BY DOUG SCHNEIDER •DSCHNEID@GANNETT.COM • APRIL 21, 2010, 8:50 PM

New Yorkers in the future will have a new way to help them determine if certain types of cancer are prevalent in areas where they live and work.

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Read the cancer cluster legislation

State senators Wednesday approved a measure that would require health officials to create maps of cancer cases across the state and make those maps available on the Internet. Officials hope the mapping will help them identify connections between cancers in specific locations, and environmental factors such as pollution.

“This information will be very, very helpful to identify types of cancer” within a geographic area, said state Sen. Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton. He is one of two sponsors of the measure, which adds the mapping requirement to a law adopted in 2008.

The proposal now goes to Gov. David Paterson for signature. Once signed, it would require preliminary maps to be posted by mid-2012, and updated maps in mid-2013.

Doctors will be required to fill out detailed reports for each cancer patient and submit that information to the state health department. That information will be fed into a database — updated periodically — used to create the maps. Patients would not be publicly identified.

Cancer “hot spots” — neighborhoods where the same types of cancers occur more often than typically would be expected — have become an issue in recent years in some Southern Tier communities.

Near Binghamton, cancer hot spots have been identified in Endicott and Hillcrest. The Endicott issue prompted lawsuits, the installation of basement-ventilation systems in more than 400 homes, and the construction of monitoring wells after vapor from a suspected carcinogen called trichloroethylene was detected underground near a former IBM plant on North Street and elsewhere in the village.

In Hillcrest, TCE was found in soil and groundwater samples taken from around a former military depot off Nowlan Road. Six children from that neighborhood were diagnosed with cancer in the 1990s.

In Elmira, New York and Chemung County health officials investigated a suspected cancer cluster among Southside High School students and alumni diagnosed with testicular cancer. The school was built in 1979 on property contaminated by more than a century of heavy industry. The probe concluded that the site posed no health risks.

The mapping project would help establish environmental links behind preponderances of certain cancers in an area, Libous said.

Libous said the data could help lawmakers direct funding for health or environmental initiatives that would benefit communities that have cancer issues. The project, however, will not include data from cancer deaths that occurred in the past.

The bill duplicates one approved earlier by the state Assembly, which was co-sponsored by Endwell Democrat Donna Lupardo.

Assistant Managing Editor Al Vieira contributed to this report.

A series of recent deaths of New York police and fire officers who took part in the rescue operation at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks has prompted fears of a delayed epidemic of cancer-related illness.

Five firefighters and police officers, all of whom were involved in the rescue and clear-up following the terrorist attack, have died of cancer in the past three months, the Guardian reports. Three died last month within a four-day period.

Those three were Robert Grossman, a Harlem-based police officer who spent several weeks at the emergency site and died of a brain tumour aged 41; fellow police officer Cory Diaz, 37; and firefighter Richard Mannetta, 44.

In addition, John McNamara, a 44-year-old firefighter, died in September; and Renee Dunbar, a police officer in her late 30s, died in August.

The cluster of deaths comes as Congress is under pressure to pass legislation that would provide federal help to emergency workers who have contracted illnesses since 9/11.

Up to 70,000 people took part in the massive operation at the site of the fallen Twin Towers, including police, firefighters and construction workers who came to New York voluntarily from all over the US. Many worked for months amid a toxic haze of dust and chemicals.

Amid the pollutants within the giant pile of 1.8m tons of debris and the surrounding air were 90,000 litres of jet fuel from the two stricken planes, about 1,000 tons of asbestos that was used in the construction of the Twin Towers, pulverised lead from computers, mercury and highly carcinogenic by-products from the burning of plastics and chlorinated chemicals.

No official tally is available for the number of those who have died as a result of the 9/11 clear-up. The New York state health department has recorded 817 deaths of emergency workers but it cannot confirm categorically how many of those were directly linked to the site.

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Outside help tapped in Victor pollution case
By Julie Sherwood
Messenger Post
Thu Aug 02, 2007, 11:31 AM EDT

Victor, N.Y. -
Professionals from California and the University of Rochester joined a dozen or so residents Tuesday at a Dryer Road home to try and speed an investigation regarding groundwater contamination.

State officials have set a 2008-09 time frame for completing testing and cleanup for the contamination that was first discovered 17 years ago. The citizens’ group that met at the home of Michael and Jackie Barry is working to speed up that process, as well as bring about change in Albany and Washington, D.C. regarding tougher regulations and more oversight of pollutants.

“The bottom line is safety for the community,” said Dominic Mazzaferro of Gates, who built his Dryer Road home in 1986.

He lived there until 1995, never knowing he and his wife, Shirley, had been drinking well water contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) far above a level deemed safe.
Shirley Mazzaferro died of brain cancer in 2005. She is one of 16 people the citizens’ group has identified as having died of a cancer that they believe is linked to TCE that was found in western Victor along a mile-long area south of Modock Road springs. The group discovered 50 households whose families have had members stricken with a cancer they believe to be tied to TCE exposure.

Dee Lewis, executive director of National Disease Cluster Alliance, and Lenny Siegel, executive director of Center for Public Environmental Oversight — both California-based advocacy groups — counseled residents Wednesday about how they can find answers and protect others from TCE exposure.

Based on the premise that no government agencies track or respond sufficiently to disease clusters in communities, Lewis explained how her organization began with a group of citizens discovering and tracking themselves the effects of TCE in a neighborhood in South Sacramento, Calif., in the late 1990s. They collected data on 25,000 people from 8,000 homes, and called on national experts in the analysis, she said. It caught the attention of government officials, who then closed off the polluted well and cleaned up the contamination.

“You have to come together,” said Lewis.

In the case of Victor, citizens are looking for tighter restrictions on acceptable levels of TCE exposure, as well as more efficient methods of tracking exactly what that exposure is.

Siegel said his group based near San Francisco helps and encourages people to organize themselves and lobby hard for action.

“There is a direct relationship between what people demand and what the government does,” he said. “You always have to stay on their case.”

Siegel advised the group to petition to have Victor’s contaminated area identified as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site — those sites prioritized primarily according to their toxicity and/or proximity to residential areas.

Joining the meeting via speaker phone was Deborah Hall of Hopewell Junction, a community north of New York City that was put on the EPA Superfund list for TCE contamination. Hall said the benefits of getting on the list included access to tools and equipment that tracked and analyzed data more quickly and effectively.

Katrina Smith Korfmacher is community outreach coordinator for a division of the University of Rochester’s Department of Environmental Medicine. While the university can’t directly staff or fund citizens’ efforts, she said, it can “work around the edges” to help community groups link with national organizations, researchers, and scientists who can help. Also attending the meeting to offer help from the university was Kate M. Kuholski, project manager for the university’s Center for Science Education and Outreach.

Two Democratic candidates running for the two open seats on Victor Town Board also attended the meeting at the Barry home. John Palomaki and John Accorso both said they supported efforts to resolve the many problems related to the pollution.

“The town needs to be an advocate,” said Accorso.

“It’s time to stop blaming and start doing something,” said Palomaki.

Julie Sherwood can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 263, or at jsherwood@mpnewspapers.com.

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July 18, 2008

Hopewell residents meet to discuss Superfund site progress

Hundreds of residents packed a meeting Thursday night in which the EPA discussed the ongoing plans for the Hopewell Precision Superfund site.

Debra Hall is a resident and active proponent of installing a system to bring water from the Little Switzerland area to the homes in the affected area, rather than make those residents rely on contaminated well water.

Affected areas are near Ryan Drive, Creamery Road, Clove Branch Road and Old Farm Road.

She said she’s satisfied with the way the EPA has been handling the situation.

“The EPA’s been very good,” she said Friday morning. “I even got up and said that at the meeting.”

Hopewell Junction residents have been plagued by trichloroethylene, or TCE, a chemical the Hopewell Precision plant dumped into the ground during the 1970s.

Some people who were exposed to TCE have been diagnosed with cancer, kidney and liver damage and other illnesses.

By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

Posted Tuesday January 1, 2008

Tree rings may help explain Hillcrest cancer cluster

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By Tom Wilber
Press & Sun-Bulletin

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HILLCREST — It will likely be sometime in March or April before scientists know whether trees in Hillcrest contain a record of environmental toxins that could help explain a cluster of childhood cancers diagnosed within blocks of one another in the late 1990s.

Researchers at the University of Arizona are waiting for a new round of funding to pay for laboratory analysis of tree rings they collected in August in the area, said Mark Witten, a pediatric toxicologist and faculty member at the University of Arizona.

The analysis would show whether trees absorbed heavy metals and other toxic substances from the environment during specific years.

The search for pollution in Hillcrest, which intensified after the childhood cancers were diagnosed, has documented heavy metals and solvents in the ground, providing a starting point for cleanup efforts in the 1990s.

Additionally, a 2003 discovery found a subterranean plume of trichloroethylene (TCE) was forming gases and entering some buildings in the neighborhood.

But none of the testing to date has given researchers a sense of how long pollution has been a factor, whether it could be responsible for the illnesses, or what concentrations may have been in the past.

Witten and his colleagues hope to learn more with the tree ring study.

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ANNETTE LEIN file photo

Water runs down from an underground spring on a hill forming a pond near Modock Road in Victor. By some accounts, New York is at the cutting edge on a hot-button environmental concern. Others say it was tardy and has years of work to do.

Vapor intrusion may be crucial test for DEC

Steve Orr
Staff writer

(December 16, 2007) — By some accounts, New York is at the cutting edge on a hot-button environmental concern. Others say the state was tardy and has years of work to do.

At issue is vapor intrusion, a phenomenon in which chemical vapors can rise from underground contamination and accumulate in buildings, putting occupants at risk.

Under the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s program, hundreds of sites around the state are under study for evidence of vapor intrusion.

To date, more than 1,200 homes or other buildings in New York have needed measures to alleviate toxic vapor intrusion. Nearly half are in Endicott, Broome County, where the vapor intrusion issue rose to prominence in 2003.

Six are in Victor, where the DEC continues to explore groundwater contamination found in 1990.

But the program, begun soon after the extent of problems in Endicott became known, remains a work in progress. Studies have been completed at only about 20 percent of the old waste disposal sites that New York set out to examine.

Hundreds more sites, including dozens in the Rochester area, await a DEC assessment to determine whether building occupants have anything to fear from below-ground vapors.

Those efforts should have begun sooner, some say.

“It’s really just a huge mistake on the agency’s part,” said Anne Rabe, a longtime environmental activist who is a campaign coordinator for the Center for Health, Environment & Justice.

“Under Governor (George) Pataki, there was a political determination to cut back on looking at off-site contamination. It was a more industry-friendly program. They cut corners, and they created these Endicott sites — by not investigating vapor intrusion.”

Denise Sheehan, the DEC commissioner in the last two years of the Pataki administration, said experts in New York and elsewhere did not recognize the threat posed by toxic vapors until a few years ago. “You have to respond to the science. Over the years, the science has changed,” she said.

Current DEC commissioner Pete Grannis, appointed in April by first-year Gov. Eliot Spitzer, said he is not sure the agency was late getting to the issue.

“Should they have been more aggressive sooner? Possibly,” said Grannis, who dealt with environmental issues as a member of the state Assembly. “I’m a big believer in us being ahead of the curve, (but) I don’t think anybody truly understood the breadth of and the concerns about vapor intrusion.”

Today, he said, the DEC has “the most far-reaching and aggressive vapor intrusion investigative program in the country.”

Lenny Siegel, an environmental activist in California who advises groups about vapor intrusion, praised New York’s program as “leading edge” at a recent public forum in Albany.

Issue developed slowly

For years, experts in New York and elsewhere had known that vapors from chemicals in the soil or groundwater could infiltrate buildings. Public health concerns at Love Canal in Niagara County in the late 1970s were based partly on fear of toxic vapors, and neighborhoods around Kodak Park in Rochester had extensive vapor-intrusion testing in the late 1980s.

During the 1990s, however, vapor intrusion remained a low-profile concern at New York toxic spill and dump sites.

That ended around 1999, when officials at the DEC and the state Department of Health took note of new findings in other states. This research held that vapors, especially from the industrial solvent trichloroethene, or TCE, were much more likely to rise through soil than had been thought. Research also showed that the method used to evaluate sites for vapor intrusion potential was inaccurate.

TCE, once widely used for metal degreasing and other purposes, may cause cancer and other health problems in people exposed to high-enough doses.

The vapor intrusion issue hit the headlines in New York in February 2003, when officials announced that testing had found TCE vapors seeping into the basements of homes and commercial buildings in Endicott from spills at a former IBM Corp. facility.

Later in 2003, the DEC and Health Department launched their major program to look for vapor intrusion at waste disposal sites, including 421 older sites where cleanup decisions had already been made.

DEC officials began poring through records of older waste sites, some of them uncovered two decades ago, to assess the possibility of vapor intrusion. Field testing often followed.

Evaluations have been completed at 89, or 21 percent, of the 421 older sites, according to a summary provided by the DEC Thursday. Work is under way at 66 percent of the sites and hasn’t started at 13 percent.

Findings at more than 20 of the sites led to installation of ventilation systems to collect vapors from below basement slabs before they can enter the buildings.

Decisions about ventilation systems are based largely on field testing, which New York relies on more than some states. Vapor tests are done beneath the building foundation, in the basement and on the first floor.

In total, work to address vapor intrusion has been done at 1,240 structures in New York, according to a recent Health Department summary. Sub-basement ventilation systems have been installed at 972 homes or other residential buildings and at 32 commercial structures.

A first round of vapor testing was completed this fall at a Gates neighborhood where groundwater is contaminated with trichloroethene. The TCE came from a leaking storage tank discovered at a factory two decades ago.

Six homes in the neighborhood required ventilation systems, the DEC concluded, and more testing is planned.

“I’m not unduly worried,” said Bill Winchell, who had nothing but praise for the state workers who plan to install a ventilation system under his basement.

“Having been here for 12 years, I never detected anything unusual, so it all came as a surprise that there’s possibly a problem. That’s what they’re doing — they’re saying there’s a remote possibility there’s a problem, so let’s fix it.”

SORR@DemocratandChronicle.com

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.

By Tom Wilber
Press & Sun-Bulletin

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ENDICOTT — Negotiations to settle more than $100 million in health and property claims related to pollution from the former IBM factory have failed, leaving attorneys representing nearly 1,000 area clients planning to file a lawsuit against the company in January.

IBM’s offer of $3 million to settle all claims, with a release from further action, fell well short of expectation, according to a letter dated Nov. 27 from Levene Gouldin & Thompson to clients.

The plaintiffs will move ahead with litigation “based on these very disappointing developments, especially in light of more than three years we had spent meeting with IBM in what we always assumed was good faith bargaining,” the letter states.

A group of lawyers representing the plaintiffs are meeting in Philadelphia Thursday to plan the next step.

According to the letter, the $3 million did not include personal injury claims, which IBM believes are without merit. But the settlement would include a provision that would release the company from those claims, anyway.

The claims stem from a subterranean plume of trichloroethylene (TCE) found to be creating fumes and wafting into homes and buildings near the plant.

Lawyers for IBM cited changes in the company’s management that created “a new attitude … concerning claims arising from chemical contamination, and the type of litigation through which contamination claims are asserted and resolved,” according to the letter.

IBM representatives could not be reached Wednesday night. In the past, the company has declined to comment on litigation as a matter of company policy.

Bush vetoes funds for IBM cancer study

Hinchey still hopeful $3.2M will be approved in future bill

By Tom Wilber
Press & Sun-Bulletin

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President Bush vetoed a spending bill this week that would have funded a $3.2 million cancer-rate study of IBM workers in Endicott.

The measure, championed by U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, included language directing the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to conduct the IBM study using funds in this year’s budget. It was part of a $150.7 billion Labor Health and Education appropriation bill vetoed on Monday.

Congressional proponents of the bill will have to go back to the drawing board after failing to muster enough votes for an override.

Hinchey, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said the IBM study will remain a priority and any new spending measure should contain a similar clause ensuring its funding.

“We feel pretty comfortable this will be OK,” Hinchey spokesman Jeff Lieberman said Friday. Continue Reading »