[CPEO-MEF] Elevated levels of PCBs in people associated with military site on

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

[POSTED BY Pamela Miller <pkmiller@akaction.net>]


Alaska Community Action on Toxics
505 West Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 205
Anchorage, Alaska 99503


For immediate release:                  For more information, please
contact:
Wednesday October 2, 2002                       June Gologergen-Martin
or 
Pamela Miller,
                                                 ACAT (907) 222-7714
                                                 Jane Kava, Mayor of 
Savoonga, (907) 984-6614
                                                 David Carpenter, M.D.
SUNY 
(518) 525-2660

ELEVATED LEVELS OF HARMFUL PCB'S FOUND IN PEOPLE OF SAINT LAWRENCE
ISLAND, 
ATTRIBUTED TO EXPOSURE AT MILITARY SITE
Results Detailed in Study Funded by the National Institute of
Environmental 
Health Sciences

AnchorageToday, Alaska Community Action on Toxics released a National 
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences-funded report on a study of 
blood serum levels of contaminants among Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska 
Yu'pik people. The most important result indicated that PCB exposures
are 
significantly higher in people most closely associated with the former 
military site at Northeast Cape.

The scientific analyses showed that the average PCB level measured in 60 
Saint Lawrence Island residents was 7.5 parts per billion (ppb),
compared 
with a national United States average of 0.9-1.5 ppb for people with no 
unusual PCB exposures. The highest levels of PCBs on Saint Lawrence
Island 
were found in people who spent the most time at or near the formerly
used 
military site at Northeast Cape.

"These results show significant PCB and persistent pesticide
contamination 
of the Saint Lawrence Island Yu'pik people," stated Dr. David Carpenter
of 
the State University of New York (SUNY) School of Public Health and
Health 
Coordinator for the project. "While some portion of these contaminants 
derives from atmospheric transport of contamination, our results show a 
greater elevation of PCBs in the blood of those individuals who used 
Northeast Cape for traditional or occupational purposes. We conclude
that 
the PCB contamination from the formerly used military site at Northeast 
Cape has resulted in increased human exposure. Significantly, the
presence 
of a non-persistent PCB congener in the blood of several people with
camps 
at Northeast Cape indicates on-going exposure." Elevated levels of the 
breakdown product of the pesticide DDT (DDE) were found in the people of 
Gambell, likely indicating that military uses in the past were a source
of 
contamination.

Saint Lawrence Island is located in the Bering Sea approximately 130
miles 
west of Nome, Alaska. The northwest end of the island is about 35 miles 
from the Russian mainland. Residents of the Island were exposed to a
range 
of contaminants during the Cold War period when the military established 
camps at the community of Gambell and at the traditional fishing and 
hunting camp located at Northeast Cape. The military operations extended 
from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers 
is responsible for the clean up of the two formerly used defense sites.

The study is a collaboration of the villages of Gambell and Savoonga,
the 
SUNY School of Public Health and the Environmental Research Center of
SUNY 
at Oswego, Norton Sound Health Corporation, and coordinated by Alaska 
Community Action on Toxics. This effort is part of a four-year project, 
Environmental Justice for Saint Lawrence Island, funded by the National 
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Researchers seek to 
identify sources of contamination affecting the communities of Saint 
Lawrence Island, including the formerly used military sites and distant 
sources, and determine whether health problems may be linked to 
environmental contamination. The collaborative work was prompted by
Annie 
Alowa, a respected elder from Savoonga and health aide for 25 years, now 
deceased, who observed increases in cancer and other health problems
that 
she associated with the military site at Northeast Cape.

  "These results confirm that we continue to be exposed to contamination 
from the military site at Northeast Cape" said Jane Kava, Mayor of 
Savoonga. "Northeast Cape has always been an important place for our 
subsistence fishing, hunting, and gathering of greens and berries. The 
military sites must be cleaned up in order to protect the health of the 
people of Saint Lawrence Island." Blood samples were taken at the
request 
of community leaders in Gambell and Savoonga who have also been
concerned 
about potential health effects of contamination from two former military 
sites on Saint Lawrence Island. In 2001, the team also collected and 
analyzed murre eggs to determine the level of contaminants in this 
important food source.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of extremely persistent 
industrial chemicals manufactured for use in electrical transformers, 
capacitors, inks, paints, pesticides, dust control and insulating
fluids. 
PCBs include 209 distinct chemical forms (congeners), each having
different 
health effects. Although production of PCBs was banned in the United
States 
in 1977, PCB products are still in use in this country and elsewhere. 
Because of their persistence in the environment, they have been
transported 
around the globe via wind and air currents. PCBs contaminate the bodies
of 
every animal and human being on earth.

The Arctic is a hemispheric sink for PCBs and other persistent organic 
pollutants because the chemicals accumulate in the cold environment and 
concentrate within the fats of animals and people. Improper disposal of 
PCB-contaminated transformers and other materials at the military site
at 
Northeast Cape on Saint Lawrence Island has resulted in elevated levels
of 
PCBs found in soils, water, plants, and fish. Exposure to people may
occur 
through ingestion of contaminated foods or water, through the skin, or 
inhalation. PCBs cause adverse health effects at exceedingly low levels. 
Dr. Carpenter concludes that PCBs are a greater hazard to human health
than 
previously appreciated because they can cause irreversible effects on
brain 
development and IQ in infants, immune system suppression, disruption of 
endocrine function, and certain kinds of cancers. Studies have
documented 
health effects in people with comparable levels of PCBs as those found
in 
the Saint Lawrence Island Yu'pik people.

The international Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants 
(POPs), signed by more than 150 countries, recognizes PCBs among twelve
of 
the world's most dangerous chemicals that are known to be detrimental to 
human health and the environment. The treaty will eliminate or severely 
restrict global production, use, and release of the twelve worst POPs
and 
provide a science-based process for adding other POPs to the list in the 
future. Fifty tribes from Alaska, including Saint Lawrence Island,
signed 
resolutions in support of a strong treaty to eliminate persistent
pollutants.

The research team for Saint Lawrence Island will continue to investigate 
contamination through environmental and health studies directed by the 
communities. The military activities at Gambell contaminated the area
with 
fuels, explosive ammunition, and buried debris that contains other 
hazardous materials. Military contamination at Northeast Cape includes 
solvents, fuels (from spills totaling at least 220,000 gallons), PCBs, 
asbestos, and heavy metals.

"This project provides a way for the communities of Gambell and Savoonga
to 
direct their own independent investigation," said June
Gologergen-Martin, 
Saint Lawrence Island Yu'pik Project Coordinator at Alaska Community
Action 
on Toxics. "We are training people in Savoonga and Gambell to conduct 
environmental sampling and health assessments. In July and August 2002,
the 
NIEHS research team conducted environmental sampling at Gambell and 
Northeast Cape, including groundwater, surface water, vegetation, and 
sediments samples from areas known to have been affected by military 
occupation. We conducted these activities to provide useful information
for 
community residents to make decisions that will protect the health of
the 
people of Saint Lawrence Island and ensure responsible cleanup of the 
military sites there."

In a news release on September 23, Representative John Dingell, Ranking 
Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce released a General 
Accounting Office (GAO) report that criticized the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers for failing to adequately investigate chemical and munitions 
hazards at 1,500 formerly used defense sites throughout the nation. 
"Clearly, as this report shows, the Corps' slipshod investigative work 
cannot be trusted to protect the health and well-being of our
environment 
or of our citizens," states Congressman Dingell. "The GAO report shows
that 
no state or territory can be assured that the Department of Defense and
the 
Corps has identified all of the contamination at former defense sites."
The 
GAO report evaluated Corps' decisions on sites where the agency
determined 
that no further cleanup was necessary. The GAO found that the Corps
lacked 
sufficient information for 43% of the sites in Alaska.

Community members have consistently expressed disapproval of the Army
Corps 
pf Engineers' improper site assessment of contaminated areas within the
two 
military sites on Saint Lawrence Island. Approximately 30 people from 
Gambell and Savoonga actively participate in the Restoration Advisory 
Board, established to provide guidance to the Corps' remediation program 
for the formerly used defense sites at Gambell and Northeast Cape.


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