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Despite the halted federal investigation, affected people and leaders like Gov. Josh Stein are expressing their intent to seek alternative avenues for investigation.
North Carolina State University Chancellor Randy Woodson released a statement this week announcing the federal government had ended its cancer cluster investigation into Poe Hall.
Woodson cited federal budget cuts.
The announcement was devastating to hundreds of workers and students battling cancer after spending significant time in the building on average, seven years.
Many of those who reported a cancer diagnosis to WRAL News were in their 20s, 30s and 40s, and had no family history of cancer.
When the university announced it was closing Poe Hall due to chemical contamination, they suspected the chemicals, PCBs, were to blame.
"It feels like everyone has given up on trying to figure out what happened," said a faculty member who asked to remain anonymous, fearing retaliation from the university.
PCBs were chemicals commonly used in building materials in the mid-20th century. The chemicals are now considered a known carcinogen by the World Health Organization.
The federal investigation into Poe Hall got off to a shaky start. Around the time NC State discovered the contamination in the fall of 2023, it asked National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH], a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], to conduct an investigation known as a Health Hazard Evaluation, or HHE.
By January, documents exclusively obtained by WRAL News showed the investigation had ended after the university quietly asked for it to be paused. The university reentered the investigation following public outrage and backlash, during which the university’s education department passed a vote of no confidence against Woodson.
In October 2024, NIOSH asked the state health department for information from the state’s cancer registry and the university for a list of everyone who had worked in Poe Hall since the ’90s. Typically, according to the CDC, HHEs take six to 12 months to complete—meaning the investigation into Poe was expected by many to be done by February 2024.
As the investigation was being done, hundreds of sick workers and alumni signed with a team of local law firms. The firms plan on suing the university and Monsanto. While the lawsuits could bring compensation, the HHE remained the third-party, impartial investigation looking into the cancer cases at Poe Hall. On Tuesday, that ended.
"I can’t believe it’s actually happening,” said NC State alum Christie Lewis.
Lewis was diagnosed with two types of cancer—sarcoma and thyroid—in her 20s after spending two years in the building. To date, 225 people who worked or studied in the building have reported to WRAL News that they developed cancer after being in Poe. Lewis and others who did not want to be named out of fear of retaliation from the university said they were heartbroken by the announcement but intend to push for the investigation to continue in some form.
While the HHE ended without conclusions, it's not the only path forward. In 2015, the North Carolina State Health Department launched its own investigation into a cancer cluster near Charlotte.
Private firms can also step in, though those studies often come with a hefty price tag. A WRAL investigation found NC State has already spent more than $823,000 on legal fees and building reports tied to Poe Hall.
Dr. Robert Herrick, a former Harvard professor and deputy director of NIOSH, said hiring a private firm could muddy the validity of the results and suggested that the HHE could restart if people speak up.
"I really think this can be reversed, if there’s enough pressure on Congress,” Herrick said.
The decision to end the HHE was criticized by North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, who called it “unacceptable.”
WRAL News reached out to the state health department and Stein’s office to see if there was any talk of handling the investigation at a state level.
When WRAL News asked NC State if it would finance a study, a spokesperson referred back to the chancellor’s statement. It did not address a future investigation.
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