PCB screening begins

Seventy-year-old Frank Q. Aguon lived in Tanapag village where the electric capacitors were used as fence in front of his house. Unaware that the capacitors contained 100 percent PCB oil as well as the dangers posed by the highly toxic chemical, Mr. Aguon said he just ignored the sight of some of the capacitors leaking.

After learning about the health hazards brought about by exposure to PCB, Mr. Aguon went to the newly-opened village clinic for medical screening. The clinic, which was set up by the Department of Public Health, will conduct a health evaluation of all people who have lived in Tanapag as well as conduct a special blood testing to determine the PCB level in their bodies.

“I have been waiting for this to happen. I want my children to come here too because I have been worried about our health for many years now,” he said.

The medical testing is being conducted at no cost to the residents who have demanded a health evaluation and cleanup of Cemetery 2 which still has high level of PCB contamination.

Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez said the clinic will continue to serve the residents as long as they see the need for it to serve them. “The mandate given to me by the governor is to look after the well-being and health of the people of Tanapag. I would like to assure the people that this will definitely be done,” he said. DPH is being assisted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in the health evaluation.

Two blood samples will be taken from the residents. One will be subjected to 22 different types of tests which include liver, kidney, blood sugar, cholesterol and will be sent to Guam for analysis.

The other tube will be for PCB testing and will be shipped to the US mainland for analysis in a laboratory that specializes in the toxic chemical. Results of the blood tests will be provided in about two months.

“If we see that there is a problem with their health, we will contact them immediately so we can do something about it,” said Scott Sudweeks, toxicologist from ATSDR.

He said the exposure history, results of the environmental assessment being conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the blood tests will all be considered in evaluating the people’s health.

PCB contamination in the village began when an unknown quantity of capacitors containing PCBs were shipped to Saipan in the 1960s. The Division of Environmental Quality was only notified about their presence in Tanapag village in 1988.

The electric capacitors in the village were used as barricades, boundary markers, road blocks for driveways, windbreaks for barbecue sites and headstones. Some residents event used the inner phenolic linings as decorations on rooftops and cemeteries in the village.

DEQ had the contents of the capacitors sent and analyzed by the Guam Environmental Protection Agency which discovered that they contained 100 percent PCB oil.

PCBs are a group of manufactured organic chemicals that contain 209 individual chlorinated chemicals known as congeners. They have been used widely as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors and other electrical equipment.

Manufacture of PCBs stopped in the United States in 1978 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.

Tanapag residents have condemned the failure of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately carryout a cleanup of Cemetery 2 and demanded an independent test to find out if the village has been cleared of PCB contamination.

The U.S. EPA has taken samples from soil, sediments, ground water and food taken in the village to determine whether there is still high level of PCB in Tanapag.