PCB CONTAMINATION Greenpeace arrives for fact-finding mission

Greenpeace representatives are here on the island to look into the widespread contamination of polychlorinated biphenyls in Tanapag, northern coastal village in Saipan.

The Greenpeace fact-finding mission, led by Maureen Penjueli, toxics campaigner, and Samantha Magick, political/communications officer, met with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, legislators, officials from the Department of Public Health and the Division of Environmental Quality.

Greenpeace has been carrying out a global campaign on the toxic chemical contamination and focus has been made recently in the Pacific region. The South Pacific Regional Environmental Program in American Samoa is currently undertaking a similar study on PCB.

While Greenpeace cannot offer financial assistance, Ms. Penjueli said the organization can help in leading the CNMI to the right organizations that can help fund certain activities in connection with PCB issue.

Aside from meeting community leaders, Greenpeace representatives will visit contaminated areas and formerly used defense sites which have yet to be cleaned up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Health and environmental problems in Tanapag began when an unknown quantity of electrical capacitors containing 100 percent PCB oil ere left by the U.S. military in the 1960s. The electrical capacitors in the village were used as boundary markers, road blocks for driveways, windbreaks for barbecue sites and headstones. The phenolic linings of some capacitors were linings were even used to decorate rooftops and cemeteries in the village.

Manufacturing of PCB was prohibited in the United States in 1977 because of evidences pointing to its harmful effects on the environment and people’s health.

Experiments conducted on animals show that PCBs caused cancer as well as affected their immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. Studies in humans have raised further concerns regarding the cancer-causing potential of PCBs.

So far, two Texas-based law firms have signified interest in assisting the residents in Tanapag in connection with the planned action suit to be filed by the residents against the U.S. Department of Defense.

Public Health officials are preparing a medical evaluation of residents and former residents of the village and blood testings to determine the level of PCB in their body.