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Tudela backs health exams for Saipan residents
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Posted on Jan 12 2005
Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela has backed a measure to appropriate $800,000 from pachinko and poker license fees that will be used to screen Saipan residents for organic pollutants.
Tudela said the health examination for Saipan residents who reside around or near military fuel farms that were utilized and abandoned by the U.S. military World War II is necessary.
He said residents that may be affected reside in Tanapag, As Lito, Koblerville, and lower Dandan.
“The examinations will seek to detect the presence of persistent organic pollutants or chemicals in order for appropriate medical treatment to be determined,” he said.
Part of this includes tests to detect harmful substances from chemicals that may be left in the environment from these abandoned military fuel farms.
“The Office of the Mayor believes the people of Saipan deserve the best medical care, treatment and prevention,” Tudela said.
In a letter to Sen. Pete P. Reyes dated Dec. 30, 2004, Tudela said that because the Department of Finance has advised the Saipan delegation that poker fees have already been exhausted due to “an over-abundance” of appropriation measures, he recommends that federal funding source be sought to shoulder the examinations.
“We feel this could be an appropriate solution because it was the military that built the fuel farms here many years ago in the first place,” he said. “Therefore, it should be the federal government that should address these problems and provide funding for this important purpose.
