Anniston Star
August 13, 2003

Final PCB report evaluates 2,700 residents

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
08-13-2003

More than three years after a draft report on PCBs in Anniston was published for public comment, federal environmental health officials have released their final version of the report.

The report evaluates soil and air samples, as well as blood samples from more than 2,700 residents involved in a PCBs lawsuit, to consider whether polychlorinated biphenyls, (PCBs), are a public-health threat here. The report was completed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

Among the conclusions:
"The general message, in my opinion, hasn't changed, but some of the details have," said Clem Welsh, senior environmental scientist for ATSDR, comparing the report with the 2000 draft.

The agency couldn't reach conclusions because of gaps and limitations in the data, Welsh said.

"I haven't had time to read and compare," said Shirley Baker, chief operating officer and health consultant for the local activist group, Community Against Pollution. "This is old news," she said of the report's conclusions.

The study is one of many assessments ATSDR has performed in Anniston in recent years to address concerns about PCBs. From the 1930s to the 1970s, PCBs were manufactured at the former Monsanto plant in western Anniston.

The heat-resistant chemicals, used widely in electrical insulators and lubricants, were banned by Congress in 1977. PCBs have been linked to a range of health effects, from learning disorders to cancer.

The study's blood samples found PCBs levels ranging from "not detectable" to 792 parts per billion. Recent studies show blood levels of 1.5 ppb for Americans who don't eat contaminated fish, the report says.

The scientists were given ages and addresses, but they didn't know "and couldn't find out" what people ate or where they used to live or work. That meant they could not tell why, for example, some people close to the Solutia plant had no PCBs in their blood while some living farther away had high levels.

"The litigious nature of the community attitudes has limited the information we could gather," Welsh said. "We've had community members tell us that their attorneys tell them not to cooperate with us."

One person, who had 2,111 ppb of PCBs in his blood, wasn't included in the assessment because he used to work at Monsanto and was probably exposed there, the report said.

There were also some errors in the data, Welsh said. In one case, an adult was categorized as a child because a date had been mistyped.

Despite the errors, portions of the data "provide convincing evidence of existing hazards in the Anniston area," the report said.

With almost 3,000 blood samples, the mistakes probably cancelled each other out, Welsh said.

"It can be used for a population conclusion, but it's near impossible to draw a conclusion for one, two or even a few individuals," he said.

When the report first came out for public comment, the public responded quickly and at length, Welsh said.

Those comments contributed to the three-year delay in finishing the report, he said.

"Given some of the things we heard right away and some of the things we heard about, we launched into several investigations," he said.

One was a study that looked at PCB levels in children who lived around the facility.

"While that was in progress, lead was discovered around the facility," Welsh said. "Lead and PCBs in kids took precedence."

Some residents of western Anniston have raised concerns that PCBs are getting into people's bodies through the air. Samples taken around the Solutia plant show relatively high levels of airborne PCBs there.

"We feel like we need to get out into the community and put up air monitors and see what people are getting exposed to," Welsh said.
"We're still working with EPA to try to sort those out. That's still a focus of ours."

Other projects are also in progress, he said.

A long awaited, large-scale health study for Anniston is in the works, and the researchers should be announced within the next several weeks.

ATSDR has collaborated with the Calhoun County Extension System to look at lead and PCBs in locally grown fruits and vegetables. The report should be out by the end of the year, Welsh said.

The agency also is completing a report on PCBs in local fish, he said.

We're still pursuing leads relevant to evidence in Anniston," Welsh said.