Ginette Sosa’s daughter used to get such severe headaches in the cafeteria of the Bronx New School, PS 51 that eventually she started refusing to go to lunch.

So Ms. Sosa was extremely alarmed when officials determined that PS 51’s building, at 3200 Jerome Ave., contained levels of the toxic chemical trichloroethylene that exceeded state guidelines by up to 10 times the legal limit, particularly in the air of the cafeteria and basement. 

Now, she wants answers. And she is not alone. Families and staffers want to know how long they, or their children, were exposed to the chemical, what the potential health effects are and what they can do to prevent possible illness.  

But experts from the city’s Department of Health, as well as a scientist who studies trichloroethylene, said answers could remain elusive indefinitely because the Department of Education waited decades to test the building and, after officials detected the toxin, didn’t inform parents for months. 

The DOE is unsure how long students and staff were exposed because officials waited 20 years to test the site, which was used by a lighting manufacturer and was formerly listed as one of the city’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act sites, meaning it housed or produced hazardous waste. And when officials confirmed in February that TCE was present in the building, they waited six months to tell families. By the time parents were informed in August, school was already out, making it impossible to test for the chemical, which leaves the body in a matter of weeks.

 Trichloroethylene, or TCE, is a colorless, sweet-smelling liquid that is primarily used to remove grease from metal parts. Exposure can result in dizziness, headaches, confusion, euphoria, facial numbness, weakness, developmental issues, cancer (particularly in the liver) and death, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.