Federal investigators spent months combing through decades of health records tied to North Carolina State University’s Poe Hall and still did not deliver the answer many people were hoping for. A new review from NIOSH stopped short of a clear link, with investigators saying they could not determine whether PCB contamination in the building caused an unusual pattern of cancer among people who worked there. The seven-story education and psychology building has been closed since November 2023 while the university and outside consultants test, plan remediation and try to respond to questions from dozens of former occupants. For many former staff and students who reported illnesses, the report’s lack of a definitive cause lands as another round of unsettling uncertainty.
According to a NIOSH report summarized by local media, investigators identified 111 cases of melanoma, breast cancer or non-Hodgkin lymphoma among roughly 4,660 people assigned to Poe Hall between 1995 and 2022. Because of latency rules, the agency included only 92 of those cases in its formal analysis. NIOSH began a Health Hazard Evaluation at Poe Hall in February 2024 and told reporters it was “unable to determine” whether PCB contamination caused the cancers. As reported by CBS17, the agency recommended that employees talk with their physicians about personal risk factors and appropriate screening.
What the federal review found
The federal analysis found melanoma counts at about twice what would be expected, with a particularly notable elevation among female employees. Breast cancer cases were higher than expected but not statistically different, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma numbers were similar to or below expectations. Local reporting has documented how dozens of former students and employees came forward with cancers, and how the Health Hazard Evaluation was paused, contested and later resumed, a sequence that has frustrated people looking for clear answers. WRAL reviewed records and correspondence that show the back-and-forth among NIOSH, state health officials and NC State.
Testing, PCBs and the cleanup plan
Independent testing and the university’s environmental consultant found PCBs in bulk materials inside HVAC ductwork and also detected PCBs on surfaces and in some air samples collected between 2018 and 2024. Those findings prompted plans to strip contaminated systems and rebuild the interior. Geosyntec’s technical analysis, released by NC State, reported very high concentrations in some materials even as most air measurements came in below EPA exposure thresholds. The full sampling results and remedial recommendations are laid out in Geosyntec’s report.
Legal fallout and claims
Former students, faculty and staff have filed a series of personal-injury lawsuits that allege illnesses tied to time spent in Poe Hall, and plaintiffs’ attorneys have sought independent testing and records. CBS17 and other local outlets have tracked those filings and the broader push for answers from the university and public-health agencies. Plaintiffs’ lawyers and NC State officials are now moving on parallel tracks, litigation and remediation, that are likely to continue playing out in courtrooms and laboratories for months to come.
NC State has filed a lawsuit against Monsanto seeking to hold the manufacturer responsible for PCB contamination and says it will continue remediation work to meet federal standards while the health review moves forward. The university has said NIOSH has restarted its Health Hazard Evaluation and that it will make federal findings public when they are available. NC State News outlines the school’s legal and cleanup strategy…