Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- A yearlong review of air quality at two Dover Township locations found little difference between air quality here and at other locations scientists tested.
Air samples were taken over a one-year period from September 1998 through September 1999, according to Michael Berry, a research scientist with the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The sampling was done by researchers from Rutgers University's Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in Piscataway.
Berry said testing was done at two sites: at Toms River High School South, in the downtown area, and at the West Dover Elementary School, not far from the former Ciba-Geigy Superfund site.
Air samples taken in Dover were compared to samples taken in Piscataway, outside the institute, Berry said. Researchers tested for 19 different chemicals in the samples, including methyl tertiary butyl ether -- or MTBE, a gasoline additive -- butadiene and benzene.
There was very little difference between the concentrations of chemicals found in Dover and the concentrations found in Piscataway, Berry said.
"We don't see anything unusual or anything that would suggest anything different here as compared to Piscataway," Berry said. The Dover air samples were also compared to data from Elizabeth and Camden that researchers had collected, he said.
In most cases, the levels of chemical compounds found in Dover's air were lower than those seen in more industrialized sections of the state.
MTBE levels in Dover, for example, were lower than those found in Camden, Elizabeth and Piscataway, Berry said.
The yearlong air sampling study is not part of the investigation into elevated levels of some childhood cancers here, researchers stressed. Instead, it was done simply to see if there was anything unusual in the air residents are breathing today, said James S. Blumenstock, assistant commissioner of the state health department.
But that did not stop some residents who heard Monday night's presentation from questioning how the study was conducted. At least three residents asked why researchers had chosen locations downtown and at West Dover school when more children have been diagnosed with cancer in other parts of town.
Berry said researchers felt testing air at two sites "would give a representative view" of Dover's air quality.
A study of accumulated dust in the attics of about 150 Dover houses is still not complete, Blumenstock and Berry noted. That study is expected to give researchers clues about emissions that may have occurred when industrial facilities like Ciba-Geigy were in operation in the past.
Published on July 19, 2000
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