State Health Department submits regional cancer report

State investigators say they saw no significant issues with regard to Nepera, By Bill Lemanski Central Valley - Two representatives from the New York State Department of Health addressed the Monroe-Woodbury Community Advisory Panel on Monday night and answered questions about the report the state submitted on its ZIP Code Cancer Incidence Screening Evaluation for the region adjacent to the Nepera chemical plant. Aura L. Weinstein, director of the Cancer Surveillance Program, and research scientist Karolina Schabses provided an overview and interpretation of the report and the criteria used to compile the statistics. They said the report can’t prove any cause and effect and only looks at patterns in comparing cancer numbers against similar areas in New York State with similar populations. In general, they said they didn’t see any really significant issues within the study and said it wasn’t focused on the question of Nepera. In March 2000, the advisory panel met with representatives of the state health department to discuss possible health effects associated with the Nepera chemical plant. The panel, along with local elected officials, community organizations and the Monroe-Woodbury School superintendent requested that the state conduct an investigation of cancer among residents living near the Nepera facility and among children attending Monroe-Woodbury schools. In response to the request, the state’s Center for Environmental Health requested its Cancer Surveillance Program conduct a screening investigation for residents living in the ZIP Code areas of 10910, 10917, 10922, 10926, 10928, 10930, 10950 and 10975. The report covers the period of 1994-1998, which was the most recent data from the state Cancer Registry that was complete when the investigation began. For childhood cancers (ages 0-19), the information came from 1989-1998. The report states: • The results for persons of all ages residing in the eight-ZIP Code area show that the total numbers for both males and females with cancer were not significantly different from the total numbers expected. The small differences that were seen are consistent with the effects of random variation. • In males, numbers of cancer cases actually diagnosed were not significantly different from the numbers expected for any particular type of cancer. • In females, the numbers of cases of cancer of the kidney/renal pelvis, thyroid, and lymphomas were all significantly greater than expected. For these types of cancer, investigators looked at the age of people when they were diagnosed, the cancer sub-types and where they lived at the time of diagnosis. “This review did not suggest any unusual pattern other than the elevation in numbers of diagnoses for the five-year period,” the report said. Rutherford Chemicals, owner of the Nepera site, announced the closure of the chemical plant in 2005. Charles Decker, director of Environmental, Health & Safety at Nepera who also is a member of the Monroe-Woodbury Advisory Panel, provided a report on the progress of the plant closure following the DOH presentation. Decker said that all tanks have been cleaned, piping has been cut, drained and cleaned and some have been disposed. He said there is another three weeks of work to ship miscellaneous pharmaceuticals off-site and, as stated in the EPA report completed last year, no off-site environmental impacts remain. Harriman Village Mayor Stephen H. Welle announced at this week’s board meeting that Rutherford Chemicals has informed the board that according to the Federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know-Act, all manufacturing has stopped and chemical product removal was up to code.