Greenpeace: Tanapag is a toxic hot spot

Greenpeace has asked the U.S. government to clean up Tanapag which has been contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) as it declared the northern coastal village in Saipan a toxic hot spot.

“The U.S. government owes it to the people of Tanapag to clean up the mess left from its activities in the Pacific. Since the PCB contamination was discovered 10 years ago, the remediation effort has been pitiful,” said Maureen Penjueli, Greenpeace toxic campaigner.

Greenpeace, an environmental group, is highlighting Tanapag as a global hot spot in an effort to bring the issue to the world’s attention. Just like the residents of the former U.S. military bases in the Philippines, “the people of Tanapag deserve answers to their many questions about the health impacts of the contamination, the effect on their food supplies, and the best way to safeguard themselves from further problems,” she added.

PCBs were contained in the electrical capacitors left behind by the U.S. military in the 1960s. These capacitors were used in the village as boundary markers, road blocks for driveways, windbreaks for barbecue sites and headstones. Some capacitors were found open as their inner phenolic linings were used to decorate rooftops and cemeteries in the village.

Claiming that contamination in the village has been removed since 1997, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, however, has yet to clean up the Lower Base cemetery where a high concentration of PCB was found, as it left behind piles of highly contaminated soil.

“The standard of the so-called clean-up is far below what would be necessary in the United States. To leave PCB-contaminated soil in piles which can still be redistributed by rain through the village is completely unacceptable,” Ms. Penjueli said.

This led Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to order the closure of the cemetery to discourage the people from entering the area. The U.S. Army Corps has placed a temporary cap of plastic and crushed stones over the most contaminated areas of the cemetery until remediation measures are carried out.

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

People who have been exposed to PCBs in the air for a long time have also experienced irritation of the nose, lungs and skin, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Amid concern on the people’s health and the environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will conduct its own assessment of Tanapag village to ensure that it is no longer contaminated with PCBs.