals in building materials. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Vermont and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hired the Iowa Superfund Research Center, led by Hornbuckle, to try to pinpoint which school building materials were causing unsafe levels of airborne PCBs. Vermont is unusual in that its state health department set a level of PCBs above which would result in excessive risks for children.
By collecting hundreds of air samples on foam discs and later extracting the PCBs for study, UI researchers determined emissions from glass block windows exceeded those of all other surfaces, according to a study published in September.
Next, Hornbuckle wants to figure out which repairs or steps could be taken to bring PCB emissions down below the state standard.
“It’s possible — this is future research we hope to do — there’s some materials, like if you put a strip of metal tape over the PCB source, and you can shut down its emissions,” Hornbuckle said. “But just painting it might not work because they (gases) can diffuse through the paint.”
Because more than 50,000 U.S. schools were built during the peak use of PCBs, finding ways to isolate the off-gassing building materials and then remove them or fix them in place — without tearing down schools — is the best solution, she said.
What about Iowa schools?
Hornbuckle graduated in 1983 from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, which was built in 1956 and 1957. “I often think about my own likely history of PCB exposure,” she said.
Hornbuckle first learned to analyze for the chemicals when she was 23 and working as an analytical chemist after earning her bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College. She later went on to earn a Ph.D from the University of Minnesota.
UI researchers from 2012 to 2015 collected indoor and outdoor air samples at six schools, including a school in Columbus Junction, a city of 1,800 in Southeast Iowa, and schools in East Chicago, Indiana. Although none of the schools had PCB levels high enough to meet federal standards for immediate remediation, the study showed airborne PCB levels could be reduced by removing old caulk around windows and modernizing light fixtures.
Through this research, Hornbuckle and her team started to learn about the variability of PCB exposure.
“At Columbus Junction and at the other schools in Indiana, we noticed that school to school and room to room there are differences,” she said. “Now with the work in Vermont, we know there are even differences within a room. If you happen to be in a desk right next to caulking that’s loaded with PCBs, you’re going to get a bigger load than the kid whose desk is by the door.”
Hornbuckle would expect Iowa schools to vary, depending on design and materials used. “Some schools probably do have really high levels of PCBs and we do not know what those levels are,” she said.
She’d like to get to a place where school districts can identify which building materials are releasing PCBs and remove them or halt their off-gassing. When school districts want to remodel or tear down a building, they’d bring in specialized workers to remove the PCB-laden material safely — similar to what is done now for asbestos abatement.
“How much it’s going to cost is going to depend on methods of remediation,” she said.
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
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