- Several Assembly members have called on the state Department
of Health to investigate the elevated incidence of respiratory illness
found among people living near hazardous waste sites and along the Hudson
River.
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- The five Assembly members, all Democrats from Rockland
and Westchester counties, sent a letter dated Tuesday to Health Commissioner
Antonia C. Novello.
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- A study published in the December issue of the scientific
journal Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology identified increased
respiratory illness among those who live in zip codes that include or abut
hazardous waste sites, including the Hudson River.
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- The authors hypothesized airborne PCBs and other persistent
pollutants at hazardous waste sites suppressed the immune systems of those
living nearby, leading to increased incidence of respiratory illnesses
such as bronchitis. Several experts called into question the link between
PCBs in the Hudson and respiratory health -- but the statistics at least
suggested increased incidence of disease, whatever the cause.
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- ''It's clearly a public health matter,'' said Assemblyman
Scott Karben, D-Rockland County. ''Residents are always concerned about
the possible environmental causes of disease and here is a professional
study which suggests respiratory ailment concentrated in Hudson riverfront
communities.''
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- If the study's conclusions are correct, the state is
obligated, Karben said, to develop a strategy to address the illness.
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- The Health Department will review the request, spokeswoman
Claire Pospisil said.
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- Steve White, who lives on the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie,
said he doubted PCBs are causing illness this far from their source 40
miles north of Albany, where General Electric Co. discharged them for decades
until the 1970s.
-
- ''I guess I don't consider the Hudson to be that polluted
and find it very hard to believe that living next to it -- at least in
this area -- increases the rate of respiratory diseases,'' White said.
''It certainly hasn't in my case.''
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- Expert: Closer look needed
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- Dr. Pradeep Sharma, an asthma and allergy specialist
in the City of Poughkeepsie, said there's no way to know without more study
what caused the apparent increase in respiratory illness among those living
near the Hudson River.
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- ''I think it deserves a lot more study,'' Sharma said.
-
- David O. Carpenter, director of the Institute of Health
and the Environment at the State University of New York at Albany, said
he was ''delighted'' the Assembly members had lobbied the Health Department
to do more research. Carpenter was one of the study's authors.
-
- He is in the midst of other studies probing potential
links between living near hazardous waste sites and incidence of heart
disease, hypertension, asthma and other diseases.
-
- Those studies are based on data from the Health Department.
The department could therefore refine the studies by analyzing specific
addresses, rather than just zip codes, he said.
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- ''There are so many things that can be done, and they
have all that data,'' Carpenter said.
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- Dan Shapley can be reached at
- dshapley@poughkeepsiejournal.com
-
- To read the SUNY Albany study, visit
- www.albany.edu/news/pdf_files/ETP.pdf
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