[CPEO-BIF] "DPH Study Suggests Link Between Contaminated Water And Childhood Cancer Cluster In Wilmington, " Massachusetts

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

DPH Study Suggests Link Between Contaminated Water And Childhood Cancer Cluster In Wilmington

by Katie Lannan
State House News Service (MA)
March 24, 2021

More than 20 years after the state launched an investigation into a suspected childhood cancer cluster in Wilmington, the Department of Public Health on Wednesday released a study suggesting a link between a formerly contaminated water supply and elevated rates of childhood cancer in the town in the 1990s.

Concerned residents and the Wilmington Board of Health contacted the DPH in 1999 about the suspected cluster in the town's south and west sections, leading to a study focused on exposure to n-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) from a chemical manufacturing facility, which is no longer operating, at 51 Eames Street. That 53-acre property, now known as the Olin Chemical Superfund Site, is the subject of a $48 million Environmental Protection Agency cleanup plan. A secondary analysis involved exposure to trichloroethylene in the water supply.

The study's results "show an association between childhood cancer and prenatal exposure to NDMA, or NDMA and TCE in Wilmington from 1990 to 2000," the DPH said. The department said there is no evidence of increased odds of cancer for children exposed to NDMA or TCE during childhood.

…

For the entire story, see
https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2021/03/24/dph-study-contaminated-water-cancer-cluster

For the full report, see 
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/reports-by-citytown-w#wilmington-


—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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