PCB CONTAMINATION DPH to conduct medical tests next year

The Department of Public Health will begin carrying out an extensive medical testing in Tanapag in January 2000 to find out if residents have been affected by polychlorinated biphenyls, a toxic chemical which caused widespread contamination in the village for more than 30 years.

Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez said the Agency for Toxic Disease Registry has promised to train local medical professionals and assist in the evaluation of medical tests.

PCB testings will include taking of blood, body fat or breast milk samples to determine whether residents have been exposed to higher levels of this hazardous chemical.

Based on the preliminary review of the people’s medical records in Tanapag, the Commonwealth Health Center has seen an increase in incidence of cancer and chromosomal abnormalities among the residents, said Mr. Villagomez.

Training of the local team of medical staff will be conducted in January 2000 for at least a week. A clinic will be established in Tanapag to accommodate the expected surge of residents who would undergo such tests.

The health chief is asking former residents of Tanapag who have transferred to other residence to make themselves available when testings begin. He said four doctors from private clinics based on Saipan will assist the team from CHC.

While DPH is seeking federal funding for the medical testings, Mr. Villagomez said the department wants to fast-track the process even if it has to spend its own money.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio also wants to make sure that testings are immediately conducted as he expressed concern on the effect of PCB on the people’s health and the environment.

The CNMI government has sought the help of ATSDR as early as June 1999 when Gwendolyn Eng, a representative of ATSDR to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, reviewed some of the records concerning the hazardous waste contamination in Tanapag. She also attended the public hearing held last month where the local people demanded a health evaluation of the residents and an independent testing to find out if the village has indeed been cleaned of PCB contamination.

Health and environmental problem in the village began when an undetermined number of 500-pound ceramic capacitors containing Arochlor 1254 and PCB oil were shipped to Saipan in the ’60s by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The electrical capacitors found in the village after the war were used as barricades, road blocks for driveways, windbreaks for barbecue sites and headstones. Some capacitors were even found open as the phenolic linings were used to decorate rooftops and cemeteries in the village.

According to ATSDR, people exposed to PCBs for a long time have experienced irritation of the nose, lungs, and skin.

It is not known yet whether PCBs may cause birth defects or reproductive problems in people. Some studies have shown that babies born to women who consumed PCB-contaminated fish had problems with their nervous system at birth.

Manufacture of PCBs stopped in the United States in 1977 because of evidence that they build up in the environment and cause harmful effects. 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.