Published in the Ocean County Observer
By MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- John Cardini's daughter, Jessica, 12, a leukemia victim, has been in remission for 3-1/2 years.
And for that he's extremely grateful.
But he is far from grateful or satisfied with the work state and federal health agencies have done to uncover whatever is behind the elevated childhood cancer rate in Toms River.
Cardini, Bay Avenue, here, said he regularly attends meetings held by the Citizens Action Committee Against Childhood Cancer Cluster like the one last night at the Dover Township Municipal Building.
He said he believes the state Department of Health and Senior Services, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substance Disease Registry are "doing all they can" to inform Dover's residents, "but they are just placating them."
At the CACCC meeting, John Jenks, chairman of the DEP's Bureau of Technical Services, presented a highly technical explanation on substances found in the water supply that originated from the Reich Farm where a hauler deposited the contents of about 4,500 drums of waste products from the Union Carbide Corporation's Bound Brook plant.
Most of the substances found in the underground plume caused by the dumping at Reich Farm are related to styrene acrylonitrile trimer (SAN), Jenks said.
However, that trimer still must be identified, he added.
A majority of the trimer and trimer compounds that are degraded made up most of the tentatively identified compounds or TICs.
TICs have yet to be identified, but residents, such as Cardini, are asking why the health department can't give a name to compounds that make up a significant portion of the contaminants found in the water that's suspected as possibly being carcinogenic.
Cardini also criticized the state for waiting until after the meeting to hand out a copy of the explanation of the report.
"It is a lot of data in a short period of time," Cardini said.
Meanwhile, the state has condemned 148 private wells and ordered public water lines installed in the Pleasant Plains area.
By the late 1980s, a plume of groundwater contamination from Reich Farm had migrated one mile south -- into United Water's parkway well field.
Well 26 and nearby Well 28 were found to be contaminated with volatile organic contaminants and an air stripping system was installed to remove them.
After finding the high concentration of trimer in the drinking water, the DEP put together a subcommittee of its Toms River work group to "determine the scope" of the unidentified substances found in the groundwater.
The chemistry work group found "a number of problems in assigning names to many of the TICs," stated the report released last night by the DEP. There are several TICs identified as unknown with a number assigned.
"It is important to note that the tentative identification of the compounds listed ... should not be taken as the final disposition of what substances are or are not present in the Reich Farm plume," the report states. Questions or comments should be addressed to John Jenks at the Bureau of Technical Services, N.J. DEP, PO Box 437, Trenton, N.J., 08625-0437 or call (609) 530-5315.
Linda Gillick, Chairwoman of the CACCC, announced there will be no group meeting in May.
Published: April 11, 2000
|
