Kelly AFB neighbors have high disease rates

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has
documented unusually high levels of disease and other health problems in
the neighborhoods around Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, but
officials said those problems cannot be linked to base pollution without
further study. 

The San Antonio Express-News (August 25, 1999) reports, "in some ZIP
codes around the base, rates of leukemia, low birth weight, birth
defects and cancers of the liver, kidney, and lungs were significantly
higher than the Texas average, even after adjusting for age, race, and
ethnicity." Those problems are sometimes associated with chemicals, such
as benzene, chromium, and perchloroethylene, released by the Air Force
into the air or local groundwater supplies.

The ATSDR findings should motivate a more comprehensive cleanup of the
base, but it is unlikely, even after further study, that ATSDR will
point a finger at the Air Force. The agency typically places a heavy
burden of proof on its researchers; thus it seldom casts blame upon
individual polluters.



-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org