Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Results from a second round of testing on a chemical compound found in three United Water Toms River wells indicate the substance does not cause genetic mutations, Union Carbide Corp. officials said yesterday.
The ability to cause genetic mutations is one sign researchers look for to determine if a substance can cause cancer. Union Carbide is paying for the toxicity testing of styrene acrylonitrile trimer, a byproduct of plastics production.
Small amounts of the trimer have been found in United Water's wells 26, 28 and 29, all located in the company's parkway well field, off Dugan Lane. Officials believe the chemical comes from the Reich Farm Superfund site, located about one mile north of the well field.
It was first discovered in 1996, during the ongoing investigation into elevated levels of some childhood cancers here.
Parkway wells 26, 28, and 29 are treated with carbon filters to remove the trimer and other chemicals from the Reich Farm plume. Water from wells 26 and 28 is not used in the drinking water system except in emergencies.
In the early 1970s, an independent trucker dumped about 4,500 drums of chemical waste from Carbide's Bound Brook plant at the Reich Farm, a former chicken farm located off Route 9 in Dover Township's Pleasant Plains section.
Carbide has taken responsibility for the Reich Farm cleanup.
The first round of toxicity studies on the trimer material, conducted in 1998, indicated that the chemical might cause some genetic mutations.
But Carbide officials said yesterday that the batch of material tested two years ago was contaminated with amino-methyl-napthalenecarbonitrile or AMNC, and researchers questioned whether the presence of AMNC had skewed the test results.
To find out, researchers retested the batch of trimer contaminated with AMNC, as well as another batch of the chemical that was not contaminated.
Five different strains of salmonella bacteria were exposed to different doses of the trimer with and without liver enzymes, which are similar to those found in the human body. The results for the batch that was contaminated with AMNC were similar to the 1998 findings, Carbide said.
Salmonella bacteria tested in the presence of liver enzymes showed no mutations, but in the absence of the enzymes, two of the five bacteria strains did display mutations.
Results from the testing of the new batch of trimer without AMNC, however, were completely negative.
"Since mutations in DNA are considered as evidence of a possible cancer hazard, Union Carbide feels these latest test results strongly support our initial belief that the . . . trimer has a low potential to cause genetic changes," Carbide officials said in a prepared statement.
But Linda L. Gillick, who chairs the Citizens Action Committee on Child-hood Cancer Cluster, argued again yesterday that testing of the trimer alone is a waste of time and resources.
Gillick said that simply testing the toxicity of the trimer will not tell researchers anything about the effect of the trimer combined with other unknown chemicals that have typically appeared in the water attached to the compound.
"As I've said over and over again, the testing of the trimer as it stands now . . . does not represent what was com-ing through the environment along with the dozens of unknown chemicals attached to it at all times," Gillick said. "To test these batches, to spend the money, the time and the effort will be a waste unless it's done with all of the chemicals included . . . They should be testing water from the plume itself."
Officials pointed out that Dover Township residents were never ex-posed to water contaminated with AMNC, noting that the waste that was dumped at Reich Farm was not subjected to the same processing steps that accidentally produced AMNC.
Carbide said additional toxicity testing on the trimer will continue. It could take five to eight years to determine if the trimer is a human carcinogen, researchers have said.
A panel of state, federal and industry experts are working on finalizing a protocol for the next round of toxicity tests on the trimer. The protocol is expected to be finalized by early fall.
Published on July 28, 2000
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