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Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today applauded the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) for declaring that the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund site poses a public health hazard, but urged officials to work with other agencies and gather health information directly from residents in order to expedite further study into the impacts of the paint sludge contamination.
"The ATSDR today formally told us what the community has known for decades -- that the paint sludge at the Ringwood site poses serious threats to the health of residents," Pallone said. "Now that they understand this, it is time to move as quickly as possible to the next phase of figuring out how the contamination at the site has led to the residents' health problems."
Pallone called on the ATSDR to approach residents directly and get information about their specific health problems to determine which may be linked to contamination at the Ringwood site. "What was released today is merely looking at old papers -- it's time to get new information directly from the residents who have lived with the contamination and suffered the consequences," Pallone said.
Pallone also announced that he would ask the Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine whether any federal programs could provide medical care to Upper Ringwood residents as necessary. The legal authority for performing public health study work does not include any authorizations for providing medical care, but as a minority community affected by serious toxic contamination, Upper Ringwood residents may be eligible for other programs.
The ATSDR today released their draft Public Health Assessment for the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund site, declaring that the site constitutes a "public health hazard," which indicates that pathways have been identified by which residents could be exposed to certain toxic chemicals. The report also called on the EPA to complete cleanup of the site as soon as possible and recommended further specific data collection, including an exposure investigation.
ATSDR officials said that this exposure investigation would involve blood testing of volunteers within the community to determine levels of lead, antimony, and arsenic, as well as testing dust within homes and soil in residents' yards. The exposure investigation is supposed to be designed in consultation with community members and may also involve gathering information on residents' health problems.
"EPA and ATSDR failed in the past with health assessments, especially when they declared no public health hazard in 1994," Pallone said. "This time around they need to do as thorough a job as possible and ensure that they are consulting with community members every step of the way. The concerns of Upper Ringwood residents have been ignored for too long throughout this process."
The ATSDR confirmed to Pallone's office that Ford Motor Company, who is responsible for cleaning up the site, is obligated to pay the costs of the public health assessment released today and any further public health study work conducted by the government.
"Today's report is another step forward, but far from the end of this process," Pallone said. "We need to keep pressing forward as quickly as possible with cleaning up the site, finding links between contamination and health problems, and getting medical assistance to residents." |
