Environmental-Health Issues In Gratiot County, Michigan What We Know… What We Need To Know Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force
Velsicol (Michigan Chemical) • Operated from 1935-1978 • Contaminants of special concern: PBB and DDT • Residue: 3 superfund sites and one radioactive waste site.
Velsicol Chemical, 1970
Hydroelectric Dam Superfund Site Velsicol Superfund Site, 2000
Velsicol Superfund Site: 2003
Velsicol Toxic Dump Sites • State of Michigan, Toxic Substances Control Commission, “Toxic Material Dumps in the Vacinity of St. Louis, Michigan,” TSCC-JREH-2, 2 June 1980. • Four Primary Sites: – Velsicol Plant Superfund Site – Gratiot County Landfill Superfund Site – Edgewood Hills Golf Course Superfund Site – Breckenridge (NRC) Site
Additional Velsicol Toxic Sites • Smith Farm • Old City (St. Louis) Dump • Alma Fairgrounds • Foxx Farms (Tyler and Luce Rds.) • Old Sugar Beat Factory • Tobico Marsh (Bay City) • Madison Road Disposal Wells #1 and #2
Alleged Velsicol Dump Sites • Magruder Road sites (near Pleasant Valley) • Breckenridge Town Dump • Arnold Road Dump (Breckenridge) • Bethany Township Dump • Pine River Township Dump • Alma City Dumps (two)
Velsicol Sites * Breckenridge NRC Site Golf course * * Gratiot County Landfill * Smith Farm
Some CAG Concerns • Body burden and “accumulative” exposure to toxins. How do DDT/DDE, PBB and other chemicals work together in people’s bodies?
Some CAG Suggestions • Don’t look at chemical exposure as an individual exposure…look at total body burden. • If possible, use latest research data on mother- baby interactions instead of exposure risks for a 150 lb. adult male. • Consider ALL places that Velsicol had impact - including Smith Farm, Breckenridge and other potential dump sites around the county.
What Do We Know About Health In Gratiot County “The Breckenridge Cancer Cluster” - see: Richard S. Schwartz, Jeffrey P. Callen and Joseph Silva, “A Cluster of Hodgkin’s Disease in a Small Community,” American Journal of Epidemiology 108 (1978): 19-26. Also: Newsweek 17 October 1977, 119.
What We Know About Health in Gratiot County • National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), “Health Hazard Evaluation Determination Report HE 77-73- 610 Velsicol Chemical Corporation, “ August 1979. • Identifies several substances to which workers were exposed above safe standards
What We Know About Health In Gratiot County ATSDR Studies - 1988 Preliminary Health Assessment “occupational exposure to many harmful contaminants, including PBB and DDT, has occurred and exposure to the general population may possibly still be occurring via ingestion of contaminated fish and wildlife.”
What We Know About Health In Gratiot County ATSDR Studies - 1993 Site Review and Update “With regard to groundwater, further analysis of the deep aquifer is needed to confirm that it is not being impacted by site-related contaminants.” Site Review And Update VELSICOL CHEMICAL MICH ST. LOUIS, GRATIOT COUNTY, MICHIGAN CERCLIS NO. MID000722439 SEPTEMBER 30, 1993 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Division of Health Assessment and Consultation Atlanta, Georgia 30333
PBB Research • Dupont funded study: J. G. Aftosmis et al., “The Toxicology of Brominated Biphenyls,” presented at the Society of Toxicology Meeting, Williamsburg, VA, 5-9 March 1972. • “[W]e should like to mention that because of the toxicity picture presented here . . . and the likelihood that it would accumulate in the environment in much the same way as PCB, OBB [octabromobiphenyl] was abandoned by DuPont as a candidate flame retardant . . .”
PBB Research • Mount Sinai study of DDE and PBB in “Michigan Cohort” • Mary S. Wolff, et al., “Correlation of DDE and PBB Serum Levels in Farm Residents, Consumers, and Michigan Chemical Corporation Employees,” Environmental Health perspectives 23 (1978): 177-181. • MI Farmers PBB 2.6 ppb; DDE 9.3 ppb • Velsicol Workers PBB 9.3 ppb; DDE 14.5 ppb • WI Farmers PBB 0.0 ppb; DDE 9.7 ppb
PBB Research • Mt. Sinai Study of Velsicol worker health • Henry Anderson et al., “Investigation of the health Status of Michigan Chemical Corporation Employees,” Environmental Health Perspectives 23 (April 1978): 187-191. • 5% over 1000 ppm of PBB; • 13% 100-999 ppm of PBB; • 31 % had 10-99 ppm of PBB.
PBB and Child Health • Edward Schwartz and William Rae, “Effect of Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB) on Developmental Abilities in Young Children,” American Journal of Public Health 73 (March 1983): 277-281; • Elizabeth Seagull, “ Developmental Abilities of Children Exposed to Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB),” American Journal of Public Health 73 (March 1983): 281- 285.
PBB and Child Health • Daniel W. Nebert, Janet Elashoff, and Kenneth Wilcox, “Possible Effect of Neonatal Polybrominated Biphenyl Exposure on the Developmental Abilities of Children,” American Journal of Public Health 73 (March 1983): 286- 289. • “It therefore should be emphasized that one must be on the lookout, at least for the next several decades, for numerous possible clinical effects - including subtle changes in intelligence and long range effects causing cancer - in PCB-exposed and PBB-exposed individuals.”
PBB and Cancer • Ashraful Hoque et al., “Cancer among a Michigan Cohort Exposed to Polybrominated Biphenyls in 1973,” Epidemiology 9 (July 1998): 373-377. • “[T]wo cancer sites showed an increase dose-response relation as PBB levels increased. . . . Digestive system cancer [and] lymphoma not otherwise classified . . .”
PBB and Cancer • Alden Henderson et al., “Breast Cancer among Women Exposed to Polybrominated Biphenyls,” Epidemiology 6 (September 1995): 544-546. • “Women with higher serum PBB levels had an increased risk for developing breast can cer compared with women with lower serum PBB levels.”
PBB and Cancer • Pier Bertazzi, “Does the Study of Environmental Disease Determinants Call for Skepticism or Open-Mindedness?” Epidemiology 9 (July 1998): 367-369. • [of Hoque et al study of PBB] “The cancer sites affected - digestive system and lymphatic tissue - are consistent with what was observed after exposure to PCBs and to TCDD, compounds with which PBBs share several properties, and findings of a previous study [Henderson et al.] breast cancer stuy were corroborated.”
PBB and Endocrine Disruption • H. M. Blanck et al., “Age at Menarche and Tanner Stage in Girls Exposed in utero and Postnatally to Polybrominated Biphenyl,” Epidemiology 11 (2000): 641-647. • “[G]irls exposed to relatively high levels in the womb began menstruating up to a year earlier than those with lower levels.”
DDT and Health • Walter Rogan et al., “Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Dichlorodiphenyl Dichlorothene (DDE) in Human Milk: Effects on Growth, Morbidity, and Duration of Lactation,” American Journal of Public Health 77 (October 1987): 1294-1297. • “[W]e speculate that DDE may be interfering with the mother’s ability to lactate, possibly because of its estrogenic properties.”
DDT and Health • David H. Garabrant et al., “DDT and Related Compounds and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer,” Journal of National Cancer Institute 84 (1992): 764-771. • “These results may indicate that DDT can cause pancreatic cancer in humans under circumstances of heavy and prolonged exposure.”
DDT and Cancer • Mary Wolff et al., “Blood Levels of Organochlorine and Risk of Breast Cancer,” Journal National Cancer Institute 85 (1993): 648-652. • “Mean levels of DDE and PCBs were higher for breast cancer case patients than for control subjects . . .”
DDT and Endocrine Disruption • Matthew Longnecker et al., “Association between Maternal Serum Concentration of the DDT metabolite DDE and Preterm and Small-for- Gestational-Age babies at Birth,” Lancet 358 (14 July 2001): 110-114. • “The findings strongly suggest that DDT use increases preterm births, which is a major contributor to infant mortality. If this association is causal, it should be included in any assessment of the costs and benefits of vector control with DDT.”
Nondiabetic Endocrine Disease • In preparation for National Institute for Environmental Health Science grant proposal, the CAG found hospitalization in Gratiot County from 1989 to 1995 adjusted for age, gender, and race significantly higher than for Michigan.
Some CAG Suggestions • When considering risk, don’t just consider blood serum concentrations but adipose (fatty tissue) concentrations as well. • Talk to residents and hear what they have to say about: – Past practices of Velsicol and Michigan Chemical – Any health problems common to the area • We are ‘nearly” beyond an “ATSDR Health Consultation.” • We need “Community environmental health education for residents and health care providers to inform them about site contaminants, harmful health effects, and [clinical interventions] to [diagnose,] reduce, or prevent health effects.”
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