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NJ Releases Report of Higher Cancer Rates for Residents near the DuPont Pompton Lakes

By Paul Napoli

December 14, 2009

The State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) sent letters to about 450 residents of Pompton Lakes, near where DuPont formerly operated an explosives manufacturing plant, notifying them of the findings of two reports related to the area's contamination plume.

From the 1880's until 1994, DuPont operated the 576-acre DuPont Pompton Lakes Works (PLW) manufacturing site that produced blasting caps and other explosives, including some for the U.S. Government in World Wars I and II. The company's poor waste management practices at the facility caused significant contamination of soils, surface water and ground water, both on and off the site. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) contaminated the groundwater and migrated off-site southeast beneath the residential neighborhood of Pompton Lakes.

In the 1990's, Dupont started monitoring groundwater at the former facility and in the area southeast of the site. In 1998, the company started a pump and treat system at the site to filter approximately eight million gallons of potentially contaminated water per day.
Despite the groundwater filtration efforts, DuPont and the Department of Environmental Protection found in 2008 that the toxic vapors from the PCE and TCE contaminated ground water was seeping through soil beneath some 430 homes and potentially into their basements.

DuPont accepted responsibility for the vapor intrusion and offered to seal cracks in the resident's basements and install vapor mitigation systems to prevent vapors from entering a home.

Of the NJDHSS reports, one examined the problems of vapor intrusion, when gases from groundwater contaminants migrate through a building's foundation, in Pompton Lakes homes. The second report analyzed cancer rates among area residents.

Although the NJDHSS vapor intrusion report found that long-term exposures to contaminants from the groundwater are not likely to be harmful to health, they recommended that all homes above the contaminated groundwater plume allow DuPont to install a mitigation system to eliminate the health risk from plume contaminants. The agency conceded that tests conducted on the air inside residents' homes only show the amount and type of chemicals present at one point in time, and may not reflect past and future levels of exposure.

The cancer analysis used statistical cancer data reported to the New Jersey State Cancer Registry (NJSCR) to determine overall cancer rates and rates for 13 individual types of cancer from 1979 to 2006. Since October 1978, most cases of cancer newly diagnosed among New Jersey residents are required by law to be reported to the NJSCR. The report found two statistically significantly elevated rates -- kidney cancer in women (but not in men) during the entire study period, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in men (but not in women) for the years 1994-2006.

In response the NJDHSS cancer report, New Jersey lawmakers U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. want federal environmental officials to review and determine if DuPont's pollution control and mitigation plan is doing enough to protect the public.

"We believe the situation in Pompton Lakes is a serious public health concern and needs immediate attention," the three lawmakers said in a statement sent Friday to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Residents of Pompton Lakes have long suspected DuPont's contamination of causing cases of cancer in their neighborhood. They worry about effects the contamination may have on their family's health and future home sales.

A meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Carnevale Center for Pompton Lakes residents to discuss the state findings.

Environmental hazards can cause serious illnesses or even death among children and adults living in areas where there is pollution, toxic spillage, chemical seepage, improper waste disposal and other environmental issues. Because the companies that cause these hazards often have excellent attorneys and a lot of money available for fighting claims, it is important that you hire an attorney immediately if you feel that an environmental hazard caused your illness or the illness of a family member. Call Napoli Bern Ripka LLP today at 888-529-4669 to discuss your legal options

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Napoli

Full post as published by New York City Personal Injury Lawyer on December 16, 2009 (boomark / email).