PCB medical evaluation to begin this month

Medical testing of residents in connection with exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls is expected to begin within the month as a team of doctors prepares for the selection process of patients who will undergo the health evaluation.

According to Dr. Richard Brostrom, head of the medical team, they will include the people who have lived in Tanapag from 1967 to 1997, the period when the transformers which contained PCBs were found in the village.

The clinic in Tanapag where the medical evaluation will be held will also be ready within the month. The Department of Public Health estimates that some 3,000 people will seek health screening. It will be the first time that a comprehensive medical testing will be conducted after more than two decades of exposure of the people to PCB.

“We want to make sure that there’s a lot of people when we start the examination. Some of them may not have seen a doctor for a long time so this is a chance to bring them to the clinic and be examined,” he said.

Members of the team will first conduct an exposure history to PCB. Bloods will be drawn for laboratory screening of diabetes, hypertension, liver and kidney diseases. “Some of those laboratory screenings will indicate PCB poisoning aside from indicating diseases as well,” Dr. Brostrom said.

Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez has earlier emphasized that the medical evaluation is not just meant to find out the level of exposure to PCB toxicity but to give them primary care by carrying out a general health examination.

Aside from Mr. Villagomez, members of the team are Assistant Secretary Ned Arriola, Director Jack Taitano, nurses from the Commonwealth Health Center, an epidemiologist, staff from the Division of Environmental Quality, and village leaders.

While DPH has yet to find money that will be used for the planned medical testings, Mr. Villagomez wants to go ahead with the health evaluation as the CNMI government has expressed concern on the effects of high level of exposure to PCB.

The department has asked the Legislature to provide $500,000, the amount needed to cover the expenses for blood analysis which will cost $300 each.

Dr. Gershon Henoch Bergeisen from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry conducted a one-week training of the local medical staff who would be involved in the medical evaluation.

Symptoms of PCB poisoning found in humans can be grouped into the following categories: dermal, ocular, respiratory and neurological signs.

The laboratory analysis will be conducted in the U.S. mainland since there is no facility here capable to make the evaluation. It will be carried out with the assistance of the Center for Disease Control and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.