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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2015 May 5;23(3):1975–1985. doi: 10.1007/s11356-015-4574-8

Table 1.

Surveys of PCB in building caulking and sealants

Location Buildings (number of
samples)
PCB concentration
(ppm) in detectable
samplesa
% positive for
PCB
Ref
Boston MA 24 Buildings constructed/ renovated in 1970s (24 samples) 0.56–32,600 54% Herrick 2004
Switzer-Land Buildings constructed 1950–1978 (1348 samples, number buildings not reported) 20–550,000 48% (multiple samples per building) Kohler 2005
Toronto Canada 95 Buildings total, 80 constructed 1945–1980 (95 samples) 570–82,090 14% overall (27% not including residential) Robson 2012
San Francisco Bay Area, CA 10 Buildings constructed/ renovated in 1970s (29 samples) 1–220,000 88% (multiple samples per building) Klosterhaus 2013
Denmark 27 schools (average 8–10 samples per building including sealant, adhesive, paint) 0.1 ->5000 ppm 78% >0.1 ppm

30%>50 ppm
Haven Woods Hole Massachusetts 2014 citing Langeland (in Danish)
a

in the cases of Kohler and Herrick, the PCB concentrations were calculated as the sum of congeners PCB-28, -52, -101, -138, -153, and -180 multiplied by a factor of 5; Haven/Langeland calculated total PCB as the sum of congeners PCB-28, -52, -101, -118, -138, -153 and -180 multipled by 5; total PCB reported by Klosterhaus was the sum of 40 congeners; Robson reported the sum of 83 congeners