Published in the The Bergen Record
By MAIA DAVIS and BOB GROVES
Staff Writers
DOVER TOWNSHIP -- Confirming what many residents of this Ocean County town long suspected, state and federal scientists announced Tuesday they had found a link between exposure to certain water and air pollution and some childhood cancers.
Scientists stopped short of declaring that pollution caused the Toms River cancer cluster, named after a section of this town.
"Chance remains a possible explanation for some or all of these findings," said the principal investigator, Dr. Jerald Fagliano of the state Department of Health and Senior Services.
But officials said the study, part of a six-year investigation that cost more than $10 million, is one of the most thorough probes ever done linking environmental pollution to cancer in children.
The study found that young girls whose mothers, while pregnant, lived near a former Ciba-Geigy chemical plant and may have been exposed to its air pollution were 19 times more likely to get leukemia than other girls in the township.
Girls whose mothers drank tap water from a particular contaminated public well were six times more likely to get leukemia, the study found.
State officials said the study found no connection between pollution and other types of cancer.
New Jersey began its investigation after finding that between 1979 and 1995, 90 of the town's children developed cancer, a significantly higher rate than the rest of Ocean County or the state.
Since then, 28 more children in the township have been diagnosed with cancer, said Linda Gillick, the mother of a cancer victim who helped spearhead the call for a government investigation. Of the 118 children, 16 have died, she said. State officials couldn't confirm how many had died.
The town's children had particularly high rates of leukemia and cancers of the brain and central nervous systems, which are usually rare.
The research left many questions unanswered, including: What accounted for the high rates of cancers of the brain and nervous system and why is there a stronger link between pollution and leukemia in girls than in boys?
But Gillick said she was "not dissatisfied" with the findings.
Gillick, whose 22-year-old son, Michael, suffers from neuroblastoma, a central nervous system cancer, said state and federal officials put their best efforts into the study. She echoed scientists in saying that more studies need to be done on the possible connection between pollution and cancer.
"I have grandchildren now in this town and I want them protected," she said.
Soon after the release of the report Tuesday, leukemia patient Eric Kaari, 26, said he suspected something was wrong in Toms River years ago while being treated at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
"When the nurses ask you where you're from, you say, 'You might not have heard of it, it's a small town, Toms River, New Jersey.' They say, 'Oh, you're from there, too?' " he said.
Jan Schlichtmann, the Massachusetts attorney helping the Toms River families, said the study proves parents' contention that pollutants caused their children's cancer.
"The numbers tell a very dark story," he said. "We have to acknowledge that chemicals -- even in tiny amounts -- can profoundly influence public health.
"This study . . . will have vast implications for how this country deals with toxic waste," he said.
Juan Reyes, of the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which conducted the study with the state, said scientists know little about the causes of childhood cancer. "We do know there's been a 30 percent increase in childhood cancer over the last three decades," he said.
The nation has also seen a 40 percent increase in brain and central nervous system cancers in the past three decades. He said the federal government is studying the possible cause of this rise in four states with high rates of these cancers -- New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
State officials stressed that measures have been taken to stem pollution in Dover Township. The former Ciga-Geigy dye manufacturing plant, which caused both air and water pollution, has been shut down and is a federal Superfund site. The name of the company has been changed to Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp.
The Parkway Well, linked to a high rate of leukemia, has new treatment systems to remove chemicals from the water. It is one of a number of public wells in the town.
The Parkway Well was contaminated after Union Carbide Corp. illegally dumped 4,500 drums of chemical waste at nearby Reich Farm in 1971. An underground plume of chemicals flowed from the farm, which is also a Superfund site, to the well.
Besides the Parkway Well and air pollution from Ciba, investigators also examined other potential sources of pollution, including a second contaminated well, a nuclear power plant, and private wells.
The study found that:
Boys and girls in areas with private wells were more likely to have leukemia, though the overall number of these cases was small.
Girls who lived within one half-mile of the Ciba pipeline had a higher incidence of leukemia.
Girls under 20 were six times more likely to develop leukemia if their pregnant mothers regularly drank tap water from the Parkway Well from 1982 to 1996. When they shortened the time frame to 1984 to 1996, the likelihood of girls developing leukemia increased to 15 times above other girls.
Girls under 5 were 19 times more likely to get leukemia if their mothers lived near the Ciba plant, exposing them to air pollution while they were pregnant.
The study showed no links between cancer and the other potential sources of pollution.
Scientists did the study with sophisticated computer models that have attracted interest around the world, Reyes said. The models estimated, for example, how much tap water from polluted wells flowed into each household studied during every month from 1962 to 1996. Computers also figured how much air pollution spread from the Ciba plant over the same period.
Investigators compared birth records showing year and place of birth of children who developed cancer with others in the town who stayed healthy. They also interviewed parents of 199 township children, including 40 who had cancer.
Last week, Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., Union Carbide, and United Water-Toms River, which bought the public water system serving most of the township from Toms River Water Co. in 1994, agreed to confidential cash settlements with 69 families with stricken children. They admitted no responsibility.
Rich Henning, a spokesman for United Water, said the company was reviewing the study, but maintains it is not at fault. "We do not believe the study concludes that there's an association between our water and childhood cancer," he said. "The study certainly doesn't point out any conclusive evidence."
Donna Jakubowski, a spokewoman for Ciba Specialty Chemicals, said she had seen only a preliminary summary of the study. But she said that "the bulk of the report should be interpreted cautiously."
"There was a considerable level of uncertainty in their modeling" of air pollutant data, Jakubowski said.
Union Carbide Corp., which has taken responsibility for the Reich Farm, has long denied responsibility for the illnesses.
For some parents in Toms River, the report was a disappointment after so many years spent waiting for answers. Bruce Anderson, whose son, Micheal, developed a rare form of leukemia at age 10, believes the research should have been more extensive.
"With the amount of money they spent on it, they could have done a more thorough job," he said.
Michael Anderson, now 20, is still receiving treatment for effects from three years of chemotherapy. "You're never out of the woods with this" disease, the father said.
Last week's settlements also offered little comfort.
"I'd give all the money back to get [Michael's] health back," he said.
Published on December 19, 2001
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