EPA to Inspect New York City Classrooms for PCBs

By DEVLIN BARRETT
In an escalating dispute with New York City education officials, federal authorities say they will soon begin inspecting classrooms for PCB contamination because the city is downplaying the potential danger to children.
The city, in turn, said that if the Environmental Protection Agency gets what it wants, it will cause 15,000 teacher layoffs.
The EPA notified the city's Department of Education last week that it doesn't agree with the city's claim that the PCB-contaminated material poses no immediate threat to students or school staff. The EPA also challenges the city's estimate that it would cost $1 billion to replace the aging fluorescent lighting fixtures that are the chief suspects of PCB contamination in schools.
The EPA has recommended the city immediately begin removing the older fixtures suspected of leaking PCBs, or polychlorinated byphenyls, a potentially cancer-causing chemical linked to numerous other health problems, including reproductive and immune disorders. PCBs were often used in construction and electrical components starting in the 1950s, but were banned in 1978.
The city contends there is little scientific evidence to show that inhaled PCBs like those in the schools pose an immediate health risk.
Judith Enck, the EPA's regional administrator in New York, notified the city by letter that as long as it resisted efforts to quickly replace the suspect lighting fixtures, the EPA would send its own personnel into schools to inspect light fixtures. The inspections are planned to begin early next month.
Ms. Enck chided the city for not taking action, saying other school systems around the country are removing light fixtures with PCBs. She criticized the city's $1 billion estimate for the work, saying her agency has "no understanding of how this figure was arrived at,'' particularly since a 2008 city estimate said it would cost $1.2 billion to remove the lights in all city-owned buildings, not just the schools.
Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Education, said that such light fixtures exist in schools and buildings around the country, yet New York "is the only school district in the nation that the EPA is threatening with an enormous unfunded mandate. We are working with the Obama administration to find solutions that do not impose a $1 billion unfunded mandate on city taxpayers that would force 15,000 teacher layoffs.''
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D., Manhattan), who has criticized the Bloomberg administration for not moving quickly, praised the EPA Monday for addressing "an issue of immediate concern, which does pose very real health risks in the here and now.''

Possible Toxins in Perfumes

Even high-end perfumes are made with cocktails of dangerous and untested chemicals that may produce problems from allergies to hormone disruption, a study by the Environmental Working Group and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has found.The Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1973 explicitly exempts manufacturers of cosmetics and personal care products from having to disclose any of the ingredients used to give fragrance to their products, as long as "fragrance" is listed in on the label. This lack disclosure becomes particularly dangerous when combined with a large-scale lack of data on the safety of these compounds; neither the FDA nor any publicly accountable organization has ever tested the majority of fragrance compounds for safety as ingredients in personal care products.Upon request from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the Environmental Working Group sent 17 brand-name perfumes to be tested by the independent laboratory Analytical Sciences. Thirteen of the perfumes had been purchased in the United States, and four had been purchased in Canada.Researchers uncovered 40 different chemicals in the perfume samples, in addition to the 51 listed on product labels. Of the 40 ingredients found, only two were listed on the label of every product containing them; the other 38 were unlisted on at least one of the 17 labels.Each product contained roughly equal numbers of listed and unlisted chemicals, averaging 14 secret chemicals per product. Products including more than the average number included Britney Spears Curious (17), Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio (17), Chanel Coco (18) and American Eagle Seventy Seven (24). The average perfume contained 10 known allergens that can trigger reactions from asthma to headaches to contact dermatitis. Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio contained the most known allergens, at 19.Even more seriously, researchers uncovered 10 chemicals known to disrupt the hormonal (endocrine) system, with each perfume containing an average of four. The perfumes Halle by Halle Berry, Quicksilver and Jennifer Lopez J. Lo Glow all contained seven different endocrine disruptors -- six estrogen mimics and a thyroid disruptor.Among the endocrine disrupting chemicals were sun-blocking chemicals, the synthetic musks Galaxolide and Tonalide and diethyl phthalate (DEP). Galaxolide and Tonalide, which have been shown to accumulate in human and animal bodies, were found in more than eight of the products. DEP was found in 12 products in concentrations from 30 to 30,000 parts per million, the latter in Eternity for Women. It has been linked to reproductive defects in male infants, sperm damage in men and, more recently, hyperactivity in children.Other perfume ingredients are known to react with indoor air to form formaldehyde, ultrafine particles and other pollutants. These dangerous fragrance chemicals are also found in air fresheners, shampoos, lotions, bath products, and dishwashing and laundry detergents.Yet because the FDA has no authority to force fragrance manufacturers to test their products for safety, vast numbers of such chemicals remain unknown quantities. Only 19 of the 91 ingredients in the study have ever been tested for safety by the industry-funded Cosmetic Industry Review, and only 27 have ever been tested by either the International Fragrance Association or the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials. Of the unlabeled ingredients found, only 34 percent have had safety assessments published. While industry sources may claim that more ingredients than these have been tested, many have only been tested in non-cosmetic contexts, for example as food additives. And even evaluated chemicals remain untested in combination with the many other chemicals thrown in to cosmetics and other products to produce the vague legal category of "fragrance."With no requirement for either safety testing or labeling, there is simply no way for consumers to know what lies behind that term.Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030635_perfumes_toxic_chemicals.html#ixzz17M7keP00