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Cancer rates not elevated at Jamaica toxic site: State

By Betsy Scheinbart

The state Department of Health revealed Monday the much-anticipated results of a Jamaica cancer study, which concluded the cancer rate in the neighborhood surrounding a toxic site is not unusually high.

More than 200 people attended the meeting, which was sponsored by the Brinkerhoff Action Association. Many in the audience, including several elected officials, took the microphone to comment on or ask about the study. Some questioned its validity.

The study looked at the number of cancer cases diagnosed from 1980 to 1998 among residents of the area surrounding the former West Side Corp. at 107-10 180th Street, where a dry-cleaning chemical called PERC leaked into the soil and groundwater in the 1970s and ‘80s.

The region studied included parts of zip codes 11433 and 11434 south of Archer Avenue, east of Merrick Boulevard, north of Linden Boulevard and west of Dunkirk Avenue.

The study compared the number of people diagnosed with cancer with the statistically generated number of expected cases. The study used the state Cancer Registry to calculate the number of cases diagnosed. Doctors are required to report all cancer diagnosis to the registry.

The number of expected cancer cases took into account the cancer rate in the city overall and the rate of cancers found in black people, because most Jamaica residents are black, the state Health Department said.

Statistics were broken down by 17 of the most common cancers in men and 19 of the most common cancers found in women.

A total of 878 cancer cases were diagnosed in the region studied from 1980 until 1998, 41 less than the 919 expected cases, according to the study.

The only category in which the number of observed cancers were much higher than the expected number of cases was breast cancer. For that reason, instances of breast cancer were examined closely, said Aura Weinstein, director of the Health Department’s cancer surveillance program.

After close examination, Weinstein said there was no cause for alarm from any of the statistics on breast cancer and that the elevated number was probably due to chance.

Jamaica resident Linda Hazel, who has survived two kinds of cancer, said she believes many of her neighbors have been diagnosed with cancer after 1998 and called for a more updated study.

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans), state Assemblyman William Scarborough (D-St. Albans) and Brinkerhoff Action Assoc. President Manuel Caughman, who pushed for the Health Department to do the study, all emphasized that more research needs to be done on cancer in the area.

Jamaica residents were particularly interested in the cancer study because the city Department of Environmental Protection recently proposed a plan to test water from a nearby well and possibly reintroduce it into the drinking supply.

“Even though they are separate projects, both need to be considered,” Scarborough said of the plan to open wells and the West Side Corp. cleanup. “I think West Side needs to be cleaned before we even think about drinking the water.”

Andy Carlson, Ph.D., assistant director of the Health Department’s Division of Environmental Health Investigation helped present the results of the study and emphasized the Health Department would continue to work with the community to address their concerns.

Elizabeth Lewis-Michl, Ph.D., chief of the Community Exposure Research Section of the state Department of Health, spoke briefly about how common cancer is. One in every three women and one in two men will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, she said.

West Side Corp. began operating in 1969. At that time, four wells in the immediate area were pumping out water in the summer months. That water was then combined with city reservoir water and delivered to Jamaica faucets via the Jamaica Water Supply, a private company the city purchased in 1996.

In 1975, PERC was found in one of the wells near West Side Corp. The well was subsequently closed. The other three wells were closed in 1982.

“This has been a long-term concern for us,” Scarborough said of the water quality. “We remember dealing with Jamaica Water supply water and attending meetings where people would bring in absolutely putrid glasses of water and we were told the water was okay.”

Laurelton resident Valerie Geine Miller was among those in the audience who questioned the study’s results.

“I feel this is an insult to anyone with any intelligence,” Miller said, adding that the water she drank in Jamaica during the Jamaica Water Supply years was “the nastiest water I ever tasted in my life.”

Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.