More than 160 people fear North Carolina State University building caused their cancer

More than 160 people diagnosed with cancer say they spent significant amounts of time in North Carolina State University’s Poe Hall, where carcinogenic compounds called PCBs were recently detected. WRAL’s Keely Arthur speaks with former students and staff demanding answers.

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[stailbail]

I am a European from Germany and can remember that in the mid-80s, during my apprenticeship as an electrician, we had to replace all the capacitors in the fluorescent lamps in our training center because they contained PCBs. Normally the architects know which building materials have been used, at least in Europe.

[lisakida]

My university still has abestos in the vents. Looks like older buildings need to be inspected

[posthocprior]

Is this the only building at NC State that has PCBs? If there are others, what are the cancer rates of those who work in those buildings? (I'm not trying to minimize or dismiss the suffering of those who have cancer, I just find it odd that, at a large, state university, there's only focus on one building.)

[RedEyeDeath]

Now I'm wondering if my university caused my cancer. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer two years ago. I graduated in 2020, but started experiencing symptoms since 2017.

[Hello_Haven]

PLEASE look into all the suicides at NC State as well, other illnesses and high rate of mental health struggles! There was a high rate of suicides last year at NC State, as well as much higher than average student count with mental health issues and much higher rate of students with other illness hormonal, metabolic, etc these chemicals are endocrine disruptors! This needs to be investigated. What if these chemicals are not only causing cancer, but ALSO impacting students health in other ways? There needs to be an investigation looking into student health at NC State! I have a feeling that this is the tip of the iceberg!

[facingthewind]

I’d think this is a lot more common than people realize…

[OatmealPancake-ejky]

i work on NCSU campus- my company rents one of their buildings near poe hall. Makes me nervous- they need to test ALL of these buildings!!

[james.telfer]

Err, you know the US still allows the use of ASBESTOS? PCBs in one building isn't your biggest concern.
Environmental protection in the US is a joke, the corporations own the law makers.

[SinCity]

Its not the university chancellor, its the building design itself and materials used to construct this building.

[vgair]

its not just there, hospital workers near trenton ga are dropping dead too

[PeterSramka]

I have a degree from NC State. I took a few (at least two) classes in this very building (Poe Hall) over 30 years ago. Fortunately, I was only in the building a few hours per week. I guess I got lucky since I never have been diagnosed with cancer.

[dixiemerchant]

Over the years I've heard other stories from time to time of this, where the building is associated with a particular cancer.

[dgonzalez]

3 of my coworkers died from cancer in a two year time frame. The first question I asked was there asbestos in the building. It was old. A supervisor said they did an “Internal” investigation. She said they found nothing?🤨

[wjb]

Glad I studied engineering and spent most of my time on Centennial in the newer buildings.

[et]

I do not understand why no one is doing a statistical analysis. What would happen if this same analysis was conducted on a confirmed “safe” building with a similar amount of people? Not reporting a p-value is irresponsible journalism.

[GodsSparrowSpeaks]

This is similar to the Yoga Studio in California built where there had been a radioactive item spill and many many women got cancer and died

So sad

[nghtwtchr]

OMG 😳, that’s the education building!

[bootsmadewalking]

May all who are effected find resolution, healing, and proper reparations for this.

[TheStuffKnw]

It will never be possible to trace individuals cancers to PCBs in Poe Hall. Science can't do that yet. What u can do is show the correlation between the PCBs there and the increased cancer rates of students who studied there. Then, convince a jury and judge. The university is unlikely to offer an compensation unless you double down and take them to court. Then if they are smart, they will settle.

[ashleykbarks]

My university has a building that still has asbestos. They don't want to tear it down because it has architectural value from the 60s. Hidsight is 20/20, but it'll take an army to make that building safe once they decide to remove the asbestos