Possible Colonia High Toxins Discussed At Woodbridge BOE Meeting

WOODBRIDGE, NJ - The new finding of possibly high levels of cancer-causing chemicals at Colonia High School was discussed at Thursday night's Woodbridge school board meeting, which you can watch here.

Woodbridge schools superintendent Dr. Joseph Massimino started off the meeting by saying he met this past Monday with the parent who did her own testing, and said she found high levels of cancer-causing toxins at the high school.

Testing will likely now begin for a second time at Colonia High School, Massimino said Thursday night.

However, a date has not been given for when testing will begin.

The parent is Edyta Komorek, who works as an environmental scientist and has two children at Colonia High School, who she has since taken out of the school.

Over the past month, Komorek collected dust, window caulk and soil samples at the high school and did her own independent testing on those samples. Her results back positive for high levels of PCBs and other chemicals, all of which are carcinogenic. Komorek did her own testing after 1989 Colonia High School grad Al Lupiano said last spring he found 121 cases of brain cancer in Colonia grads, and theorized there could be environmental toxins at the high school that caused all the cancer cases.

However, after Lupiano made his claims, the Woodbridge school district and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection paid for testing to be done at the high school over a period of several weeks last April and May. The DEP said they did not find high levels of any contaminants in the soil or air at the high school.

But Komorek appeared on "Good Morning America" this week and she said she was unconvinced by the state's findings. Komorek also said she took her own two daughters out of Colonia High School in light of her findings.

"I think that air testing should be done immediately to determine whether or not there are hazardous levels of those chemicals in the indoor air," Komorek told "Good Morning America" Wednesday.

“I just felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions regarding the school,” Komorek told NJ Advance Media this week. “I didn’t feel that my kids were safe there until actual soil, groundwater and air samples were collected — and nobody wanted to do it.”

Superintendent Massimino also said Thursday night the school district has informed Woodbridge Township and the state departments of Health and Environmental Protection about
Komorek's findings. An environmental consultant has been hired by the town, and that consultant is developing a testing plan to begin testing anew at the high school, said Massimino.

"I immediately notified the town, which in turn notified the New Jersey Department of Health and Department of Environmental Protection," said Massimino. "They are reviewing the information and will issue guidance and recommendations in the upcoming days."

"Ultimately, we all want answers right away," said Massimino. "But it will take some time to receive results and analyze them. I would like nothing more than to get (answers) as quickly as possible. But the plan must be comprehensive; the testing must be guided by experts and patience will truly be a virtue."

Related: Woodbridge: No Cancer-Causing Radiation Found At Colonia High School (May 2022)