Environment and Society Institute

Investigation of Possible Environmental Health Problems at Portland Place, NY

Final Report

by Ted Steegmann and Sharon Hewner
Sponsored by Environment and Society Institute, EMAP Projects Fund

 

Introduction

The purpose of this investigation was to gather information on potential for human exposure to toxins, and examine patterns of self-reported health problems in a Niagara County community. It was initiated at the request of a community based environmental action group (C.A.P.E.). The group was formed due to concern over the cancer deaths of two young men from the community and the presence of adjacent toxic waste sites.

 

The Community and the Toxic Waste Sites

Portland Place was built in the 1930's and 1940's at the same time that Vanadium Corporation and Union Carbide Corporation were just beginning to dispose of toxic wastes at open sites immediately to the north of the neighborhood. At first we assumed that human exposure to toxins could have resulted from surface and groundwater drainage southward from the dumps into the residential area, and also from airborne contaminants from the north and west. Iron, phenol and hexavalent chromium were present on the surface and vinyl chloride, trichloroethane, phenol, hexavalent chromium and cyanide below ground at Vanadium - all above standard levels. The Union Carbide landfill included PAH's, dibenzofuran, trichlorobenzene, hexochlorobenzene, pesticides and heavy metals, all above background levels. Environmental assessments by consultants concluded that the sites were a threat to public health. This was probably more true when the dumps were active between about 1944 and 1987 (UC) or 1992 (Vanadium) than currently, but children were still playing on the Vanadium property during the summer of 1998.

The intrinsic scientific difficulty presented by this situation is the so-called "small area problem." There are only 300 households in Portland Place, and the use of traditional health markers, such as cancer prevalence, is analytically questionable without large samples. The New York Department of Health, using cancer registry data, concluded that cancer rates are not elevated here. However, cancer rates may not be sensitive markers of exposure to many toxins, and anthropology has its own ways of extracting useful health and risk data from small human populations.

 

Methods

During June and July of 1998, the two investigators aided by two graduate and two undergraduate students collected information from Portland Place residents, house by house. These were the procedures.

1. Mapping Two accurate maps were constructed, using existing records and ground measurement and observation. The first showed dwellings, each in relation to other houses and to features such as vacant land and public areas. A second map encompassing a larger area was developed to locate dump site features such as ponds, roads, fences, refuse piles, power lines and the neighborhood streets to the south. This was used to elicit specific locations and types of play during childhood.
2. Census 206 households (69% of the 300 total) provided information during visits. Data were collected on 613 individuals, including demographics, environmental observations, and length of residence in Portland Place. Cooperation was good and those missed (excepting a few non-cooperators) were away from home when we called. To protect confidentiality we used only code numbers rather than names and addresses. While this was a saturation rather than a random sample, it is quite likely to have captured an accurate picture of the community.
3. Health and exposure interviews
   1. Health: A semi-structured interview protocol was used to gather data on kin relationships, connections with other households, residential and occupational potential for exposure to toxins, use of garden produce, symptoms and diagnosed disorders - all self reported. Those who grew up in Portland Place were also asked if they had played in the dumps as children. This interview was designed by Sharon Hewner who has over 20 years experience, as a nurse and medical anthropologist, doing household health assessments. The sample was 100.
   2. Childhood play and probable exposure. A 40 person sub-sample from the health inquiry group was selected to examine additional detail of childhood exposure by recall. A map was used so residents could point out specific sites of play (ponds, swales, woods, refuse piles, etc.), and they were pressed for detail on the type of play. The sample was drawn primarily from those currently living along the street closest to the dump sites and who were lifetime residents. Interviews were by Ted Steegmann who has 35 years experience in human population biology.

 

Results

1. Map-based childhood play data 40 interviews were conducted.

1. 1926 to 1943. The neighborhood was just being developed and there was, as yet, little evidence of industrial waste deposition.
2. 1944 to 1979. This is the period of most active dumping of toxins and most intense play by children at the waste sites. All of the boys (Now men) in this "map" cohort played in the dumps and 64% of them swam in ponds likely to have been contaminated. Some girls also played there but none admitted swimming. Reports from the boys are very consistent about "green" water in the swimming holes, and at Union Carbide, about trucks dumping liquid and drums into these sites.
3. 1980 to 1998. During this phase, children are still playing in the dumps, but swimming has virtually ceased. By 1987 Union Carbide closes, caps and fences its landfill dump, but the rest of the area is still open. Steegmann saw children playing there during the summer of 1998.

To our knowledge, this is the first detailed report of "natural" play by children within the boundaries of active hazardous waste sites.

2. Health data (detailed information on 545 people)

1. Health problems showed no geographic patterning within the neighborhood. This is possibly because there are no toxins within the residential area (yet to be determined), due to residential mobility within the neighborhood (which is high), because routes of toxin exposure were related to play in the dumps only, or because there has been no unusual toxin exposure here at all.
2. Within the cohort born between 1936 and 1979 (most likely to have been toxin exposed), those who played in the dump (N = 166) showed significantly more health problems than those who did not play there (N =176). The problems included
   1. liver disorders (diagnosed)
   2. mental health disorders
   3. developmental disorders

Our analysis agreed with that of the New York Department of Health in finding no elevated cancer rates here. However, the DOH knew little of the history or behavior patterns, worked from census blocks that did not match the community boundaries, and used only cancer data as health markers. We conclude that there is sufficient evidence of behavior-based risk and cohort-specific health problems to merit deeper investigation.

 

Grant Expenditures

The grant allowed us to compensate all four student data collectors for expenses incurred during field work. It also defrayed expenses for office materials and supported travel by Dr. Hewner to offer our preliminary results at the Society for Applied Anthropology Meetings (Tucson, Arizona, April 1999).

 

Dissemination of Results

1. Presentations The investigators presented posters at the Applied Anthropology Meetings (Tucson) and at the Human Biology Association Meetings (Columbus), Spring 1999. They were very well received, and allowed us to get into the network of anthropologists studying behavior and health in toxic settings.

2. Publications Two papers on the Portland Place study are completed. One (health) has been submitted to the journal Environmental Health Perspectives , and a second (child behavior/exposure) will be submitted to the same journal before the end of the semester.

 

Policy Applications

1. This is an inexpensive way to get a lot of quality information.
2. We have sent a report to those members of the community who requested it.
3. We are in the process of setting up a meeting with the EPA.

 

Futures

Further work at Portland Place is justified and could probably be funded. However there are legal complexities (the power of the courts to obtain confidential personal information) and the request for additional work should be initiated by the community. This might be a useful policy issue for the ESI to pursue.