EPA acknowledges Barletta’s concerns about cancer in Pittston
http://citizensvoice.com/news/epa-acknowledges-barletta-s-concerns-about-pittston-1.1153049#axzz1NN3RonoJ
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 27, 2011
A day after U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta penned a terse letter urging further investigation into a rash of cancer cases in Pittston, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged it received the congressman’s request and said it will review the letter and consider an appropriate response.
As for any other comment, that will likely be reserved for another day, EPA spokesman Roy Seneca said Thursday, two days after dozens of Pittston residents gathered at a city middle school to discuss the cause of numerous cases of cancer on Mill and Carroll streets.
At that meeting, the EPA and the state Department of Health discounted the residents’ theory that the nearby Butler Mine Tunnel, once an illegal dumping ground for millions of gallons of oil waste and other chemicals, contributed to the rash of cancer.
On Wednesday, though, Barletta urged the EPA to further investigate whether any hazardous substance has contaminated the ground, air or water around the streets in question. He wrote that he was “deeply concerned that EPA seems to be ignoring the residents of the Carroll/Mill neighborhood, and the people of Pittston in general.”
“If there is a cancer cluster in this area, what is the cause of it? If the Butler Mine Tunnel is not the cause, is there an environmental cause? And if there is an environmental cause, can it be remediated?” Barletta wrote. “These are all very serious questions, and the EPA is the federal agency that should provide the answers.”
As of Thursday, the EPA kept its response to Barletta’s letter succinct and offered no timetable for further action.
“I really don’t have anything to say to that,” Seneca said of Barletta’s accusation the EPA is ignoring Pittston. “We received a letter, and we’re reviewing it. We’ll be responding appropriately.”
Barletta, R-Hazleton, wrote his letter to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, latching onto the frustration many residents expressed at Tuesday’s open house at Martin L. Mattei Middle School. They asked the EPA and the state Department of Health to focus their investigation of the cancer cases on Mill and Carroll streets, where some residents say between 60 to 80 people have cancer.
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state’s bureau of epidemiology, said analyzing the number of cancer diagnoses of such a small area would not provide adequate data to conclude a cancer cluster exists.
Mitch Cron, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site, repeatedly told residents that they are not exposed to contaminants from the mine tunnel and that the water running through it is “generally very clean.”
When Cron told residents no further testing would be done in the affected area, one man walked out of the meeting and concluded the EPA had “wasted all of our time.”
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Barletta asks EPA for further investigation of ‘cancer cluster’ in Pittston neighborhood
http://citizensvoice.com/news/barletta-asks-epa-for-further-investigation-of-cancer-cluster-1.1152465#axzz1NN3RonoJ
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 26, 2011
In a sharply worded letter sent to the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta requested further investigation into a Pittston neighborhood where residents say dozens of people have been diagnosed with or died of cancer.
Barletta, R-Hazleton, wants additional testing for hazardous materials in the soil, air and water around Mill and Carroll streets, located near the mouth of the Butler Mine Tunnel. Residents have wondered if the rash of cancer stems from the mine drainage tunnel, once illegally filled with millions of gallons of oil waste and chemicals.
“The residents of the Carroll/Mill neighborhood of Pittston, Pennsylvania, are scared,” Barletta wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “They are concerned that they and their children are exposed to something in the environment that is causing an unusual rise in cancer rates.”
Barletta’s request came a day after EPA officials told dozens of residents gathered at Martin L. Mattei Middle School in Pittston that the agency would not consider additional testing around Mill and Carroll streets. One man, disgusted by the response, stormed from the room and said, “You wasted all of our time.”
Mitch Cron, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site, repeatedly told residents that they are not exposed to contaminants from the mine tunnel and that the water running through it is “generally very clean.”
Residents didn’t buy his explanation, nor a state Department of Health official’s conclusion that the dozens of cases of cancer do not qualify as a cancer cluster.
Residents complained that the Department of Health based its conclusion upon too wide a swath of residents. Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state’s bureau of epidemiology, bolstered his argument with data culled from the entire 18640 area code, while residents argued the investigation should focus just on Mill and Carroll streets in Pittston.
Chris Meninchini, whose father Chuck lives on Carroll Street and has been diagnosed with lymphoma and colon cancer, suggested someone from EPA canvas the affected neighborhood.
“Someone from your department has to get up and do the job and go door to door,” he told Cron.
Focusing on a specific neighborhood would not provide enough data for an adequate conclusion, Ostroff said, equating it to judging a baseball player’s ability by his batting average only a few games into the season.
Barletta and state Sen. John Yudichak have both said that if the cause of the cancer is not the Butler Mine Tunnel, alternate causes must be investigated. The EPA’s refusal to conduct more testing in the neighborhood in question specifically irked Barletta.
“Frankly, this is unacceptable,” he wrote in his letter. “The EPA’s own website indicates that one of the agency’s primary reasons for existence is to ensure that ‘all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work.'”
Barletta’s office released the letter late Wednesday afternoon. EPA officials could not be reached for comment.
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Learn what You Can Do To Protect Drinking Water
WREN OFFERS TWO FREE WORKSHOPS IN JUNE
Communities undergoing natural gas development have expressed a keen interest in protecting the purity of public water supplies. To help communities, planners, and public water systems learn more about available tools and management options to protect drinking water now and for future generations, WREN and PA DEP are bringing a pair of free workshops to Ridgway, Elk County, on June 21st and June 22nd at the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning & Development Commission facilities.
On June 21st , the “Protecting Public Drinking Water: Source Water Protection Solutions” Workshop will cover the basics of source water protection, outline roles and responsibilities, and introduce tools like DEP’s Source Water Protection Technical Assistance Program and PA Rural Water’s assistance program that provide protection plans that focus on prevention, before contamination happens. WREN’s Julie Kollar, and Mark Stephens, P.G. at DEP North Central Region will present. The workshop will run from 1 pm – 4:45 pm and is approved by DEP for 3.5 contact hours for water operators.
On June 22nd, WREN will offer “Source Water Protection through Planning & Leadership,” featuring advanced source water protection training with a “train the trainer” workshop for planners, local governments, water systems, and interested citizens who want to learn more about source water protection strategies. WREN’s Julie Kollar and DEP’s Mark Stephens will be joined by PMPEI-certified planning instructor D. Jeffrey Pierce, Director of Community Planning at Olsen and Associates, LLC who will present “Planning Tools for Municipalities, along with Professor Ross H. Pifer, Director, Agricultural Law and Reference Center, Penn State Law who will present “State Pre-Emption of a Municipality’s Authority to Regulate Oil and Gas Operations.” Mark Szybist, Staff Attorney at PennFuture will wrap up with a session covering “What Municipalities Can Do Now.” The workshop will be conducted from 10 am – 2:15 pm, also at the North Central PA Regional Planning & development Commission in Ridgeway.
To learn more, download a flyer and register online, go to www.sourcewaterpa.org
No common ground found on cancer ‘cluster’
http://citizensvoice.com/news/no-common-ground-found-on-cancer-cluster-1.1152060#axzz1NN3RonoJ
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 25, 2011
PITTSTON – To prove the existence of a cancer cluster near the Butler Mine Tunnel, residents arrived at a city school on Tuesday armed with anecdotal evidence – exhibits like a bald head hidden under a ball cap, scars from medical treatments and stories of friends and family who succumbed to cancer.
To discount the existence of a cancer cluster near the Butler Mine Tunnel, scientists from the state Department of Health and officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency arrived to the school with empirical evidence – 17 year’s worth of data, literature and detailed presentations.
The two sides, meeting in the Martin L. Mattei Middle School’s cafeteria, never quite reached a common ground. Instead, residents lobbed questions – and frustrated grumbles – toward officials from the EPA and Department of Health when told the 60 or more cases of cancer that have accumulated on Mill and Carroll streets do not qualify as a cancer cluster.
Such an assertion, residents said, is hard to believe considering the Butler Mine Tunnel looms beneath portions of the city. The tunnel, designed as a drainage outlet for a maze of abandoned mines, served as an illegal dumping ground for oil waste in the late 1970s and twice spewed its sludge into the Susquehanna River.
“Who shot Kennedy?” said Chuck Meninchini, a Carroll Street resident diagnosed with lymphoma in February.
While allusions to a cover-up at worst and a lack of answers at best filtered through the room, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site, Mitch Cron, tried to assure residents the mine tunnel posed no present danger to them.
“The public is not exposed to contamination from the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site,” Cron said, uttering a line he would repeat several times throughout the night.
The EPA has found oil and grease residue near a borehole at the Hi-Way Auto Services Station, the business that allowed the waste to be dumped into the ground from 1977-79, Cron said. And though one hazardous chemical was detected in amounts above drinking water standards, Cron said that the mine water is not used for drinking and that the water running through the tunnel now is “generally very clean.”
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state’s bureau of epidemiology, presented data that showed Pittston’s cancer rate outpaces the state average by 11 percent, with an excess of lung, colon and thyroid cancer diagnoses from 1992 to 2008.
Still, Ostroff couldn’t confirm the presence of a cancer cluster, defined by the EPA as an “occurrence of a greater than expected number of cases of a particular disease within a group of people, a geographic area or a period of time.”
City residents suffered from a wide range of cancers, while cancer clusters generally involve a large number of one type of cancer or a rare cancer, Ostroff said. The types of cancers found in excess in Pittston, Ostroff said, usually are not caused by exposure to chemicals.
“That’s the bottom line,” he said.
Most residents disagreed with Ostroff.
Some questioned why the Department of Health examined the entire 18640 zip code instead of limiting its examination of Pittston to just Mill and Carroll streets, where most residents say they’ve noticed inflated numbers of cancers. A small sample size, Ostroff said, would not provide sufficient data.
Others discounted the data from the state cancer registry, and one resident even suggested to “delete” it. Another man walked out when Cron said the EPA had no plans to test soil samples from homes on Mill and Carroll streets.
Edward Appel lives on Mill Street and came to the school with his wife, Helen. She sat in a wheelchair beside Edward, who described his wife’s past battle with breast cancer, then brain tumors. He believes the mine tunnel must be connected to Helen’s trip through “hell.”
“It’s easy to say nothing’s happening – by the people that don’t have the cancer,” Edward Appel said.
Another Mill Street resident, George Boone, collected some of the pamphlets at the open house. A heavy white bandage wrapped around his left arm told the story of the kidney dialysis he endures three times a week, while his shirt hid the scar left when surgeons removed his right kidney about 11 years ago at the outset of his battle with kidney cancer.
Boone’s friend, Phyllis Hadley, said cancer claimed in-laws and her husband. Then she rattled off surnames of several city families who have lost someone to cancer.
“You know what,” Hadley said, “if you stopped to think ⦠” “⦠You’ll count forever,” Boone said, finishing her thought.
The anecdotal evidence hasn’t changed the mind of the EPA or the Department of Health, both of which stood by past research and observations.
Area elected officials such as state Sen. John Yudichak and U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, though, left residents with a vow to continue the search for clarity about Pittston’s high rate of cancer. Barletta would like to see additional testing to find out if there’s a root cause, said his spokesman, Shawn Kelly.
“Even if it’s not the Butler Mine Tunnel, we want to make sure it’s not something,” Kelly said. “The people here deserve answers.”
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Doctors raise questions about health impacts of drilling
http://citizensvoice.com/news/doctors-raise-questions-about-health-impacts-of-drilling-1.1151308#axzz1NGoFQInA
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: May 24, 2011
Area physicians brought their questions about the potential health impacts of natural gas drilling to a symposium on the issue Monday night and learned how much about those impacts has yet to be studied.
The Lackawanna County Medical Society sponsored the forum as an introduction to the gas drilling process and its relative risks to drinking and surface water.
Kim Scandale, executive director of the society, said the hope is to address at future sessions some of the unanswered questions raised by the doctors – everything from where to report symptoms potentially related to the drilling to whether there have been epidemiological studies in other gas-drilling states.
Bryan Swistock, water resources extension specialist for Penn State Cooperative Extension and a presenter at the symposium, emphasized the importance of pre- and post-drilling water tests of residential wells. The tests can document any changes to water supplies that might help doctors understand symptoms, he said.
He also detailed the lack of state standards for drinking water wells, which can lead to poor construction and unsafe health conditions even before gas drilling begins.
Doctors in the audience raised concerns about how to determine if symptoms can be connected to nearby drilling, especially since patients’ complaints tend to be “very nebulous, like numbness and joint pain.”
The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute is in the early stages of planning a study of baseline health conditions in the Northern Tier to help measure any health impacts from drilling if they do occur, the center’s medical director and director of research Samuel Lesko, M.D., said.
“At least it will give us some baseline data that might be useful five years or six months from now,” he said.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Cancer cases raise worry in Pittston neighborhood
http://citizensvoice.com/news/cancer-cases-raise-worry-in-pittston-neighborhood-1.1149970#axzz1MzQ9BcoU
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 21, 2011
It seems everybody who lives near Chuck Meninchini is sick.
The radius of disease circles Mill Street and Carroll Street in Pittston, Meninchini’s hometown.
In a one-block radius on the streets five people have brain cancer, Meninchini said. And there’s more. Fifteen people in the area, Meninchini said, suffer from esophageal cancer.
“How rare is that?” he said.
All told, more than 80 families include somebody who is battling cancer, Meninchini said. He’s one of them, diagnosed with lymphoma in February.
Meninchini believes there’s a connection. Namely, the Butler Mine Tunnel. It was built before the 1930s to provide mine drainage for the maze of underground coal mines that run under the small city, but eventually became an illegal dumping ground for millions of gallons of oil waste collected by a nearby service station.
The Butler Mine Tunnel runs near Meninchini’s homes on 200 Carroll St., eventually discharging into the Susquehanna River. Meninchini believes whole-heartedly the sludge that has built up below caused his cancer and the diseases of those around him.
“You’re talking two streets. It doesn’t make sense to me,” Meninchini said. “If something wasn’t going on, prove me different. Show me where it’s coming from.”
Meninchini’s doctor, he said, told him exposure to benzene caused his cancer.
According to records from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the Pittston Mine Tunnel spewed an oily discharge into the Susquehanna River on July 30, 1979. Contaminants from the oil slick stretched from shoreline to shoreline, the records indicate, and drifted 60 miles downstream to Danville.
Responding to the emergency, the EPA installed booms on the river and collected 160,000 gallons of oil waste. The booms also collected 13,000 pounds of dichlorobenzene, a chemical used to make herbicides, insecticides, medicine and dyes, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.
The particular type of dichlorobenzene found in the river has not been tested to see if it can cause cancer, according to the agency. Another type of the chemical, though, “could play a role in the development of cancer in humans, but we do not definitely know this,” the agency concluded in its public health statement about dichlorobenzene.
In 1985, after heavy rains associated with Hurricane Gloria, the Butler Mine Tunnel spewed another 100,000 gallons of oily waste into the river and prompted another boom cleanup.
While the EPA has not connected the rash of cancer to the Butler Mine Tunnel, Meninchini wonders if chemicals eventually worked their way into the soil and into the vegetables people ate, he said. He wonders if he was exposed to any chemicals while working as a plumber in the city.
Answers – which Meninchini said have been tough to extract from government officials – might come next week.
State and federal officials have scheduled an open house for Tuesday to discuss the Butler Mine Tunnel. Representatives from the EPA, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, among others, will attend the event at the Martin L. Mattei Middle School on New Street in Pittston.
The open house runs from 4 to 6 p.m. with a presentation and follow-up session afterwards. Postcards detailing the event were mailed to about 1,500 homes in the vicinity of the tunnel, and Meninchini expects plenty of residents to show up. A woman from Connecticut, he said, even called him about it.
Until then, Meninchini continues to fight his cancer. The lymphoma, which originally riddled his stomach, pancreas, liver and spleen, has been beaten back in some places, but Meninchini said he was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and faces surgery.
Meninchini can’t work anymore, and he’s blown through his savings and cashed in his 401(k) to fund the thousands of dollars of medical expenses not covered by insurance.
Meninchini doesn’t want to get rich by publicizing the cancer outbreak – he just wants people’s health expenses financed, he said.
This week, friends and family have organized a “night-at-the-races” fundraiser to offset some of Meninchini’s health care costs – it runs from 2 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Italian Citizens Club in Pittston and includes food, drink and a wager.
An EPA official who oversees the Butler Mine Tunnel did not return a phone call seeking comment.
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Tamaqua properties illegally discharging into Wabash Creek
http://www.tnonline.com/node/197237
Reported on Friday, May 20, 2011
By LIZ PINKEY tneditor@tnonline.com
Fifty six properties in the borough of Tamaqua have been identified as having active or once active illegal sewer connections to the Wabash Creek.
Those that were once active may need further investigation to determine if they will need to be addressed. Council president Micah Gursky announced the findings of a recent study at this week’s borough council meeting, stating that property owners have already been notified by certified mail.
“As sad as it is that we have illegal discharge, it’s nice to see a list finally verifying who is illegally connected,” said Gursky. “There have always been rumors.”
The list is now available to the general public and can be viewed at the borough building.
“This is just the beginning,” said Gursky. “There are a lot of folks who have to connect and a lot of work to be done over the next several months to connect them.”
The majority of the properties are located along S. Lehigh, W. Broad, Rowe, S. Railroad and Nescopec streets. Gursky added that
The borough has until August to address the problems to avoid further issues with DEP, which has already cited the borough for the illegal discharge. Property owners have 60 days to connect to the sewage system.
Borough manager Kevin Steigerwalt asked borough residents for their continued cooperation in the matter.
“So far, the people have have contacted us with questions have been very cooperative. We appreciate that,” he said.
The borough does have a revolving loan program that could be available to property owners who need financial assistance to have the work completed. More information on that program is available from the borough.
National cancer prevention study looking for local volunteers
http://citizensvoice.com/news/national-cancer-prevention-study-looking-for-local-volunteers-1.1140396#axzz1LCf5p0Sg
By Erin L. Nissley, Staff Writer
Published: May 2, 2011
Next month, Northeastern Pennsylvanians will have an opportunity to participate in a groundbreaking national study that will examine how lifestyle, genetics and the environment can cause or prevent cancer.
The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study-3 is seeking to enroll up to 500,000 people from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico over the next few years. Enrollments locally will be taken during the Relay for Life event in Hazleton on from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 4, said local cancer study chairwoman Amy Herbener.
Men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 who have never been diagnosed with cancer can enroll in the study. At the Relay for Life event, potential enrollees must complete a brief written survey, provide some physical measurements and give a small blood sample. A more comprehensive survey must be completed at home.
And over the next two or three decades, participants will be asked to fill out follow-up surveys every few years, Herbener said.
“This has the potential to change so much,” from advances in cancer screenings to finding a cure, she said. “It’s about 15 hours of time over the course of someone’s lifetime (to fill out the surveys).”
It is the third such study undertaken by the American Cancer Society. The first began in the 1950s and played a major role in understanding cancer prevention and risk, especially the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer and the impact of air pollution on heart and lung conditions, according to American Cancer Society officials.
A second study, which began in 1982, is still ongoing.
Samuel Lesko, M.D., a research and medical director at the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, said comprehensive studies like this can be a powerful tool for understanding the causes of cancer and the differences in how tumors develop. He said the study will likely examine participants’ DNA to see how subtle differences in genetics can impact the risk or acceleration of cancer.
People who want more information or to pre-register should call the American Cancer Society in Hazleton at 570-459-1212 or visit www.relayforlife.org/pagreaterhazleton.
enissley@timesshamrock.com
Luzerne, Schuylkill and Carbon counties rank among the unhealthiest in the state
Luzerne ranked only 59th healthiest of the state’s 67 counties, according to the County Health Rankings report issued Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute.
Schuylkill ranked 56th while Carbon ranked 61st, the report said. The healthiest county in the state, which received the number one ranking, was Chester County.
The nationwide report looks at a variety of factors that contribute to the overall health ranking, including premature death rate, access to healthy foods, income, access to doctors, use of preventative screenings, environmental factors, and health behaviors such as smoking, obesity and alcohol use.
Luzerne, Schuylkill and Carbon all had higher than state and national rates for smoking, obesity, excessive drinking and motor vehicle crash death rates, the report said.
“It’s hard to lead a healthy life if you don’t live in a healthy community,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The County Health Rankings are an annual checkup for communities to know how healthy they are and where they can improve.”
The numbers didn’t surprise Drums physician Phillip Benyo, who was interviewing candidates for the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton Friday afternoon.
“There’s a lot of blame to go around,” he said. “As physicians, we’re not treating preventative and health issues, instead we’re treating diseases.”
Patients share some of the blame as well, Benyo added.
“We live in an abusive, health-wise, society,” he said, pointing to unwise choices about smoking and food, and neglecting to treat silent diseases such as hypertension and high cholesterol.
Benyo said some people take better care of their cars.
“They take their cars for annual inspections, and our cars can be replaced. We come in last on the list of things to do,” Benyo said.
“Patients and physicians need to join together and grow the boat of wellness,” he said.
Benyo hopes the new medical college will turn out physicians willing to stay in the area, allowing patients greater access to health care, especially preventative measures.
The report showed that people in Luzerne, Carbon and Schuylkill counties had access to fewer primary care physicians.
Nationally, there is one primary care physician per 631 people, and one for 838 people in Pennsylvania, the report said. In Luzerne County, there is one physician for every 1,027 people; Carbon has one for every 2,121 people and Schuylkill one for every 1,989, the report said.
Linda Thomas-Hemack, a primary care physician and program director for the internal medicine residency at the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, said the shortage of doctors is “an impending disaster” for the community.
“Access is a pillar of the population’s health,” she said.
To read the report, visit www.countyhealthrankings.org/pennsylvania.
Staff writer Erin Nissley contributed to this report.
By KELLY MONITZ (Staff Writer)
Published: April 2, 2011
http://standardspeaker.com/news/area-s-health-among-state-s-worst-1.1126997
Tamaqua-area cancer cases to be part of Senate hearing on disease clusters
Disease clusters that have sickened a large number of people in the area and other states will be the topic of a Senate hearing today in Washington.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hear testimony on the proposed U.S. Senate Bill 76, the “Disease Cluster Act,” aimed at confirming disease clusters and finding their causes.
Gina Solomon, senior scientist with the National Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental action group, will present a report that has confirmed 42 disease clusters in 13 states across the country since 1976, including two locally.
The report references a cluster of polycythemia vera cases in Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties. In 2008, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry confirmed the diagnoses of polycythemia vera in 33 people and found rates in some areas exceeded the overall county rate by four times. Residents have pointed out that their homes are near McAdoo Associates, where toxic material was recycled and dumped until 1979 and the site made the federal Superfund list of the nation’s most toxic places.
Polycythemia vera is a blood disorder in which the bone marrow produces too many red blood cells, which causes the blood to thicken.
The report also references another cluster of 12 employees of Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18 who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lupus. According to the report, in 2004, Penn State University found health hazards when trichloroethylene, or TCE, was used to clean two printing presses in the administration building in Kingston, near Wilkes-Barre. The solvent routinely spilled onto the carpet. Researchers found TCE exposures were 10,000 times higher than what the Environmental Protection Agency considers an acceptable cancer risk for someone working in the building for at least 10 years.
“The report is being released at the Senate hearing because of the problems of disease clusters across the country, how they’re being investigated and whether they’re being adequately investigated,” Solomon said. “What I would like to see is better coordination between state and federal agencies and clear guidelines for how to investigate disease clusters and to have more community involvement.”
Others who will testify at the hearing include Trevor Schaefer, a 21-year-old brain cancer survivor from Boise, Idaho, and Erin Brockovich, who became well-known for her fight to document a disease cluster in Hinkley, Calif., which was turned into a movie starring Julia Roberts.
Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, proposed the legislation to fund research to determine whether connections exist between disease clusters and environmental contaminants.
By Denise Allabaugh (Staff Writer dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com)
Published: March 29, 2011
http://republicanherald.com/news/tamaqua-area-cancer-cases-to-be-part-of-senate-hearing-on-disease-clusters-1.1124935