The Legacy of Woburn

Though the Woburn story was tragic for the community, it has created a lasting legacy on public health. It was one of the first nationally recognized cancer clusters, and was the catalyst that drove many new scientific studies. Though investigating cancer clusters remains challenging, Woburn provided an opportunity for scientists to refine epidemiological methods used in these studies. The citizens group FACE was one of the earliest examples of CBPR – they were able to demonstrate the efficacy of scientists and community members combining knowledge to improve public health. As alluded to earlier in this module, the Woburn cancer cluster was also one of the driving factors in the creation of the Massachusetts Cancer Registry – this has drastically improved cancer surveillance in Massachusetts and been a model for cancer registries in other states. Much of what we know today about the toxicity of TCE and PCE is also because of Woburn. This was the first time these chemicals were linked with cancer outcomes, and as recently as 2011, TCE has finally been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen (Carcinogenic to Humans).

Yet, the question remains...What did we learn from Woburn? The Woburn Case has lessons for all the disciplines of Public Health. In this section we hear from experts in several of these disciplines who recount their experiences, share their insights, cite examples of the scientific developments which have taken place in connection with this case, and practical advice that can be gleaned from this public health example.

David Ozonoff, Professor of Environmental Health discusses the role of Epidemiology in identifying the chemical causing a given cancer in a given population.

Leonard Glantz, Professor of Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights discusses the limits of pursuing civil litigation to address community environmental health issues.

Richard Clapp, Professor Emeritus, Department of Environmental Health discusses the challenges placed on the researcher when working in a community which has been affected by the issues under investigation as exemplified by the Woburn Case.

Howard Cabral, Professor of Biostatistics credits his experience in Woburn with introducing him to what has now come to be known as Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Here he discusses the challenges for the academic researcher in working with communities such as Woburn in investigating community environmental health problems.

Jan Schlichtmann shares his lessons learned.

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