A spot of good news filtered down from Washington this week. Word is Congress may allocate around $3 million for a health study to be conducted in our community that will attempt to determine what the effects are of long-term PCB exposure.The money is not in the bag yet; it still has to clear a number of hurdles before being handed over to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which would conduct the study. But it certainly is a good sign that the people in Washington are well aware of our problem, and that includes Sen. Richard Shelby, a man who has been at the forefront of acquiring the funds.
We should also take some comfort in knowing that ATSDR would be the lead agency working on the study. Of all of the state and federal entities that have been involved in our problem, this one has been most receptive to citizen input and most responsive to our needs.
This is the kind of study that we have long needed around here. It would take a group of people with known exposure to PCBs and track their health for a number of years. This group would then be compared to a non-PCB-exposed group.
This could be hugely important because, although we know we have significant PCB contamination here, we do not know what the effects of that exposure on human health have been. Sure there is anecdotal evidence, but we need science.
Experts, including those with the Environmental Protection Agency, tell us that PCBs are a probable carcinogen and cause certain ailments, including those of the liver. But, as we have pointed out before, the real question is, do we or don’t we have a higher incidence of those ailments than other communities?
This ATSDR study just might be able to answer that question for us.
Let’s hope Congress sees the obvious and in the end approves the money for the study. If any community in the world deserves it, it is ours.
