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Residents launch Youtube documentary on Behr contamination site (OH)

Neil Fischbein — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:00:31 +0000

Residents, organized as a group called the Behr VOC Area Leaders (BVOCAL), have released the following documentary on YouTube called “This our Neighborhood”:

The documentary details the history of the TCE contamination from the Behr Dayton Thermal Plant in the the McCook Field neighborhood in Dayton, OH.

In today’s news, residents are asking EPA for new widespread testing of indoor air in the neighborhood to rule out risks of exposure by vapor intrusion. So far, EPA has not agreed to the testing. In what appears to be yet another dubious, knee-jerk, party-line denial from federal agencies, Stacey Coburn, the U.S. EPA’s project manager for the site, has stated that “she doesn’t believe anyone’s health is at risk from the plume” despite reports of nearby groundwater contamination levels exceeding 900ppb of TCE and previous confirmation that dangerous levels of TCE have already poisoned indoor air in certain homes.

Meantime, a lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the contaminated community who apparently disagree with EPA’s empty reassurances.

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“The Surest Poison”

Neil Fischbein — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:44:45 +0000

The latest novel from Nashville mystery writer Chester D. Cambell is set against the backdrop of TCE contamination:

The Surest Poison

The first book in the new Sid Chance Mysteries

Three seemingly unrelated murders crop up during the investigation of a decade-old chemical dump that plagues a rural community west of Nashville. PI Sid Chance, a former National Parks ranger whose career as a small town police chief was cut short by malicious accusations of bribery, pursues the case after being coaxed out of self-imposed exile by Jaz LeMieux, a wealthy ex-cop.

Is the man responsible for the pollution dead or alive? Who is having Sid tailed and threatened? When Jaz helps with the investigation, she is awakened by an explosion behind her mansion. Is it related to the abduction of her housekeepers’ grandson, or Sid’s case? As the tension mounts, Sid finds himself confronting the unsavory people responsible for his past troubles.

You can read a review of the book here. Or order it from Amazon.

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(Updated) Camp Lejeune lawsuit: What we know so far… (NC)

Neil Fischbein — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:34:23 +0000

(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:

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…Putting Lipstick on the Pentagon’s Toxic Pig

Neil Fischbein — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:45:09 +0000

From DC Bureau via storiesthatmatter.org:

Trento’s Take: Is Obama Putting Lipstick On The Pentagon’s Toxic Pig?

Written by Joseph Trento

Monday, 06 July 2009

For those who think the Obama Administration may be too cozy with corporate interests, there are some disturbing hints that validate this theory that go beyond economic policies.

Such hints can be found in how the Obama White House has treated chemical companies that have endangered the health of millions of Americans with toxins and chemicals left behind by military contractors—including service members and their spouses and children.

[...]

In fact, the Obama Administration has invited into the White House the very chemical companies that have been exposing Americans, including the military and their families, to toxins and chemicals that kill and destroy lives. These chemicals seep into water supplies in and around military bases. TCE and perchlorate are just two. There are many more.

By delaying the EPA’s establishment of interim public health standards, the Pentagon ensures that local governments have no way of setting a safety standard to protect the air, water, and health of those who live in communities that are affected.

Adam Sarvana’s stories on “Poisoned Patriots” and Ray DuBois on DCBureau.org are the tip of a worldwide scandal of Pentagon pollution and a corporate/government partnership to delay and confuse the public while their health suffers and the pollution is not cleaned up.

The Obama White House should shut down the Pentagon’s Chemical and Material Risk Management Directorate and give that budget to the EPA so they can independently supervise the cleanup of the Pentagon’s toxic legacy. Further, President Obama would be wise to reveal who is secretly meeting at the White House with chemical company lobbyists, instead of keeping secret White House visitor logs. Americans are entitled to know which chemical company representatives have lobbied OMB and the Administration as well as the identity of the other “stakeholders” on the White House invitation list. That is change we can believe in.

What is at stake? Further delays prevent local authorities from protecting their citizens and the EPA from dealing with one of the biggest polluters in the world—the United States Department of Defense.

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Searching for affected Camp Lejeune Marines and families (MA and IA)

Neil Fischbein — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:58:46 +0000

We are re-posting here with permission from The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten:

Looking for TFTPTF Members in MA & IA

MA Members- From LagoonVet: I’m looking for former Marines living in Massachusetts who are affected by the contaminated water at Lejeune. I was stationed aboard Lejeune from 85 to 89. I lived in Tarawa Terrace base housing from 1985 to 1986. I remember several families from Mass. that lived in the same area I lived in, so I know you’re out there. We need to get together to pressure our Congressional delegates to act on our behalf. Together we stand and they know it. If there are 2,180 former Marines registered from Massachusetts then we need to form it up and sound off. Let’s begin the contact process and start communication by posting on the discussion board first then we can take it from there. We need to do this now. Please see my thread on TFTPTF http://tftptf.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=422 or send me an email through the website. -LagoonVet

IA Members- From Terri & Jon: We are looking for any Marines or their families that live in Iowa. Please contact one of the following individuals: Terri Huntley at tllhuntley@yahoo.com or Jon Tory at faba2th@msn.com. Please see our thread on the TFTPTF bulletin board at http://tftptf.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=421 -Terri & Jon

Thanks,

Andrea Byron

Website Administrator

The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten

www.tftptf.com

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ATSDR’s National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures

Neil Fischbein — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:32:30 +0000

On Friday, June 26, 2009, ATSDR hosted a kick-off meeting to launch its National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures. Here’s how ATSDR describes the initiative:

The National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures is a collaborative initiative to identify and prioritize actions for strengthening the public health approach to chemical exposures. CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) are sponsoring this project.

A day-long meeting was held on June 26, 2009 in Washington, DC for a day-long meeting to launch this exciting stakeholder and public involvement initiative. Keynote speakers will include U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Director Dr. Linda Birnbaum. Breakout sessions allowed for discussion of specific issues related to public health and chemical exposures.

The 18 month long National Conversation will offer many opportunities for involvement, including: expert working groups, regional and local face-to-face public meetings, and web-based discussions. The resulting action agenda will outline steps for NCEH/ATSDR and other institutions to take to better protect public health from harmful chemical exposures.

Due to scheduling conflicts, we were unable to attend the kick-off meeting but we’re very interested in this initiative and will try to keep readers posted on developments here.

Did you participate in the kick-off of this “conversation?” If so, we’d like to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in the comments or privately at tceblog[at]gmail.com.

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July 14 meeting to discuss TCE at Rochester school site (NY)

Neil Fischbein — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:32:45 +0000

As reported in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

The Rochester Board of Education has scheduled a special session to question state health and environmental officials about a factory-turned-schoolhouse whose owner has asked that it be declared a brownfield.

Board President Malik Evans stressed that the purpose of the meeting, slated for July 14 at 6 p.m. at the board’s downtown headquarters, is to learn more about the toxins at the site and not to take action on the Rochester School District’s future use of the building.

The district last year signed a 15-year lease on the building at 690 St. Paul St. [map], a former Bausch & Lomb factory, where it temporarily housed School 33 this school year and plans to have School 14 and the new Dr. Walter Cooper Academy share space for the next few years.

Evans said the board was unaware of any contamination concerns when it authorized the lease, noting that the site hosted a charter school between 2000 and 2005.

[...]

Word of the meeting comes two weeks after the board rejected by a vote of 5-to-2 a motion that sought to pull students out of the space immediately and stop the two schools from moving in this fall.

[...]

Environmental tests of the site conducted last summer revealed traces of trichloroethene [a/k/a Trichloroethylene] in the air, soil and groundwater.

Clean-up plan submitted for metal coatings site in Fort Wayne (IN)

Neil Fischbein — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:16:10 +0000

The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, IN reports:

Nearly five years after toxic chemicals were found moving toward a middle school, the company causing the contamination has a plan to clean it up.

Wayne Metal Protection, 1511 Wabash Ave. [see map], reported polluting the soil and groundwater to Indiana’s voluntary cleanup program in the fall of 2004, but consistently missed state deadlines for investigating the extent of the contamination and forming a cleanup plan. The metal-plating company sits a few hundred feet away – and uphill – from Memorial Park Middle School, and the plume of contamination extends toward the school.

[...]

Decades of metal coating at the site have left the soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents, which move easily in groundwater and then evaporate as a gas up through the soil.

The chemicals Wayne Metal Protection found in the soil and groundwater – tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene – have been linked to numerous health problems including spontaneous abortions, menstrual disorders, altered sperm structure and reduced fertility, miscarriages and developmental problems. They have also been connected to kidney and liver problems, can affect the nervous and immune systems and have been linked to kidney, liver and cervical cancer, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

In addition, the company later reported it had found cyanide, arsenic, lead and chromium at the site, as well as vinyl chloride, which is so dangerous the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says there is no safe level of exposure.

Though the firm has submitted a plan, it will still need technical review by IDEM and a public comment period, a process that could take several more months.

17 cases of male breast cancer among those exposed at Camp Lejeune (NC)

Neil Fischbein — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:50:09 +0000

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.

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TCE/PCE related disease from Old Fort Finishing site in McDowell County? (NC)

Neil Fischbein — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:11:20 +0000

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.

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