NDCA

Feds: Data ’strongly suggests’ rare cancer tied to environment

BY KENT JACKSON
AND SHAWN A. HESSINGER
TIMES • SHAMROCK WriterS
kent.jackson@standardspeaker.com
shessinger@republicanherald.com

12/07/2007

In a surprising declaration, the federal government says there is “significant evidence” that people living near the McAdoo Associates Superfund site face an extra risk of developing a rare blood cancer due to environmental factors, according to a document posted on the American Society of Hematology Web site Thursday.The report by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for the first time draws a link between the environment and polycythemia vera only six weeks after the same agency claimed no such link could be found. Continue Reading »

TCE suit on track, despite setback

Costly fight ‘is worth the wait,’ advocate says

By Tom Wilber
Press & Sun-Bulletin

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ENDICOTT — Lawyers and their clients claiming damages from IBM pollution said they are disappointed after nearly four years of settlement talks proved fruitless, but they are confident they will prevail after the case goes to court.

IBM representatives would not comment on the case, but based on IBM’s final offer — less than 3 percent of plaintiffs’ claims — company lawyers also like their chances in court.

IBM offered $3 million to settle more than $100 million in health and property claims related to pollution from the company’s former microelectronics plant on North Street, effectively ending negotiations this month as plaintiffs prepare to file a lawsuit in January.

All involved in the case can expect an expensive and exhausting fight likely to last years longer as the case enters a new phase, said David Driesen, a professor at Syracuse University Law School.

Bernadette Patrick, a client and advocate who was among the first to organize affected residents after the problem was discovered in 2003, is prepared for an extensive fight.

“The bottom line is, we want some kind of resolution. Not a quick fix,” she said. “It’s not just about attorneys coming here and making a lot of noise.”

If the case is decided in a trial, those attorneys will be spending a lot of money. In toxic tort cases like this one, plaintiffs’ attorneys fund their own work and take their pay at the end from any awards their clients win.

Stephen G. Schwarz, a lawyer with the Rochester firm of Faraci & Lange, would not say how much legal teams from five law firms have collectively invested in the case since they began signing on clients in 2003. But it’s “a drop in the bucket” compared to the cost of bringing the case to trial, he said.

Driesen, who is not involved in the IBM case, added that large corporations with deep pockets can take legal strategies designed to prolong the case and wear down opponents.

“It’s pretty common for companies to throw a lot of resources (into the case) to create a lot of work for the plaintiffs,” he said.

The claims, from nearly 1,000 clients, stem from a subterranean plume of trichloroethylene (TCE) found to be creating vapors wafting into more than 480 homes and buildings near the plant. Exposure to the chemical is linked to illnesses ranging from cancer to brain damage, but the amount posing calculable risks is debatable.

In 2005, state health officials documented an unexplained elevation of certain cancers and birth defects in areas affected by pollution south and southwest of the plant.

The process that allows each side to gather information to build their cases, called discovery, can take years in a case involving the size and complexity of the IBM pollution case. During discovery, the plaintiffs will get access to IBM records and witnesses to gain a better understanding of the pollution, including how it got there, when and what IBM knew about it.

The defendants typically gather exhaustive health histories on people making claims in an effort to prove their illnesses could be caused by other things.

As this process unfolds, information may come to light that brings the two sides back to the negotiating table.

“As they get to know each other, it can narrow the gaps between their perceptions and what the case is worth,” Driesen said.

Patrick — who unknowingly lived in the polluted area as she raised a daughter who developed Hodgkin’s disease at the age of 17 — said the IBM settlement offer falls way short.

“It deserves so much more than that, and it is worth the wait,” she said.

Scientist: Chemical may be more toxic than officials think

By Tim Damos

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A toxic and potentially cancer-causing chemical dumped at a Baraboo Army Ammunition Plant years ago could be more dangerous than federal and state officials think, one scientist warns.

Wisconsin might become the first state to set groundwater standards for certain forms of a chemical known as DNT that was used by the Army to manufacture explosives. Army officials say state regulators are being overly cautious, and a local environmental group says Wisconsin is on the right track.

“Hopefully, (the Army) can be adult about this and recognize there is a problem that resulted from their activities,” said Dr. Peter deFur, a scientific consultant hired by the nonprofit group Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger. “They should clean up after themselves.”

The Badger Army Ammunition Plant south of Baraboo was operational during conflicts from World War II through the Vietnam War. Clean-up efforts at the 7,000-acre plant, built in 1942, have been under way since the Army said the plant would no longer be needed in 1995.

DNT attacks the cardiovascular, nervous and reproductive systems and can cause headaches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and chest pain, according to a state toxicologist’s report. Some studies suggest it may cause cancer.

DNR reports show that all forms of the chemical have been found in groundwater from the base of the Baraboo bluffs to Prairie du Sac.

The state has a groundwater standard for two forms of DNT, which guide the Army’s clean-up efforts. The other four forms — which aren’t regulated — only made up a small portion of what was used to make explosives. But they have been found in greater proportions in monitoring wells in and around Badger, suggesting they aren’t breaking down as quickly as the regulated types of DNT, deFur said.

“The more toxic forms are the ones that hang around the longest,” he said.

In May, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources asked state public health specialists to set temporary guidelines for the four unregulated forms of DNT, for which there are no state or federal standards.

A state toxicologist suggested the DNR limit the total concentration of all six forms of DNT to .05 parts per billion, which would be stricter than current standards. The DNR accepted the findings and set an interim drinking water health advisory.

An Army toxicologist disagreed with the state’s findings, saying there hasn’t been enough research on the unregulated forms of DNT to justify a health advisory.

“That’s a hollow argument, in my estimation,” deFur said. “Because it claims ignorance is an excuse for not protecting people.”

There’s no telling what DNT might do to small children, deFur said, because the data just isn’t available.

Army toxicologist Emily May LaFiandra directed the News Republic’s questions to an Army spokeswoman.

“We are advising our client, Badger, that we believe more studies need to be done to reach a clear scientific answer about human health effects (of the unregulated forms of DNT),” U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion & Preventive Medicine spokeswoman and public affairs officer Lyn Kukral said in an e-mail. “However, we are recognizing that the responsibility for determining a standard and enacting it belongs to the state of Wisconsin.”

The Army toxicologist used old data to reach her conclusion, deFur said, and the state should set even tougher standards than the interim advisory they have now.

Kukral didn’t respond specifically to deFur’s comments, which also were sent to state public health officials on behalf of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger.

The DNR is beginning the process of setting a permanent groundwater standard for all forms of DNT. It will seek input from interested parties before setting a standard that will be approved by state lawmakers.

If a standard is set next year, it could influence other states to do the same, said Laura Olah, director of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger. That could mean more headaches for Army officials trying to get sites deemed clean.

She said the action taken by the DNR is the result of unusually strict groundwater testing around the plant.

“Badger is the only plant we know of that’s testing the four less-common forms of DNT,” she said. “Unfortunately, Badger is just one of the Army plants that has this contamination.”

http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/259764

Laura Olah, Executive Director

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

E12629 Weigand’s Bay South

Merrimac, WI  53561

(608)643-3124

Email: info@cswab.org

Website: www.cswab.org

How safe is water from the tap?

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Although chemical pollutants had tainted parts of Southern California groundwater, the drinking water is free of solvents.

By Mary Beckman, Special to The Times
December 3, 2007

FOR years before the mid-1980s, groundwater in parts of Southern California was contaminated with toxic solvents, yet the federal body responsible for tracking this didn’t investigate the potential health threat to people who were drinking contaminated tap water. A congressional committee is now investigating why that neglect occurred.

Here’s a closer look at what scientists know about the main solvents of concern and their health effects.

Drinking water safety

Trichloroethylene (TCE) and the related compound tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene (PCE or PERC), are industrial solvents still used to clean up grease and to dry-clean clothes. For a long time, their use was unregulated and many companies across the nation disposed of them in such a way that they leached into drinking water sources.

In 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency started a Superfund project to clean up a variety of chemical pollutants. The effort includes getting the perpetrators of improper TCE and PCE disposal, many of them defense contractors, to help remove the worst of the contamination across the country.

What problems do these closely related solvents cause?

Scientists know that TCE can cause cancer — usually of the kidneys, liver and lungs — at high doses. They have concluded this from studies on animals that were given contaminated water to drink, as well as from people exposed to TCE through their work or through contaminated drinking water.

They don’t yet understand how TCE causes cancer: Researchers studying the question say the process is pretty complicated, and the jury is still out on the exact mechanism.

Peter Preuss, director of the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment, says that TCE breaks down into several different components, some of which are carcinogenic. “There are maybe three to five routes by which TCE might induce cancer,” he says.

But the cancer data are from animal and humans subjected to high doses of TCE. To understand what might happen at lower doses found in the environment, researchers have to extrapolate.

“There’s a fair amount of uncertainty,” Preuss says. And the kinds of new experiments that are needed to determine whether the levels found in Southern California water led to cancer are difficult to do. Preuss is leading an effort to determine what health effects the TCE might have had over the years by examining all the available, published data.

What about PCE?

Some of the best data on the health effects of these solvents come from Marines based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina from November 1957 through February 1987. Those who lived in the base’s Tarawa Terrace family housing units drank water contaminated with PCE from a dry-cleaning operation near the water source.

Researchers with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry — a group within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concerned with toxic chemicals — estimate that in 1985 the PCE in groundwater was at a concentration of approximately 800-1500 parts per billion. That’s far above the 5 ppb limit the EPA considers safe.

Over time, PCE breaks down into TCE; the researchers estimated that levels of TCE, which is subject to the same 5-ppb limit as PCE, were as high as 100 ppb.

The Marines drank considerably less of the solvents than were present in the groundwater, however. The water coming out of the water treatment plant contained about 200 ppb of PCE and up to 15 ppb of TCE.

The Camp Lejeune study found that older mothers (35 and older) and mothers who had a history of miscarriages generally gave birth to lower-weight babies than unexposed women. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is continuing to look at possible birth defects and childhood cancers linked to the exposures.

Should Southern Californians be drinking bottled water?

Researchers and the EPA say there’s no need, because even with the contamination, people in Southern California are drinking solvent-free water.

Not all water sources in the L.A. area are contaminated. Also, although not all of the groundwater in regions of concern in the L.A. area have been treated to contain less than the federal limit of 5 parts per billion, what comes out of your tap is not the same as what’s in the groundwater.

The treatment systems that clean up water before it reaches people’s faucets clear out the TCE, says EPA Superfund project manager David Stensby, who oversees water treatment in one of the Superfund sites, in Glendale.

The first treatment consists of blowing air through the water. Because TCE is volatile, it catches a ride on the air, and that removes about 98% of the TCE.

The water then flows through activated carbon filters, which removes the remaining solvent. Because the carbon filters can fill up just like carbon filters on home water filtration systems can, the water is checked at various points in the process to make sure there is no TCE.

“Our performance standard is zero, not at the end of the pipe, but before the last carbon filter,” Stensby says. He adds that the TCE-filled air also goes through carbon filters before it is released: “The TCE is captured one way or another.”

The groundwater being treated this way wasn’t being used before treatment. The EPA treatment systems were put in place when cities wanted to use the water from a contaminated source.

In parts of the L.A. area not covered by the Superfund effort, water is subject to the equally strict standards set out by the California Department of Public Health.

DEC shows Victor 3 cleanup options

Steve Orr
Staff writer

November 29, 2007 3:08 am — Three interim cleanup options for contaminated groundwater in a part of western Victor were outlined Wednesday for citizens who trickled into public sessions held by state officials.

State environmental officials will select one of the options, all of which would cost more than $1 million to implement, early next year. If all went as planned, actual cleanup work could begin in mid- to late 2008, said Jason Pelton, state Department of Environmental Conservation project manager for the Victor site.

The cleanup techniques are intended to reduce concentrations of industrial solvents, including trichloroethene, or TCE, that were first found in groundwater in 1990. The continuing presence of TCE there has provoked an uproar in parts of the Ontario County town this year.

The DEC called the public sessions at Victor Town Hall so citizens could ask questions one-on-one. Fewer than a half-dozen people stopped by during the first two hours Wednesday. The sessions continue this morning.

State officials said they will slightly expand testing this coming winter for the presence of TCE vapors, which can rise from the tainted groundwater through the soil. Sixty-four homes were tested this year, with TCE found in high enough levels in six of them that the DEC installed special ventilation systems. As a precaution, seven more homes, on the fringe of the area where houses have already been tested, will be checked this coming winter, Pelton said.

The three cleanup options cited at the sessions were:

? Installing a permeable underground barrier that would intercept the flow of tainted groundwater and remove the solvents or break down the solvents.

? Injecting “bioremedial” micro-organisms such as bacteria into the groundwater, where they break down the solvents into harmless constituents.

? Extracting solvent vapors from under the ground after injecting air to enhance the process.

Pelton said the public will have an opportunity to comment on the interim plan after DEC has chosen its preferred option. The agency has said it will have a final cleanup plan — which could call for continued use of the interim measure — in 2009.

SORR@DemocratandChronicle.com