Medical Doctors Respond

We the undersigned are both physicians and parents of Burlington High School students. Our training and experience in medicine and public health have taught us to balance the risks and benefits of any decision prior to making recommendations to patients and communities. Many of these decisions are weighty in terms of impact on health and quality of life.

As such, we were stunned by the one-sided assessment of the impact on PCBs on the Burlington High School community. As we have learned, the Vermont Department of Health recommended the PCB cutoff of 15 ng/m³, much lower than the more standard EPA recommendation of 600 ng/m³. To reiterate what was made clear in the townhall meeting on September 29th, 15 ng/m³ corresponds with a 1 in a million increased risk of developing cancer for an individual working for 30 years, 11 hours a day, 250 days of the year in buildings A-E. That type of exposure likely does not apply to a single individual in the BSDVT school system. For every million individuals with that type of long-term exposure, there would be one extra case of cancer. Case, not death.

On the other side of the risk equation, 970 students now find themselves without a school. Students sit in bedrooms alone, often turning to social media as their only source of connection to peers. This results in higher rates of risky behaviors including vaping, drinking, and other forms of drug use. Similarly, loneliness and social isolation can cause depression. This is real. We see it in our community, families, and in our medical practices. Schools provide a safe space for teens to interact with peers and allow caring adults to identify distraught students. The American Academy of Pediatrics includes this as one of the many reasons for schools to re-open this fall. Underlying any discussion of depression simmers a grimmer truth: depression can result in self-harm and suicide.

Failure to provide our teens with a school to call home will also increase the number of drop-outs. Individuals who do not graduate from high school face life long challenges earning a livable wage for themselves and their families. This is devastating and can result in a lifetime of poor health, as there is a clear relationship between poverty and diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

The highest price will be paid by vulnerable children. Reliance on remote learning during this crisis results in inadequate education that leaves our students at risk for serious mental health outcomes and long-term unrealized potential.

The only acceptable solution: returning students to in-person education as soon as possible. We hope to hear about your plans to achieve this critical objective.

Sincerely,

Alicia Cunningham, MD MPH

Janet Kirwan, MD FACC

Paul Crainich, MD

Steffen Hillemann, MD

Jennifer Dundee, MD

Eric Gorman, MD