[CPEO-MEF] Sierra Army Depot - DTSC letter

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

In response to my February 28 posting on the interstate implications of
open burning and open detonation at the Sierra Army Depot, I have
received some public documents originally from the California Department
of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). In general, the documents suggest
that the state is requiring risk assessments based upon conservative
assumptions and a one in 100,000 cumulative cancer risk (10^-5). Of
particular interest is a letter responding to the findings of Lassen
County businessman, Jack Pastor, which I mentioned in my earlier
message.

I reproduce the text of the entire letter below, but one of the key
arguments is buried in the following sentence: "Since induced cancer has
approximately a 20 year latency period, any reports of cancers which
were detected between 1994 through the present (that are not in the
possession of DHS) in all likelihood can not be related to the current
operations at the facility, which began treating large quantities of
explosives and propellants only in the past few years."

The letter also reports that California does exchange health data with
Nevada, though it is possible that recent data has not been analyzed.

Lenny Siegel


TO: Jeff Van Slooten (Facility Permitting Branch, DTSC)
FROM: Stephen Di Zio, PhD. (Senior Toxicologist)
SUBJECT: SIERRA ARMY DEPOT OPEN-BURN, OPEN DETONATION ISSUES: RESPONSE
TO PUBLIC INQUIRY

The Facility Permitting Branch has requested that the Human and
Ecological Risk Division assist in responding to a public inquiry by Mr.
Jack Pastor of Lassen County on the incidence of cancer in Lassen
County. His concerns include the potential for the agents released
during open detonation activities to be the cause of cancer in
surrounding area.

In all cases where human disease state is examined, we work closely with
the physicians and epidemiologists of the California Department of
Health Services (DHS), as this constitutes both their direct area of
expertise (DTSC employs no physicians or epidemiologists) as well as
their overall mission. The DHS epidemiologist who has been working on
this issue with Mr. Pastor is Dr. Sharon Campleman. We have spoken
extensively with Dr. Campleman as well as with Robert Schlag, the Chief
of the DHS Cancer Surveillance Section, who have provided us with their
findings in the form of two pieces of correspondence with Mr. Pastor as
well as correspondence with the Lassen County health officer. In
addition, we have reviewed the additional information on cancer cases in
Reno provided to you by Mr. Pastor and have discussed these with the DHS
as well.

We are in complete agreement with the findings of the DHS Cancer
Surveillance Section which indicated that there is no significant
increase in cancer incidence in the areas(s) surrounding the Sierra Army
Depot. As to the additional information supplied by Mr. Pastor, the DHS
has contacted the State of Nevada in order to determine if any of it was
supplied to the State of California in their annual interstate data
exchange (many people in California receive health care in Nevada). As
the data stands now it cannot be used, since none of the reported cases
are associated with names and addresses. Therefore, there is no way at
this time to verify which, if any of these persons reside in Lassen
County, California. Recall that such individual cancer data, including
that which Mr. Pastor passed to the DTSC, is strictly confidential, and
we will rely on the DHS to maintain that confidentiality in both
obtaining the additional information from the State of Nevada, doing
proper Quality Assurance to verify its accuracy, and analyzing the
cancer cases where appropriate. Please note that the data used by the
DHS in their epidemiological surveys has been validated through the year
1994/5, and that the Sierra Depot has been in operation for over 50
years. Since induced cancer has approximately a 20 year latency period,
any reports of cancers which were detected between 1994 through the
present (that are not in the possession of DHS) in all likelihood can
not be related to the current operations at the facility, which began
treating large quantities of explosives and propellants only in the past
few years. Therefore we do not expect the conclusions of the DHS to
change significantly if and when the State of Nevada provides them with
more specific data on Californians receiving health care in Reno.

...

-- 


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

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