In a move that could shape the future of campus environmental safety, a group of NC State students is pushing for expanded PCB testing across university buildings.
On Wednesday night, the North Carolina State Student Senate unanimously passed “The Campus Environmental Health and Safety Act,” a resolution that, among other things, calls on the university to test all campus buildings built before 1990 for PCBs.
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The resolution comes a little more than a year after NC State University closed Poe Hall due to PCB contamination.
The once-bustling academic building became infamous on campus in the fall of 2023 after a group of NC State employees battling breast cancer filed complaints with the state Department of Labor, the EPA and the university, demanding environmental testing of the building. The employees believed the building was potentially linked to their illnesses. The chemicals are deemed a human carcinogen by the World Health Organization.
Testing conducted in October 2023 and November 2023 revealed dangerously high levels of toxic PCBs in several parts of Poe Hall. Additional testing showed that every floor of the building contained hazardous levels of PCBs, found in dust, caulking, sealant, and air filters. On Nov. 22, 2023, NC State officially closed the building.
PCBs were banned in 1979 but were widely used in building materials such as paint, insulation, and sealants. Due to their resistance to breakdown, the chemicals can remain present in buildings for decades unless actively removed. Dr. Keri Hornbuckle, a professor and engineer at the University of Iowa, told WRAL News that PCBs are likely present in thousands of schools and municipal buildings.
Following the closure of Poe Hall, several other universities, including UNC Asheville, UNC Pembroke, and NC A&T, ramped up PCB testing. UNC Charlotte began testing all pre-ban buildings. It remains unclear whether NC State increased testing elsewhere on its campus. When asked for documentation on its PCB testing policy, the university did not provide specific guidelines.
A spokesperson from NC State told WRAL Investigates:
"NC State Facilities and Environmental Health and Safety teams maintain protocols for evaluating building materials for hazardous materials as part of routine renovation and repair work. If there are maintenance needs or if individuals express concerns, our facilities and environmental health and safety teams will evaluate them. The regulatory requirements regarding hazardous substance assessment, mitigation, and remediation guide our response."
However, there remains little regulatory oversight regarding PCB testing requirements at the state and federal levels. In most cases, universities or other institutions are not required to test buildings for PCBs.
Taquan Dewberry, the Student Student Senate President Pro Tempore, says that needs to change. Dewberry authored The Campus Environmental Health and Safety Act, which advocates for testing in all campus buildings at least 35 years old.
“A lot of people have been concerned about what happened at Poe Hall and how we are going to ensure it doesn’t happen in other buildings,” Dewberry said.
The resolution also asks the university to cover the cost of blood serum tests so that individuals who spent time in Poe Hall can check for PCB exposure.
By February 2025, more than 215 people who spent time in the building had reported cancer diagnoses to WRAL News, including breast, blood, skin and thyroid cancers. Dr. David Carpenter, an epidemiologist from the University at Albany who has authored more than 100 papers on PCBs, told WRAL Investigates that these cancers can be caused by PCB exposure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently investigating a possible connection between the toxic chemicals and the cancer cases.
NC State’s Chancellor Randy Woodson emphasized to students in a campus message from last fall that “Detection of a hazardous substance in a specific building material does not mean that people have been exposed to that substance.”
In 2018, before a renovation project, NC State tested the exterior of Poe Hall for PCBs, revealing dangerously high levels in the building's caulking. One sample measured more than 300 times higher than the EPA's safety threshold for human exposure. Experts like Dr. Robert Herrick, a scientist who studies PCBs, told WRAL that such high exterior concentrations should trigger interior testing, though no formal requirements exist.
Even though the resolution is passed, the university won’t be required to conduct the testing. However, a vote in favor sends a strong message to the administration and could lead to real change down the road.
Dewberry told WRAL News that of the more than two dozen resolutions he’s put forth, all have passed and been embraced by the university. When asked if the university would honor the student government’s wishes, a spokesperson said, “As is the case with any resolutions passed by our student leaders, the university will review it.”
“I think a thousand percent of students want to see something done,” Dewberry said.