Updates daily at DioxinDorms.com
To contact Eric Francis Coppolino: Planet Waves office at (877) 453-8265
Media contact: Roberta Gilgore at (518) 248-5287.
email: newpaltz@planetwaves.net
At 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 20, 2007, in front of Gage Residence Hall, the producers of
DioxinDorms.com will be holding a news conference to launch their informational campaign for SUNY New Paltz students and families. Dioxin Dorms is published by the public interest website PlanetWaves.net. They will be joined by Jenna Dern, the president of the student group Synthesis, which is representing students on the environmental issues they face in their living space.
"There is no way to honestly say these dorms are safe," said Eric Francis Coppolino, the reporter who originally broke the story, and who continues to cover it to the present time. "To have the truth, students must be told that they are entering a space with an unknown risk to an individual. They have a right to know that risk exists."
He said that there are many places that data is missing because samples were never taken there -- and other data to indicate that additional tests are necessary.
"Administrators say that their tests prove the buildings are clean. But why won't they test the exhaust vents, the heating systems and the electrical outlets? They test where they are going to get good results, not where they're going to find the contamination."
He added, "Just because you can't see any dirt in the middle of the kitchen floor doesn't mean you swept behind the refrigerator. Unfortunately, dioxin is a lot more serious problem than dust on the kitchen floor."
"Testing takes time and costs money," explained Dr. Ward Stone, a toxicologist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, speaking Wednesday on Northeast Public Radio. "And also, [testing] may find something, so one could expect there may be resistance to that."
Dr. Stone helped Coppolino document widespread contamination of the Gage Hall vents in 1994, leading to the infamous "arm's length cleanup" of the building's exhaust ventilation system. Vents in Capen Hall have never been tested, and the vents in Bliss and Scudder halls have not been tested for more than 12 years, state documents reveal.
Further independent tests conducted by Coppolino in 2004 documented that the heat and the ventilation systems of Capen and Gage residence halls contained PCB contamination.
Last year, the Student Association Senate demanded testing of the vents and heat in all the dormitories involved in the 1991 PCB and dioxin incident. But over the summer, SUNY administrators and state health department officials have steadfastly refused to do testing, claiming it is not necessary because the dorms are safe.
