Concerns raised on PCB’s effect on neurological development

Is the slow reading problem among students in Tanapag Elementary School related to the contamination of the village with the cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls?

This question was posed by Barbara Gilles, a 5th grade teacher at Tanapag Elementary School as she expressed concern on the learning problem there.

Currently, 30 percent of the 65 students in the 5th grade have a reading comprehension of a 2nd grade student and below. When she came to the CNMI in 1996, Ms. Gilles said she taught 5th and 6th grades where 30 percent are in Special Education. The total 6th grade class in 1997-1998 had 20 percent or more in Special Ed.

In the U.S. mainland, the average number of students under Special Ed is at 12 percent.

“This is a complex problem and low reading scores seem to be a concern islandwide as well as nationally,” said Ms. Gilles. She emphasized the importance of conducting a dialogue among parents, educators, students and the community as a whole in searching for solutions to this problem.

Tanapag residents have condemned the U.S. Army Corps for their failure to immediately carry out a cleanup of the village, when an unknown number of electrical capacitors containing 100 percent PCB oil were left by the U.S. military in the 1960s. They blamed the hazardous chemicals for the unusual diseases that have plagued the community as well as the destruction of the environment.

Said Ms. Gilles: “We need to find answers to the questions about PCBs. Has it played a role in our Tanapag children’s neurological development? Can a clinic and research program be set up to study the children and adults in Tanapag? Can adults, now age 25 or 30 who attended the Headstart program by the Church in Tanapag where the PCB canisters were located be studied? We are not looking for a scapegoat. We know we have to take responsibility. We want our questions treated with sensitivity but seriously.”

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, people exposed to PCBs for a long time have experienced irritation of the nose, lungs, and skin.

Experiments conducted in animals show that PCBs caused cancer as well as affected their immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.

Studies in humans have raised further concerns regarding the cancer-causing potential of PCBs.