PCBs

PCBs have been detected in the air from kitchen cabinets. Does it matter? Or is what inside the cabinets more dangerous. Answer: Neither.
A new study purports to link levels of chemical exposures to reduced response levels to bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine in infants. The authors fail to note that simply measuring two chemicals and finding some impairment in some function does not mean that the chemicals caused it.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of chemicals that were commonly used in electrical insulation and may be found in the window caulking of older buildings. Well-known supermodel, Cindy Crawford, is now taking issue with the presence of PCBs in the window
The always-brilliant Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry (among other things) at McGill University in Montreal, has hit another one out of the park as can be discerned from his latest Dr. Joe column in the Montreal Gazette. Dr. Schwarcz is one of the great skeptics and rebutters of junk-science scares, especially those based on the often-intentional misinterpretation of chemistry. This time he takes on the hot button issue of PCBs.
Executive Summary The environmental movement cut its eyeteeth on the controversy over polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which first came to public attention in the 1960s. PCBs were once widely used in industrial applications, particularly as electrical insulating and heat-exchange fluids. Concern over possible adverse effects on the environment and human health, however, resulted in the prohibition of PCB production in the U.S. and most other industrialized countries.