(UPDATE: Though we've not yet had a chance to review it, here is a PDF copy of the official complaint - not yet including exhibits.)

(UPDATE II: Complaint now also available for download with exhibits)

While we're working to obtain a copy of the official complaint, here's what we know so far:

• On July 4, 2009, Laura J. Jones, through her attorneys, filed a lawsuit against the the federal government claiming that her health problems, including non-hodgkins lymphoma, resulted from toxic water at Camp Lejeune. A nice touch, we think, filing suit against the government on Independence Day.

• The suit was filed under authority of the Federal Tort Claims Act. The act allows citizens to sue the federal government in court for money based on "personal injury or death caused by caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government." (28 U.S.C.A. § 1346(b))

• The official title of the case is Laura J. Jones v. United States of America, case number 7:2009cv00106 7:09-cv-00106-BO.

• The case was filed in the Eastern District Court of North Carolina and was assigned to Judge Terrence W. Boyle.

• The case is filed on behalf of Jones as a single plaintiff with additional cases expected to be filed in the future. No news on whether a class action filing is expected.

• According to a news report from NBC17 in North Carolina:

  The suit says the government knew for at least five years that chemicals such as tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, dicloroethylene, vinyl chloride and benzene contaminated the water supply in high doses, but let the wells stay open.

  Lawyers say the toxic water led to cancer and other health problems.

  [...]

  The suit contends that if the military had followed its own regulations that had been in place since the 1950s, the contamination would not have happened.

• According to a CBS News 9 report, Jones lived on the base from 1980 to 1983 and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma 20 years later.

• Jones's case will rely, in part, on military documents that outline the military's policy for maintaining a safe water supply.

• Jones currently lives in Iowa and suffers from fibromyalgia and immune disorders. She was not well enough to attend the Monday's press conference announcing the lawsuit.

Below is a video containing excerpts from the press conference, provided courtesy of NBC17:

Prior to 1950, [TCE] was known as dangerous and poisonous in occupational settings involving sustained exposure to high concentrations of TCE, but specific adverse health effects resulting from chronic exposure were not generally understood. Prior to 1950 it was generally known that TCE was not fit to consume and that it should not be in a water supply. The defendant [Air Force] was or should have been aware that substances such as TCE should not be in a water supply.

[...]

Prior to 1950, it was common knowledge that groundwater could be polluted and that the pollution could travel great distances from the site of the original contamination. Further, it was generally known prior to that time that percolation, a process by which substances disposed of would leach into the underlying groundwater, could occur and that groundwater needed to be protected from deleterious leachates.

The appropriate standard of care in waste disposal in the 1950s was to treat TCE as a hazardous substance in disposing of the contaminant so as not to pollute groundwater.

And that number appears to be climbing. From today's St. Petersburg Times:

Scientists studying drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune were startled when 11 men with breast cancer and ties to the North Carolina base were identified over the last two years.

Six more have been found in one week.

Five additional men with breast cancer and a sixth who had a double mastectomy after doctors found precancerous tumors contacted the St. Petersburg Times last week after reading a story about the 11 men with the rare disease.

"This male breast cancer cluster is a smoking gun," breast cancer survivor Mike Partain said on Friday. "You just can't ignore it. You don't need science to tell you something is wrong. It's common sense. It begs to be studied."

[...]

Male breast cancer is exceedingly rare. Just 1,900 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year compared with nearly 200,000 women, the American Cancer Society says.

A man has a 1-in-1,000 lifetime chance of getting the disease.

Men who get it are often over 70, though it is rare even in older males. Of the 17 men identified by Partain and the Times, just three are over 70 — the youngest was Partain at 39 — and many have no family history of breast cancer, male or female, according to interviews.

[...]

If you or a family member lived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and have been diagnosed with male breast cancer, the St. Petersburg Times is interested in talking to you. Please call reporter William R. Levesque at (813) 269-5306 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 5306.

Anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune in 1987 or before can register with the Marine Corps for a health survey. To register or to get more information, visit https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/ or call (877) 261-9782.

Partain's comment refers to a highly-questionable report proffered recently by the National Academy of Sciences which ignored significant available evidence and reached suspiciously preposterous conclusions including, amongst others, that further study of the poisoned population at Camp Lejeune should be both limited and discounted.

Read the full story here.

From The McDowell News (NC) approximately one month ago:

For over a year now, McDowell County's Omar McCourry has been digging into the history of Old Fort industry and of environmental protection in the community.

Spurred by the tragic death of his brother, Curtis, to brain cancer in 2004, he learned that his brother's illness was not unique in Old Fort, despite the condition's relative rarity among the greater population.

Word of mouth led him to suspect that an alarming number of folks in Old Fort had succumbed to the same illness. He has been lobbying public health officials to investigate ever since.

[...]

In 1989, more than 100 barrels of industrial waste were located buried on the site of the former Old Fort Finishing. These were excavated and found to contain dozens of chemicals as well as metals including lead, mercury, arsenic. EPA documents McCourry obtained said that 70 of the barrels had been crushed or decayed when they were unearthed.

The article notes that residential well water samples have detected TCE and PCE at levels exceeding federal safety thresholds for at least 20 years. The article fails to mention that scientists and health agencies worldwide have long-since established that TCE and PCE are neurotoxic and cause cancer.

Not only do local health officials appear typically disinterested, but a local Senator has decided to participate in what feels like an ongoing, nationwide charade:

As McCourry had been told when he brought his findings to the attention of state authorities, in any given population group, if they live long enough, a great number of them would be diagnosed with cancer. It is very difficult, they said, to identify a "cluster" of cancer cases that might indicate a pattern, or implicate an environmental toxin.

Senator Joe Sam Queen echoed that theme in his comments to The McDowell News.

"Cancer is a condition that touches every family eventually," he said. "We are all interested in a situation that may involve or jeopardize the health of children.

Translation: People die, suck it up.

The Senator's comment is one that we hear frequently, and it remains a transparent excuse for inaction. The Senator and local/state health officials should give this matter the attention it deserves rather than idly hiding behind their stuff happens party line.

Edit: Thanks to Jill for the tip.

Statement in response to National Research Council report on Camp Lejeune:

We are disappointed and dismayed at the report titled, “Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune – Assessing Potential Health Effects,” released by the National Research Council (NRC) on Saturday, June 13, 2009. This report was two years in preparation by scientists, many of whom we know and respect, that reached puzzling and in some cases erroneous conclusions. We are aware of the complex situation regarding availability and access to data, and each of us has participated in committees advising the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) about how to move forward with health studies. It is our view that the Marines and their families who were exposed to dangerous chemicals in the Camp Lejeune drinking water over several decades deserve to know if this exposure has had an effect on their health. The most direct way to assess this is to conduct valid epidemiologic studies of those who lived or worked there, and we urge ATSDR to continue their efforts to carry these to conclusion. The overall judgment about the impact of the chemicals on health can then be informed both by the general scientific literature the NRC reviewed, plus findings from directly relevant studies of the exposed population.

Specific areas where we disagree with the NRC report include their assessment of the water distribution modeling, their assessment of the risk caused by exposure to two of the principal contaminants (TCE and PCE), and the likelihood of conducting meaningful epidemiologic studies in this setting. We view the water modeling undertaken by ATSDR and its consultants as “state-of-the-art” and worth carrying through to completion so that it can be used in the on-going and proposed health studies. There may be uncertainties about specific levels of exposure for individual households or people, but these can be described in the study results. We also agree with the National Toxicology Program that TCE and PCE are “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens” and reject the characterization of the evidence as “limited/suggestive” as presented in the NRC report. We note that this characterization of solvent mixtures actually steps back from previous work done by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in 2003. Finally, we disagree with the thrust of the NRC report that it is unlikely that scientifically informative epidemiologic studies of the Camp Lejeune population can be done. The NRC doubts that “definitive” answers can come from any study, but this sets the bar too high – no one study can provide definitive answers, and all studies must be considered in the light of other scientific evidence. From our experience in other settings, we believe that useful studies of the Camp Lejeune population are possible and furthermore that the Marines and their families deserve our government’s best efforts to carry them out.

For these reasons, we urge the ATSDR to consider this particular NRC report in the context of other expert advice they have received during the past decade and the competent work already done by agency staff. Since the NRC report is at such variance with the recommendations of other water modeling and epidemiologic experts, we believe it should not stand as the final word.

Sincerely,

Ann Aschengrau, Sc.D., Professor, Associate Chair of the Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health

Richard Clapp, D.Sc., MPH, Professor, Boston University School of Public Health

David Ozonoff, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health

Daniel Wartenberg, Ph.D., Professor, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Scholar in Residence, Ithaca College

HAGAN WANTS A CONCLUSION TO THE ONGOING CAMP LEJEUNE WATER CONTAMINATION ISSUE

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - US Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) issued the following statement reacting to a new National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study on water contamination at Camp Lejeune. The study, released Saturday, concludes that while there was water contamination at the Jacksonville Marine base, additional research is "unlikely to determine conclusively whether Camp Lejeune residents were adversely affected by exposure to water contaminants." Hagan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been very active in working to determine whether the Navy and Marine Corps should have handled water contamination at Camp Lejeune differently.

"The NAS study released Saturday is simply a review of previous scientific literature on hydrocarbon solvents, reports on Camp Lejeune water contamination, and published epidemiologic and toxicological studies," said Hagan. "However, it failed to take into account the conclusions of previous epidemiological studies that found an association between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exposures and childhood leukemia, and presents some direct contradictions to the EPA's maximum containment levels of VOCs in drinking water. Moreover, the NAS study barely mentioned benzene and vinyl chloride and severely downplays the established links between adverse health effects and exposure to VOCs that were present in the water at Camp Lejeune. For these reasons, I cannot stand behind the validity of the NAS study.
The NAS study neglected to address key historical documents, also omitted in previous studies, regarding verified high levels of benzene found in an operating well on July 6, 1984 in the Hadnot Point water system and the 1979 leak of 20,000-30,000 of fuel at the near-by Hadnot Point fuel farm.

"The resolution of this issue cannot be held hostage to additional scientific studies that may not tell us anything more than we already know. The time has come for Congress, the Department of the Navy, and the Marine Corps to work together to develop a plan to resolve the longstanding issue of water contamination at Camp Lejeune. We already know that exposure to VOCs in drinking water is linked to adverse health effects," Hagan continued. "While it is important that we allow the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to complete its water modeling simulation and pending epidemiological studies for personnel and residents affected at Camp Lejeune, ongoing work on these simulations and studies need not foreclose action by Congress and the administration to reach an appropriate resolution."

Last week, Hagan sent a letter to the Navy along with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) asking 14 detailed questions to determine if there was prior knowledge of TCE (trichloroethylene), PCE (perchloroethylene), benzene, and vinyl chloride in the water supply before the wells were shut down. The Navy and Marines Corps have until June 25th to respond. Hagan and Burr plan to meet with the Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to address these questions and the conclusions of the NAS study before August.

The available scientific information does not provide a sufficient basis for determining whether the population at Camp Lejeune has, in fact, suffered adverse health effects as a result of exposure to contaminants in the water supplies.

[...]

[T]hese limitations cannot be overcome with additional study. Thus, the committee concludes that there is no scientific justification for the Navy and Marine Corps to wait for the results of additional health studies before making decisions about how to follow up on the evident solvent exposures on the base and their possible health consequences.

After graduating from Florida State University with a journalism degree, William J. P. Smith, Jr. served in the USMC from 1956 until 1959, stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC, the majority of the time with the Globe as sports editor and acting editor of the largest Corps newspaper at the time. While there, he married, residing at the trailer park on the base and later in Midway Park, while fathering two girls.

In 1994, Bill was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had a radical modified mastectomy with 30 lymph nodes removed from his left side. He was treated with Tamoxifin for five years, and has had no reoccurance. It should be noted that there was no history of any kind of cancer in the Smith family. His former wife and two girls have had no symptoms of the disease.

On behalf of women, Bill has been a fund raiser and is the subject of two books, Living with Breast Cancer, the Story of 39 Women and One Man by Perry Colemore and Lisa Adelsberger, and Messages from Somewhere, Inspiring Stories of Life After 60 by Harriet May Savitz. He has also written an autobiographical screenplay on his experience. The irony of all of this is that Bill was part of the team at Xerox Corporation that introduced xeroradiography for the early detection of breast cancer in 1969 at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit. Every once in a while, he takes the press kit from his library shelf and shares it with his students, who find it hard to believe that men can contract the horrific disease.

Today, Bill resides in Tallahassee, FL with his wife Kathy, teaches at FSU and runs an integrated marketing communications consultancy, Huckleberry Finn Tomorrow.

• What are the odds of finding 4 cases of male breast cancer from the same contaminated military base?
• How many other military men have developed breast cancer?

During the last 20 years, Tallevast residents say dozens of their neighbors have died prematurely. Others are still fighting cancer and beryllium-related health issues.

But a draft Florida Department of Health report on the community blighted by more than 200 acres of polluted ground water found just four cases of cancer.

The report could hardly be more different from a survey by residents that showed about 90 cases of cancer or beryllium-related diseases in the mainly black community.

DOH officials who met with the neighborhood group FOCUS on Monday agreed that their numbers, based on a state database and figures from a local hospital, were wildly off the mark. They also admitted they had studied the wrong ZIP code.

(more)

Although Tallevast has a post office, most Tallevast residents live in a Sarasota ZIP code.

"That's one of the problems of dealing with a statewide database," said Randy Merchant, a DOH administrator. "It's hard to get a handle on what is happening in so small an area."

The results left community leaders upset that state officials had not worked more closely with them to ensure errors like this did not happen.

"We're angry," said Wanda Washington, vice president of FOCUS. "We're just not sure what road to take. No one ever came into the community to do a study. If you are doing it from behind a desk, you're going to miss a lot."

FOCUS' figures on incidences of cancer came from a door-to-door survey quizzing families about their medical histories.

The community of about 80 homes sits above more than 200 acres of polluted ground water left behind by the former American Beryllium Co., which built parts for nuclear warheads for the federal government for nearly 40 years.

State officials said they will likely get an epidemiologist to conduct a similar door-to-door survey.

The cost would be about $125,000, they said.

State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said if the DOH cannot fund it he will look for other funding sources.

"I've committed myself to help see that that happens so that the question can be answered and a more accurate picture developed," Galvano said.

Residents in Tallevast have asked Lockheed Martin, the company responsible for the cleanup of the site, to pay for them to move. They have also filed several lawsuits against Lockheed and other companies that operated at the site seeking damages for health issues and falling property values.

Lockheed became the owner of the Tallevast site after the company acquired the former Loral company in 1996. It shut down the plant and sold the property, but not before discovering soil and ground-water pollution on and around the site.

In 2000, Lockheed notified county and state officials of the pollution, which included trichloroethylene, or TCE, a compound linked to liver and kidney cancer and other ailments.

Residents, who were not informed for almost four more years, continued to use well water. Their homes were switched to the county drinking water system in 2004.

FOCUS leaders said they would welcome state officials' repeating their survey.

"We think the state will be better at it," Washington said. "You need to put your feet on the ground and come out here and collect that information."

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Poisoned at Camp LeJeune, snookered by Uncle Sam

Bill Berlow
Associate Editor

Mike Partain, son and grandson of Marine Corps veterans, grew up steeped in traditional American values — a rock-solid Reagan Republican whose life, even before birth, began among the few, the proud, at Camp LeJeune, N.C.

But for the past year, the 40-year-old Tallahassee insurance claims adjuster's faith in his government has been shaken to its core.

He'd always assumed that Uncle Sam, first and foremost, had the health and welfare of U.S. citizens at the top of his priority list — especially if they'd worn the uniform.

Now he's much less sure.

Partain's crisis of doubt began a year ago, when his wife gave him "a hug that changed my life." She found a lump, which turned out to be a cancerous tumor. A 14-inch surgical scar where Partain's right breast used to be is the physical evidence of his breast cancer.

Less obvious is the psychological scar — both as a cancer survivor still undergoing treatment and as one who feels his government betrayed a trust.

(more)

Not long after he learned he had cancer, Partain found out that his recurring rash since birth and his breast cancer — rare among men, particularly those with no family history of the illness — probably stemmed from his exposure during fetal development and the first year of his life to water contaminated with tetrachloroethylene, a solvent used in dry cleaning.

Just two months after Partain's wife felt the lump, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry acknowledged that Marines and their families who between 1957 and 1987 lived in the LeJeune neighborhood where his family lived, drank water contaminated with extremely high levels of the carcinogenic chemical.

Partain and a network of former LeJeune residents who believe their serious health problems are due to the poisoning point out, however, that the government first knew of the contamination in the early 1980s — but did little or nothing to let the former Marines and their families know they were at risk.

"At this time last year, I was dying and I didn't know," Partain said. "The government knew I was dying and didn't tell me. That burns me up."

The LeJeune families can't sue the feds, since the government hasn't waived its sovereign-immunity protection. The military, meanwhile, is protected by the Ferris Doctrine, a 1950s-era ruling that protects the armed services from legal action by the men and women who serve — the idea being that if a soldier was wounded in battle because of a commanding officer's dumb decision, the country would be worse off if the government had to battle personal-injury lawyers as well as foreign enemies.

I first met Partain in the fall of 2006, several months before his diagnosis. He was the adjuster for an insurance claim we filed. A former teacher from Winter Haven, where he grew up, he and I talked of his deep regret about having to give up teaching to support his wife and four children. That conversation even helped inspire a column about ex-teachers in November of that year.

Last year, after he told me his illness motivated his involvement in a crusade to reveal the truth behind the LeJeune environmental debacle, the Tallahassee Democrat reported his story on July 9, a few weeks after a congressional hearing on the LeJeune families.

A congressional investigation is still under way, and Partain has gotten help from U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, who called Partain's story and that of other LeJeune families "deeply troubling, to say the least."

Boyd's office, which has tried to navigate the federal and military bureaucracies for Partain, said he is one of seven constituents in the congressman's North Florida district who are seeking more information related to the LeJeune contamination.

Now Partain reluctantly acknowledges that he's an activist, a word he's still not comfortable with because of his conservative upbringing and beliefs.

When I likened the experience of the LeJeune Marine families to military victims of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, Partain agreed.

"Defend, deny and delay," he said, describing the government's strategy in the face of claims that Agent Orange was responsible for a slew of veterans' illnesses. "And that's what they're doing to us."

Partain (strashni@comcast.net) was to share his story last night with vets at the American Legion post on Lake Ella. Even though he doesn't realistically expect compensation from the government, it's part of his personal commitment to spread the word about those exposed to the poison, estimated to number upwards of a million Americans.

It's one more example of a government's betrayal — always shocking, but, sadly, no longer surprising and, as Partain says, quickly forgotten.

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Toxic air and contaminated groundwater blamed for chronic illnesses in multi-million dollar lawsuit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – MARCH 14, 2008

CAMBRIDGE, ON – Northstar Aerospace, GE Canada and Rozell Inc., are amongst the Cambridge-based businesses named in a multi-million dollar environmental lawsuit. Spearheaded by Denis and Deborah Vitez, the suit points to these businesses as being responsible for groundwater contamination and toxic air in local residents’ homes, and in the case of the Vitez family, resulting in chronic breathing problems, Parkinson’s Syndrome and neurological damages which have escalated over the past five years. The suit claims that the companies were aware that toxic levels of the human carcinogens Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Chromium were seeping into the groundwater in the vicinity of their Bishop Street plants.

The Vitez family is seeking punitive and general damages, citing negligence, failure to disclose information, misconduct, and failure to comply with the Environmental Protection Act, among other claims against the defendants. TCE, a solvent used for degreasing metal parts, is considered a toxic substance and probable human carcinogen under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Chromium is also classified by health organizations as a human carcinogen. Due to the companies’ failure to properly handle, store and dispose of the substances, the Vitez family has suffered through years of discomfort and pain, culminating in the diagnoses of asthma and severe sinus infection in Mrs. Vitez, and symptoms indicating Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsonism – a group of nervous disorders with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease – in the case of Mr. Vitez.

Paul Mann, Counsel for the Vitez family, and one of Canada’s top litigators in health-related matters, explains, “These companies knew they were contaminating the water and air with toxic chemicals, failed to warn homeowners that levels were in excess of Ministry of Environment (MOE) standards, and failed to prevent further release of the chemicals after they first learned of the leakage and discharge. Denis and Deborah Vitez may never get their health back as a result and it is time for justice to be served.”

(more)

Denis and Deborah Vitez married in November 2003, and she moved into the house that the widower had shared with his first wife Donna since 2000. Donna had often complained about a strange odour in their house before she died in 2002 from brain cancer that had mysteriously resurfaced after three years in remission. Additionally in late 2003, Northstar Aerospace conducted tests on their Bishop Street property and concluded it was contaminated with TCE and Chromium at levels that exceeded MOE standards (a reading of over 230). Testing was expanded to include a wider area, but it took the company over a year to publicly state that the property was severely contaminated, that TCE had migrated through the groundwater and that TCE vapours had seeped into some of the buildings and properties in the area.

The company promised to take measures to resolve contamination issues in affected homes, including gutting and resealing basements, and removing toxic vapours through the installation of Heppa filters and air exchangers. Work at the Vitez residence commenced in December 2005 with a promise of completion within two months. Just days into the process, the Vitez family was forced to vacate for 11 days due to a noxious odour. Then, in early 2006 their recently resealed basement was torn up for plumbing modifications by Northstar’s contractors. During the three weeks of this construction, the Vitezes remained in their house, assured by company PR representatives that the toxicity levels were nothing to worry about. However, no air quality tests were conducted during this time period. Work was still underway well into May 2006.

Denis Vitez’s first tremors appeared in late autumn 2005. He was also waking nightly for months due to tingling and pain in his extremities. Deborah Vitez subsequently began having breathing problems and embarked upon an exhausting and frustrating course of treatment for what would be diagnosed as severe asthma, throat and sinus infections. For the next two years both would see various doctors and specialists, including a neurologist for Denis, who ordered numerous tests, blood work and brain scans. The ultimate diagnosis was Parkinsonism, with additional symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.

“We were devastated by this news,” says Denis. “We were both feeling unwell and dealing with so much stress. Then in August 2006, Northstar began digging on our property without our consent. Two weeks later, we learned the contamination under our home was dangerously high. We moved out immediately on our own expense, and haven’t returned since. It’s too much of a risk. We want the responsible parties to own up to their negligence and irresponsibility.”

Paul Mann is a sole practitioner who operates his practice in the City of Cambridge, Ontario. He has been litigating complex medical malpractice issues, for plaintiffs only, for approximately 30 years. Mr. Mann has won the Bruce Hillyer Award for litigation and the advancement of justice on two separate occasions. He was also honoured by the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association with the “Celebration of the Personal Injury Bar” award as a leader in his profession for the year 2007. Ron Culley, co-council on this case, has extensive experience with health-related matters as a trial lawyer and practises in Waterloo, Ontario.

For further information or to arrange an interview with Paul Mann, Denis or Deborah Vitez, contact: Sandra Perron or Pat Hayward at 519-623-0700.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council and two residents of Dickson, Tennessee have filed a lawsuit against the Dickson County and city governments. They allege that trichloroethylene, TCE, an industrial chemical disposed at the Dickson Landfill that has been linked to neurological and developmental harm and cancer, poses an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment.

Dickson, a town of some 12,000 people is located about 35 miles west of Nashville. [map]

The Dickson County Landfill, 74 acres off Eno Road, sits within 500 to 2,000 feet of approximately 40 homes, most owned by blacks. This community group is fighting to rid their area of contamination from the Dickson County landfill.

One African American family in particular, the Holts, a family of black landowners, has been especially harmed by the chemical. Many Holt family members are struggling with cancer and other illnesses, and two of its members are plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

The environmental group and Sheila Holt-Orsted and Beatrice Holt allege that TCE pollution has seeped beneath the landfill to underlying groundwater and has spread through a large area of Dickson County.

TCE contamination has rendered water from wells and springs as far as two to three miles from the landfill unfit for human consumption, the plaintiffs claim.

Polluted spring water is flowing directly into the West Piney River, a fishing stream and a major source of drinking water for the Water Authority of Dickson County. Several square miles of Dickson County have been recognized as an ‘imminent threat’ area by the county.

TCE contamination above drinking water limits, and orders of magnitude above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency screening levels for drinking water, has been found in at least one well even beyond that threat area.

In some areas, this TCE contamination may be growing worse, the plaintiffs claim, but the city and county have not done anything to remove the contamination.

"Some two decades after TCE was first detected in nearby drinking water sources, those responsible have not even fully characterized the present extent and likely future spread of the contamination. Defendants have, in effect, surrendered the ground and surface water of Dickson County to the slow spread of an invisible and toxic chemical," the complainants said in a statement.

The complaint asks the Court to require the defendants to investigate the present extent and future spread of TCE contamination from the landfill in the soil, surface water, and groundwater of Dickson County; to remediate and abate TCE contamination.

Holt-Orsted has undergone six surgeries and chemotherapy for breast cancer. The Holts originally filed lawsuits in 2003 and 2004, naming the city and county of Dickson and the state of Tennessee, and claiming the family was a victim of negligence that resulted in their cancers and other health problems.

Attorneys for the county and state deny the claims in the earlier lawsuits.

An article [entitled Deadly Tenessee Two-Step Pushes Leaky Landfill Away from Officials' Homes] by Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, gives background and detailed water test information.

Barak Obama has sponsored a bill to enable states to develop or expand activities to monitor exposure to environmental toxins and pollutants (S.1068);

Hilary Clinton has sponsored a bill that would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect the health of susceptible populations from trichloroethylene (S.1911);

Both of them, along with John McCain, cosponsored a bill that would provide grants to better understand the environmental factors related to breast cancer (S.579).

And finally, beneath its public relations veneer as our protector, the FDA is an agency that reportedly lets drug company representatives make decisions for the country, approves dangerous drugs, and does not perform necessary follow-up on approved drugs.

'A bill to promote healthy communities. '
Bill # S.1068

Original Sponsor:
Barack Obama (D-IL)

Healthy Communities Act of 2007 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Advisory Committee on Environmental Health to review environmental health data and studies to: (1) assess the impact of federal laws, policies, and practices on environmental health and justice; and (2) identify and recommend ways to change or ensure compliance with federal laws, address gaps in federal environmental health research, and prevent or mitigate harm from federal policies, programs, and practices that may adversely affect environmental health or justice. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prepare a biennial Environmental Health Report Card for the nation and for each state. Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish the Health Action Zone Program to award grants to at-risk communities for comprehensive environmental health improvement activities; and (2) expand and intensify environmental health research. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director, to provide grants and technical assistance to enable states to develop or expand activities related to biomonitoring of exposure to environmental toxicants and pollutants. Requires the Secretary to: (1) promote translation and dissemination of findings; and (2) incorporate the data collected under this Act with existing data collection efforts. Requires the Director to expand training and educational activities relating to environmental health and justice for health professionals and public health practitioners.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) — The consequence of maternal exposure to a variety of potentially toxic agents during pregnancy remains the prime focus of concern in scientific endeavors and in society at large.

However, there is now mounting evidence that paternal exposure can also adversely affect fetal and postnatal development of offspring and that this imprint can be expressed in subsequent generations.

[...]

The reported impact on offspring outcome includes low birth weight; increase in childhood cancers; developmental, behavioral, endocrine abnormalities and cross-generational effects.

Researchers studied more than 2,100 men who worked at the Rocketdyne facility in the San Fernando Valley, many of whom were exposed to radiation and chemicals that may have increased their risk for certain cancers. The research team identified 362 men who developed prostate cancer and compared them to 1,805 men of similar age and socioeconomic status who did not get prostate cancer.

The study, done in conjunction with researchers at the Olive View-UCLA Education and Research Institute and the University of Michigan, appears in the February issue of the journal Cancer Causes Control.

"The message from this study for today is that if you're more active, you may be able to prevent this cancer from happening," said Beate Ritz, a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher, an associate professor of epidemiology in the UCLA School of Public Health and the study's senior author. "If you have a desk job, do something physically active to counterbalance it."

[...]

The study found that the men who developed prostate cancer were less likely to hold the more physically active jobs. Those that got cancer also were more likely than the control group to be highly exposed to the chemicals that were evaluated, including hydrazine, benzene, mineral oil, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trichloroethylene (TCE), which are known or suspected carcinogens.

In “toxic tort” lawsuits, or claims brought as a result of exposure to hazardous substances, a typical plaintiff “alleges he has developed a disease because of exposure to a toxic substance negligently released by the defendant.” In some cases, however, the plaintiffs “seek to recover the costs of long-term diagnostic testing and medical examinations, which they claim are necessary to detect latent diseases or ailments that might later develop as a result of toxic exposure.” This novel theory of recovery is frequently labeled “medical monitoring.” Plaintiffs bringing claims for medical monitoring “seek post-exposure, pre-symptom recovery for the expense of periodic medical examinations to detect the onset of physical harm.” Plaintiffs who bring actions seeking the establishment of a medical monitoring fund may not suffer any current physical injuries and often do not even exhibit symptoms of disease as a result of their alleged exposure.

States That Allow Medical Monitoring in the Absence of Present Physical Injury

State	Authority
Arizona	Burns v. Jaquays Mining Corp., 752 P.2d 28 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1987)
California	Potter v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 863 P.2d 795 (Cal. 1993)
Colorado	Cook v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 755 F. Supp. 1468 (D. Colo. 1991)
Connecticut	Martin v. Shell Oil Co., 180 F. Supp. 2d 313 (D. Conn. 2002)
District of Columbia	Friends for All Children, Inc. v. Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 746 F.2d 816 (D.C. Cir. 1984)
Florida	Petito v. A.H. Robins Co., 750 So. 2d 103 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1999)
Guam	Abuan v. Gen. Elec. Co., 3 F.3d 329 (9th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1116 (1994)
Illinois	Lewis v. Lead Indus. Ass’n, 793 N.E.2d 869 (Ill. App. Ct. 2003)
Montana	Lamping v. Am. Home Prods., Inc., No. DV-97-85786 (Mont. 4th Dist. Ct. Feb. 2, 2000)
New Jersey	Ayers v. Twp. of Jackson, 525 A.2d 287 (N.J. 1987)
New York	Patton v. Gen. Signal Corp., 984 F. Supp. 666 (W.D.N.Y. 1997)
Ohio	Day v. NLO, 851 F. Supp. 869 (S.D. Ohio 1994)
Pennsylvania	Redland Soccer Club, Inc. v. Dep’t of the Army, 696 A.2d 137 (Pa. 1997)
Utah	Hansen v. Mountain Fuel Supply, 858 P.2d 970 (Utah 1993)
West Virginia	Bower v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 522 S.E.2d

Modine Manufacturing tentatively has settled out of court in the McCullom Lake brain-cancer cases, agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum to the 22 plaintiffs and $2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit.

If approved by a U.S. District Court judge, the settlement announced Friday would end Modine’s financial liability in the lawsuits, which tied pollution from its Ringwood manufacturing plant to brain-, nerve- and pituitary-cancer victims. That would leave Rohm and Haas, which operates a plant just north of Modine’s, and subsidiary Morton International as the only remaining defendants.

Modine does not, in any way, admit liability with the settlement, said James Rulseh, vice president of the company’s American operations. The lawsuits alleged that Modine contaminated groundwater and air with trichloroethylene, a chemical used as an industrial-strength degreaser, which in turn broke down into carcinogenic vinyl chloride.

[...]

The class-action lawsuit and the first three individual lawsuits were filed in April 2006. Three former McCullom Lake next-door neighbors, about a mile to the south of the factories, were diagnosed with brain cancer within eight months of one another.

Of the $2 million class-action settlement, Modine will pay $1.4 million toward a medical monitoring program to reimburse current or former village residents who want an MRI. Another $100,000 will establish a fund to reimburse property owners seeking property value relief, and the remaining $500,000 will pay for court-approved attorney’s fees and settlement costs.

Payments to the 22 individual plaintiffs will remain confidential under the settlement, attorney Aaron Freiwald said. The damage cases were filed in state court in Philadelphia, home to Freiwald’s law office and Rohm and Haas’ world headquarters.

Of the plaintiffs, 18 have brain or nerve cancer, three have pituitary cancer, and one has cirrhosis of the liver of unknown origin. Eight of the plaintiffs have died, all but one from glioblastoma multiforme, a deadly brain cancer that occurs in just more than 3 people per 100,000.

[...]

Freiwald said Friday that the settlement allowed him to focus all of his scrutiny on Rohm and Haas, which he said by far was the major contributor to contamination. The factory, owned at the time by Morton, dumped wastes into an 8-acre landfill/lagoon between 1960 and 1977. Rohm and Haas assumed control of the factory in 2005, six years after acquiring Morton for $5 billion.

[...]

The medical-monitoring class includes anyone who lived in village limits for at least one cumulative year between Jan. 1, 1968, and Dec. 31, 2002. The property damage class includes anyone who owned property in the village between April 25, 2006 – the date the class-action lawsuit was filed – and Jan. 18, 2008.

Chemical linked to Parkinson's disease
By Sarah Vos
SVOS@HERALD-LEADER.COM

In the late 1970s, Eddie Abney cleaned grease from metal gauges at a Berea factory using a chemical solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE. The chemical, which is still used today as an industrial degreaser, soaked through his cotton gloves and into his skin. It splattered on his clothes. He breathed in its vapors.

At night, when he came home, he would tell his wife that the smell was killing him.

It may have been.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky have linked industrial use of TCE to Parkinson's disease, which Abney has. It was Abney, 51, who pointed researchers to a possible connection, leading to a study that was published last month in the online version of Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association.

The study shows a clear link between an environmental contaminant and Parkinson's, said Don Gash, the lead researcher.

TCE has been suspected before as a cause of Parkinson's, but the UK study shows a "clear-cut link" from exposure to the chemical to the disease's development, Gash said. "We've connected the dots."

The study found that three people who directly handled TCE at the factory where Abney worked developed Parkinson's disease. An additional 14, who breathed in its vapors, had early symptoms of Parkinson's, but not the disease itself. And 13 more, who were also exposed to vapors, didn't show signs of parkinsonism but had slower fine motor skills than others their age.

[...]

When Abney was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2001, he and his wife, Susan, wondered whether TCE could have been the cause. Sometimes Parkinson's has a genetic tie, but Eddie Abney didn't have family history of Parkinson's. Environmental factors had been linked to the disease: exposure to certain pesticides or recreational use of MTPT, known commonly as synthetic heroin.

But Abney wondered whether, in his case, it was TCE. He remembered the strong smell of the chemical he had worked with for more than two decades with little protection.

"I had gloves on, but they were just white cotton gloves," Abney said. "If they got wet, they got saturated."

A year after his diagnosis, Abney participated in a clinical drug trial for Parkinson's disease at UK. When he told a researcher his medical history, he mentioned the exposure to TCE, and the fact that others from the factory had Parkinson's. The researcher, Kathyrn Rutland, thought it sounded like a cluster of cases.

"We felt like there was enough there to really get started," said Gash, the lead researcher.

Have there been any reports about workers exposed to TCE and B cell Lymphoma in the Teleco work group?

My job was DCO Repairman - Dial Central Office Repairman - but we used TCE almost every day to clean the electronic and moving parts. So much was used our hands were white from lack of oil, and our shirts always were wet right above the belt line.

Public release date: 7-Jan-2008

Contact: Amy Molnar
amolnar@wiley.com
Wiley-Blackwell

Trichloroethylene is a risk factor for parkinsonism

Parkinson's disease, the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder caused by aging, can also be caused by pesticides and other neurotoxins. A new study found strong evidence that trichloroethylene (TCE) is a risk factor for parkinsonism, a group of nervous disorders with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. TCE is a chemical widely used in industry that is also found in drinking water, surface water and soil due to runoff from manufacturing sites where it is used. The study was published in the October 2007 issue of Annals of Neurology (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/ana), the official journal of the American Neurological Association.

Led by Don M. Gash and John T Slevin, of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY, researchers conducting a clinical trial of 10 Parkinson's disease patients came across a patient who described long-term exposure to TCE, which he suspected to be a risk factor in his disease. TCE has been identified as an environmental contaminant in almost 60 percent of the Superfund priority sites listed by the Environmental Protection Agency and there has been increasing concern about its long term effects. The patient noted that some of his co-workers had also developed Parkinson's disease, which led to the current study of this patient and two of his co-workers diagnosed with Parkinson's disease who underwent neurological evaluations to assess motor function. All of these individuals had at least a 25 year history of occupational exposure to TCE, which included both inhalation and exposure to it from submerging their unprotected arms and forearms in a TCE vat or touching parts that had been cleaned in it. In addition, questionnaires about experiencing signs of Parkinson�s disease, such as slowness of voluntary movement, stooped posture and trouble with balance, were mailed to 134 former workers. The researchers also conducted studies in rats to determine how TCE affects the brain.

The results showed that 14 former employees who reported three or more parkinsonian signs worked close to the TCE source, were found to exhibit signs of parkinsonism when they were examined and were significantly (up to 250 percent) slower in fine motor hand movements than age-matched controls. Clinical exams of 13 patients who reported no signs of parkinsonism revealed that they worked in the same areas as the symptomatic workers or further from the TCE vat, they exhibited some mild features of the condition and their fine motor movements were also significantly slower than controls, although they were faster than the group with symptoms. The rat studies showed that TCE exposure inhibited mitochondrial function (which in humans is associated with a wide range of degenerative diseases) in the substantia nigra, an area in the brain that produces dopamine and whose destruction is associated with Parkinson's disease. Specifically, Complex 1, an enzyme important in energy production, was significantly reduced in the substantia nigra. Dopamine neurons in this area also showed degenerative changes following TCE administration.

The authors acknowledge that while the study was not a large scale epidemiological investigation, the results demonstrate a strong potential link between chronic TCE exposure and parkinsonism. 'It will be important to follow the progression of movement disorders in this cohort over the next decade to fully assess the long-term health risks from trichloroethylene exposure,' they state. Although previous studies identified pesticides as a risk factor for Parkinson's disease, the drug MPTP was previously the only mitochrondrial neurotoxin linked to the disease. The authors conclude: 'Trichloroethylene is implicated as a principal risk factor for parkinsonism based on its dopaminergic neurotoxicity in animal models, the high levels of chronic dermal and inhalation exposure to trichloroethylene by the three workers with Parkinson's disease, the motor slowing and clinical manifestations of parkinsonism in co-workers clustered around the trichloroethylene source, and the mounting evidence of neurotoxic effects in other reports of chronic trichloroethylene exposure.'

Occupational trichloroethylene exposure as a cause of idiosyncratic generalized skin disorders and accompanying hepatitis similar to drug hypersensitivities [View abstract or purchase]

Authors: Kamijima, Michihiro1; Hisanaga, Naomi; Wang, Hailan; Nakajima, Tamie
Source: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, Volume 80, Number 5, April 2007 , pp. 357-370(14)
Publisher: Springer

• Exfoliative Dermatitis (widespread scaling of the skin, often with itching (pruritus), skin redness (erythroderma), and hair loss.)
• Erythema Multiforme (multiple skin lesions; can be accompanied by itching, fever, and general ill-feeling)
• Stevens-Johnson syndrome (a much more severe condition than erythema multiforme. SJS typically involves multiple areas of the body and extensive lesion formation. The lesions can extend to the mucous membranes, thus affecting the lungs, eyes, mouth, stomach, intestines and virtually every major organ.)
• Epidermolysis Bullosa (a group of blistering skin conditions. The skin is so fragile in people with EB that even minor rubbing may cause blistering. At times, the person with EB may not be aware of rubbing or injuring the skin even though blisters develop. In severe EB, blisters are not confined to the outer skin. They may develop inside the body, in such places as the linings of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, upper airway, bladder, and the genitals.)

Meeting Notice
View-Master Health Study Citizens Advisory Group (VMHS CAG)
Tuesday, June 12, 2007, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Conference Room, Beaverton Library [Google map]
(SW Hall and Fifth St.)

Tentative Agenda:

1. Introductions (5 min.)
2. Approval of minutes of the April meeting. (5 min.)
3. Quick Reports (charter, letters). (10 min.)
4. Discussion with Dr. Don Austin. Dr. Austin is an M.D., an epidemiologist, and a co-investigator on the proposed View-Master health study. He will discuss with us the formation of the Oregon Cancer Registry, and talk about a few specific cancers thought to be associated with TCE. (50 min.)
5. Next meeting: September (probably Thursday, Sept. 27) (5 Min.)

Please notice that we are meeting on a Tuesday evening in order to accommodate Dr. Austin's schedule. We are meeting at 6:00, our customary time, because the library closes at 8:00.

NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

For planning purposes: June 8, 2007

Contact: Jodi Seth 202-225-5735

MEDIA ADVISORY:

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled Poisoned Patriots: Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune.

The purpose of this hearing is to examine issues arising from the extensive, high-level contamination of drinking water at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. This is the first of a series of hearings the Subcommittee plans to hold on environmental problems at Department of Defense (DOD) facilities.

The hearing will include testimony from former Marine Corps residents of Camp Lejeune who, along with their families, drank the contaminated water, cooked their food in it, and bathed in it. The Subcommittee will also receive testimony from the Government agencies involved in dealing with the contamination, assessing the adverse health effects, and investigating allegations of criminal violations of Federal law, including the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, ATSDR, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

WITNESS LIST

Panel I

Mr. Jerome Ensminger
North Carolina

Dr. Mike Gros
Texas

Mr. Jeff Byron
Ohio

Panel II

United States Marine Corps
Major General Robert C. Dickerson, Jr.
Commanding General
Accompanied by Ms. Kelly A. Dreyer
Environmental Restoration Program Manager
United States Navy

Ms. Pat Leonard Director
Office of The Judge Advocate General
Claims, Investigations, & Tort Litigation (Code 15)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Department of Health and Human Services

Thomas Sinks, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
National Center for Environmental Health/ATSDR
Accompanied by Frank Bove, Sc.D.
Senior Epidimiologist
and
Morris Maslia, P.E.
Environmental Engineer

The other day I received a call from a 58-year-old San Antonio man who worked at Kelly AFB from 1983 to 1999. He said he recently had a cancerous kidney removed, and he wondered what I could tell him about Kelly workers' exposure to carcinogens that cause kidney cancer.

...

A search of the Express-News archives turned up a dozen columns in which Kelly contaminants and potential kidney problems were discussed.

The first reference to Kelly contaminants and kidney cancer appeared in a March 22, 1998, column in which I reported that extraordinarily high levels of two volatile organic compounds — perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) — had been found in groundwater near Kelly.

For decades, TCE and PCE were used as degreasers at the base.

...

Last fall, in a summary of Kelly findings, federal researchers noted:

1. During 1990-1994, liver, kidney and lung cancer incidence rates in neighborhoods around Kelly were higher than incidence rates found in demographically similar neighborhoods in Texas.

2. Those cancers "could have been the result of past exposures" to Kelly contaminants.

It seems reasonable to conclude that the same might be said about the cancers of longtime Kelly workers.

Neighbors in Cortlandville found out Tuesday night that the government is going to help them stay safe from a dangerous chemical. Trichloroethene, or TCE, has been in the water table for years in Cortlandville. It was used as a degreaser at the old Smith Corona typewriter factory. The problem went unchecked for years before new regulations were enforced. TCE is associated with nerve, kidney, and liver damage.

TCE vapors have been rising into homes through the soil. At a public meeting Tuesday night, Department of Environmental Conservation showed new test results, showing the contaminated area [see map] hasn't moved much from where it has been for years.

“Those of us who were developing children in the NIBW [the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund site] would like to know definitively if there is a higher rate of cancer among our population,” Oberlender wrote in a request to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

The petition, submitted in January, is being reviewed to determine if more evidence is needed, said Charles Green, a disease registry spokesman. A response is expected in early April.

The Superfund site is 13-square-mile area in Scottsdale and Tempe. It is bounded roughly by the Salt River on the south, Chaparral Road on the north, Scottsdale Road on the west and Loop 101 on the east.

TCE, or trichloroethylene, was used to clean circuit boards beginning in the 1950s. It was dumped down dry wells, sewers and into leaching beds for three decades until it was discovered in 1981 in five drinking water wells that serve Scottsdale.

The wells, three of which were owned by Phoenix until Scottsdale purchased them in 1987, were closed immediately, but concentrations of TCE were as high as 390 parts per billion near the time they were shut, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The federal standard for drinking water is less than 5 parts per billion.

Four companies — Motorola, GlaxoSmithKline, Salt River Project and SMI Holding, formerly Siemens — have claimed the lion’s share of the more than $100 million in cleanup costs. Between 1981 and June 2006, an estimated 61.3 billion gallons of groundwater from the site were pumped and treated to remove an estimated 56,800 pounds of TCE.

It is expected to take 20 more years to clean up 90 percent of all the TCE in the groundwater, said Dennis Shirley, project coordinator for the companies.

[...]

Oberlender, who lives in Blacksburg, Va., particularly takes issue with a Superfund fact sheet Scottsdale posts online that says “trace” amounts of industrial chemicals, primarily TCE, were found in two of Scottsdale’s drinking water wells. Three wells owned by Phoenix that supplied water to Scottsdale residents for decades were some of the most contaminated. But the city does not reference those in its fact sheet, Oberlender said.

“Some Scottsdale residents are under the false impression that they did not drink the contaminated water because they paid their water bills to the city of Phoenix,” she said.

• Black arrows point to EPA ID'd hazardous waste sites.
  
  
• Green circles represent areas around the sites where toxic plume migration may have occurred and where vapor intrusion may be a concern (Note: Obviously toxins don't spread in perfect circles. This is not intended to portray the exact migration of Cheshire's plumes.)
  
  
• Red numbered circles represent areas where cancer reports rec'd through Cancerincheshire.com appear most greatly concentrated.

• Health Consultation - Health Statistics Review Follow-up (Public Comment Draft) - March 26, 2007 - NEW
• Information Sheet - Health Statistics Review Follow-up (Public Comment Draft) - March 26, 2007 - NEW
• Written Response Form - Health Statistics Review Follow-up (PDF, 11KB, 1pg.) - March 26, 2007 - NEW

What is a health statistics review?

A health statistics review uses existing health data from data sources like birth certificates and health registries to determine whether health outcomes in a particular community are occurring at higher, lower, or about the same level compared to statewide or national levels after taking into account the age, race, and sex of individuals in the community. A health statistics review does not tell us why elevations or deficits in health outcomes exist and can not prove whether there is a cause and effect relationship between exposure to chemicals and health outcomes. While a health statistics review can take risk factors commonly found on health records into account, a health statistics review may not be able to take into account certain individual risk factors for health outcomes such as medical history, genetics and occupational exposures which may explain the elevations or deficits. Rather a health statistics review can generate hypotheses and may indicate whether a more rigorous study should be considered. This health statistics review follow-up is the second major report resulting from the step-wise approach to addressing health outcome concerns related to environmental contamination in Endicott, NY.

Why was a health statistics review conducted?

A health statistics review was conducted because of concerns about possible exposures to chemicals known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Groundwater in the Endicott area is contaminated with VOCs from leaks and spills associated with local industry and commercial businesses. Trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethene (PCE) are two main VOCs of concern in the area. The VOCs moved from the contaminated groundwater into air spaces in the soil and then into indoor air through cracks in foundations in some buildings, a process known as soil vapor intrusion. Because of possible health concerns, the New York State Department of Health conducted the prior health statistics review and the health statistics review follow-up.

The follow-up health statistics review gathered additional detailed information to see if known risk factors may have played a role in the higher than expected levels of health outcomes shown in the previous review. The follow-up looked at individual birth defect records, birth certificates, cancer records, and death certificates to find information about risk factors such as smoking, occupational history, family medical history, and medication use. Newspaper obituaries, Motor Vehicle records, city directories, and telephone directories were used to trace residential histories.

The follow-up also reviewed two additional birth outcomes, conotruncal heart defects (specific defects of the heart's outflow region) and stillbirths. The scientific literature suggests that both of these outcomes may be associated with TCE exposures. The follow-up also reviewed cancer incidence for all types of cancer, taking account of race. Findings from the follow-up review as well as the findings from the prior review were used to guide the development of possible options for next steps.

Federal health officials are proposing a $3.1 million study delving into IBM personnel records to determine the cancer rate among 28,000 employees who might have been exposed to chemicals at the Endicott plant since the 1960s.

Lynne Pinkterton, an official with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said the agency could combine information from personnel and industrial hygiene records kept for decades at the plant to determine cancer rates of people working in manufacturing and in various departments.

The information would address a long-standing question about whether IBM workers who faced exposure to chemicals, including trichloroethylene (TCE), were more likely than other people to become ill.

The interest in chemical exposure became more intense in the Southern Tier after the 2003 discovery that a subterranean plume of trichloroethylene and similar chemicals was flowing from the micro electronics plant on North Street and forming gases that pushed into hundreds of basements through a process called vapor intrusion. IBM sold the plant to Huron Real Estate Associates in 2002.

When health officials found that a polluted area in the village had a disproportionately high rate of premature births and certain cancers, it raised more questions than answers.

Was pollution making people sick?

Were factors other than pollution -- such as smoking or occupational exposure -- responsible?

Were women living in the area more prone to miscarriages?

Tuesday night, scientists working on the problem with federal and state agencies are scheduled to release their latest findings regarding these and other questions to a citizens group -- called the Western Broome Environmental Stakeholders Coalition -- and discuss future plans.

Presenters will include representatives from the federal Agency of Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, the state Department of Health and the federal National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health.

Radioactive emissions from a 1959 nuclear accident at a research lab near Simi Valley appear to have been much greater than previously suspected and could have resulted in hundreds of cancers in surrounding communities, according to a study released Thursday.

Chemical contamination from rocket engine testing at the site continues to threaten soil and groundwater in the area around Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the study also found.

The nuclear meltdown, which remained virtually unknown to the public until 1979, could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer "over a period of many decades," the study concluded.

But the advisory panel that oversaw the five-year study, conducted by an independent team of scientists and health experts, said it could not offer more specifics about potential exposure to carcinogens because the Department of Energy and Rocketdyne's owner, Boeing Co., did not provide key information.

"This lack of candor … makes characterization of the potential health impacts of past accidents and releases extremely difficult," the panel concluded.

The lab's former owner, Rocketdyne, has said for years that no significant radiation was released. But the independent advisory panel said the incident released nearly 459 times more radiation than a similar one at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island in 1979.

[...]

The Energy Department, Boeing [the site's current owner] and the state have been involved in efforts to decontaminate the site. The state has estimated that more than 1.73 million gallons of toxic trichloroethylene was dumped on the grounds and that 500,000 gallons have saturated the bedrock beneath the lab.

The panel concluded local soil and groundwater also may have been contaminated. The rocket fuel additive perchlorate has been found in a well, but Boeing has disputed assertions it came from the lab. Long-term exposure to high levels of perchlorate can cause thyroid problems.

Occupational Solvents May Increase Risk of Lymphoma

Researchers from Italy have reported that occupational exposure to solvents such as benzene, xylene, and toluene may increase the risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL). The details of this case-control study were published in Epidemiology .

[...]

Many, but not all, studies show a consistent link between woodworking and Hodgkin’s disease . Trichloroethylene is an organic chemical used in dry cleaning, metal degreasing and as a solvent for oils and resins and has been identified to cause liver and kidney cancer in animals. Exposure to trichloroethylene has been associated with an increased chance of developing Hodgkin's disease and other cancers. Machinists in the metal working industry have also been reported to have a higher than average incidence of Hodgkin's disease. Exposure to pesticides has been associated with an increased incidence of Hodgkin's disease in some, but not all, clinical studies. It has also been known for some time that young adults with infectious mononucleosis are at increased risk for the development of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

WORKED TO DEATH ANNUAL MEETING NOTICE

BRAIN TUMOR CLUSTER STUDY


WHEN: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2006, 7:00 PM TO 10:00 PM

WHERE: THE CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL, 100 BERLIN ROAD,

CROMWELL CT (860-635-2000)

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC PLEASE ATTEND

Hi, let us introduce ourselves, we are Carol Shea and Kate Greco, wives of John Shea and John Greco. Our husbands were friends and co-workers for over 30 years at Prattt and Whitney Aircraft. They both lost their lives within one month of each other to a VERY RARE form of brain cancer, GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME.

The Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) primary brain tumor is one of the most malignant and difficult brain tumors to treat. It is also a very rare type of tumor. According to the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States, www.cbtrus.org, GBM's strike an average of 2.96 people per 100,000 - less than .003 percent - every year. The State Health Department, in consultation with federal health and safety experts, is investigating the possibility of a brain tumor cluster at Pratt & Whitney's Connecticut plants. We have, with the help of local newspapers and TV stations running our story, compiled a list of over 87 confirmed Glioblastoma cases, we have an additional 41 confirmed cases with other forms of brain tumors at Pratt & Whitney. THIS IS WELL BEYOND THE PERCENTAGES!!!!!!!

We hope to inform you and engage your support for our efforts to help clean up this toxicity which we feel caused our husbands and many other deaths. We hope you will read on to see what our efforts have uncovered. We are involved in the largest study of its type in history which is being undertaken by the Universities of Pittsburgh and Chicago, under the direction of Dr. Gary Marsh, Dr. Frank S. Lieberman, both of the University of Pittsburgh and Dr. N.A. Esmen of the University of Illinois at Chicago with the cooperation of the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health through William Gerrish its Director of Public Health Communications.