By Peter Urban
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Congress should consider expanding the federal government’s role in identifying the source of “disease clusters” like the one found in Prairie Grove, Ark., according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Communities all around the country struggle with unexplained epidemics of cancers, birth defects and neurological diseases,” said NRDC senior scientist Gina Solomon. “The faster we can identify such clusters, and the sooner we can figure out the causes, the better we can protect residents living in the affected communities.”
Solomon, who is scheduled to testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday, has co-authored a report on 42 “disease clusters” in 13 states that highlights the need for a greater federal role in identifying causes behind these clusters.
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., is a member of the committee.
A decade ago, the Arkansas Department of Health identified a cluster in Prairie Grove where three 14-year-old boys contracted testicular cancer. Local residents suspected arsenic-contaminated chicken litter that was spread on fields beside schools and homes was to blame but the true cause of the cluster has never been determined, according to NRDC’s report.
Several lawsuits were filed claiming that chicken feed containing Roxarsone was, in part, to blame for the cancer cluster. Chickens that ate the feed would produce waste containing arsenic.
That waste was then spread as a fertilizer in Washington County and arsenic-laden dust would drift to area homes where it posed a health risk, according to the plaintiffs who lost their legal challenges to have Roxarsone removed from the feed or to stop using the chicken litter as fertilizer.
The NRDC and the National Disease Clusters Alliance, which co-authored the report, note than in only one of the 42 clusters highlighted was a specific source of chemical contamination identified.
“Communities deserve to have confidence that disease clusters will be found and that their concerns will be adequately addressed,” said NDSA executive director Terry Nordbrock.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the committee, introduced legislation earlier this year to help communities determine whether environmental contaminants are behind clusters of cancer, birth defects or other diseases in particular communities.
“Whenever there is an unusual increase in disease within in a community, those families deserve to know that the federal government’s top scientists and experts are accessible and available to help,” Boxer said.
Consumer advocate Erin Brockovich will also testify Tuesday. Brockovich spearheaded an investigation that in 1996 led to the largest toxic tort injury settlement in history when Pacific Gas & Electric paid out $333 million in damages to more than 600 residents of Hinkley, Ca.
