[CPEO-MEF] VOCs: "NASA Ames [CA] workers worry over Superfund site's toxins"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

NASA Ames workers worry over Superfund site's toxins
Amateur disease map points to rare cluster of ALS cases at NASA Ames

by Mark Noack
Mountain View Voice (CA)
October 28, 2016


Following news that several employees had developed a rare neurological disease, the NASA Ames Research Center is facing a new wave of concern that hazardous substances linked to the nearby Superfund sites could be affecting its workers' health. The recent scare has prompted a new round of testing for toxic chemicals in old buildings at Ames, but health officials say harmful substances have stayed within safety limits.

NASA Ames is situated at Moffett Field on federal property with underground aquifers known to be contaminated with industrial solvents, including TCE, left by the area's former semiconductor factories. While hazardous to human health, the toxic groundwater plume has been viewed as a manageable problem under a regimen of regular testing and cleanup administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But fears persist among NASA employees that low amounts of hazardous chemicals that fall below federal safety thresholds could be behind suspicious diseases affecting co-workers. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials as well as Ames employees' union representatives are seeking an epidemiological study to determine whether the toxins bear any correlation with at least seven reported cases of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

...

For the entire article, see
http://mv-voice.com/news/2016/10/28/nasa-ames-workers-worry-over-superfund-sites-toxins

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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