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Data on Environmental Contaminants

Sources of environmental information have improved a great deal since 1972 when Jimmy Anderson was diagnosed with leukemia. Today, when community members or health professionals have suspicions about an environmental contaminant causing health problems, one of the first steps should be to learn about the environmental quality of their community.

To learn more about any environmental health concerns in the community, what are some of the questions you should be asking?

Data on the environment are routinely collected by federal, state, and local agencies such as those listed in the table below. These are among the best sources to begin collecting data on environmental contaminants.

Hazardous Waste Sites

In Massachusetts, one step is to contact the Massachusetts DEP and ask for the Hazardous Waste Division. Note that in some states, the public health department may handle hazardous waste. Once you have found the right person, ask if there are any Superfund sites or any other hazardous waste sites located in the community.

The web also provides a great deal of resources regarding hazardous waste sites, some of which are provided in the table below. Note that these resources did not exist when Anne Anderson began her quest for information as the Superfund was not established until 1980.

Online Resources for Hazardous Waste Sites

  • EPA National Priorities List (NPL)
    • The NPL includes the EPA's catalog of the most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites that are in need of long-term remedial action. The NPL page provides information on the basic process of sites being added to or deleted from the NPL, as well as some of the tools available to navigate information available on NPL sites. "Where You Live" is a tool on this page that can be used to obtain site-specific information on NPL sites, such as Woburn's Wells G and H.
  • MassDEP Cleanup of Waste Sites & Spills
    • This MassDEP page provides information on the regulations and policies, forms, news and updates, and trainings involved in the cleanup process of contaminated sites. A searchable waste site list provides information on hazardous waste sites ranging from leaking underground storage tanks at gas stations to small dumpsite.
  • MDPH Environmental Health Investigations
    • The MDPH Bureau of Environmental Health (BEH) responds to environmental health concerns and on this page provides information regarding epidemiologic and toxicological health assessments performed.

Find the Woburn site (formerly known as "Wells G&H"), under the EPA National Priorities List. Note that you will have to find it under "Where You Live", a hyperlink found on that page. Based on the information on this page, which of the following are true?

 
 
 

On the the Massachusetts DEP web page on Cleanup of Waste Sites & Spills. Scroll through the list of sites in Woburn, find Wells G & H, and select the RTN. Based on information provided on the page, which of the following statements are true?

 
 
 

Identifying Active Industries

Another important step when investigating environmental concerns in the community would be to identify active industries that use hazardous materials. It is important to address the following questions.

Once you have identified active industries that use hazardous materials, what are some important questions you might want to address?

Keep in mind that it is legal to emit hazardous pollutants into the air, water, and land, but there are specific regulations and policies that govern this. Facilities must first register with the state DEP and EPA (federal), and they obtain a permit. States will have permit information on all facilities on file. In addition to these "permitted" and intentional releases of chemicals, accidental or "fugitive" releases also occur. The best source of data for an overall snapshot of a town's industry is the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)

Under a federal law passed in 1986 known as The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, most large industries must submit annual reports to the EPA detailing how much of certain hazardous chemicals are released to the air, land, or water. Over 300 toxic chemicals are subject to reporting and the EPA is required to make this information available to the public. The first year for which data is available is 1987.

The EPA's Toxics Release Inventory Program (TRI) lists, by town, the facility name, chemical, and how many pounds (per year) were released. The report indicates whether releases were to the air, to water, in waste injected underground, to land on the facility property, transferred to a sewage treatment plant publicly owned treatment works, or in wastes transferred off the property for disposal. The CAS number, which is used to uniquely identify the particular chemical, is also given. This is helpful, as some chemicals have several names and often the same name is used for more than one chemical. You can also request additional information from the TRI, such as what the chemical is used for, the maximum amount of the chemical that is stored at any one time at the facility, and actions the facility might be taking to reduce their releases.

TRI summary report for Madico Inc. illustrates a TRI summary report generated for Madico Inc., a company in Woburn, MA, which is classified as paper industry.

While the TRI is a valuable source of data, it began in 1987 and would not have been available to Anne Anderson. Additional limitations are identified below.

  • Not all industries are required to report to TRI. There are certain requirements that industries must fulfill before they have to report: (a) they must have at least 10 full time employees; and (b) they must handle a minimum amount (called threshold amount) of each chemical (at least 10,000 pounds).
  • There are some 300 chemicals that must be reported, but chemicals not on this list do not have to be reported. Loopholes exist -- hazardous waste incinerator emissions and chemicals claimed to be recycled are not reported, nor are materials released by the military. Also note that reported quantities are based on facility estimates, not direct measurements.

Resources for Learning More About Hazardous Waste Substances

  • TOXNET
    • Provides multiple databases including the Hazardous Substances Data Bank, LactMed, TOXMAP, CCRIS, DART, references to developmental and reproductive toxicology literature, Household Products Database, and several others
  • TOXNET Factsheet
    • A fact sheet from the National Library of Medicine that provides an overview of TOXNET's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)
  • State Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs)
    • Provides an overview of the tasks to be performed by the SERC. Links to the SERCS for all 50 states are also available
  • Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs)
    • Provides an overview of the tasks performed by LEPCs including the development of an emergency response plan, an annual review of that plan, and the procurement of information about chemicals to citizens in the community
  • The Right to Know Network
    • RTK-Net includes advanced tools for analysis of TRI data, as well as water permitting data
  • Occupational Safety & Health Administration
    • Data inspections of an establishment that OSHA inspects, chemical exposure health data, and statistics on occupational injuries/illness are available
  • Local fire departments
    • Safety records for the TRI facilities in the community are available

In the tabbed activity below, select each tab to learn more about resources available to examine environmental contaminants.

Air Quality

TRI contains information on the yearly totals industries release into the air. However, TRI does not tell you if these releases occurred in heavy bursts or in slow continuous releases. There is also no information on whether the emissions mix with the air and are dispersed over a wide area or stay trapped near the ground

Information regarding overall air quality in a given community would not have been available to Anne Anderson, but today many communities monitor air quality trends using stationary monitors. For Massachusetts, MassDEP reports the daily Air Quality Index by community on MassAIR Online and also reports more specifically on levels of the Criteria Air Pollutants. Explore this site and understand whether the air is clean today, based on the AQI. This information also exists on a national scale on AirNow.

Water Supply

A community's water supply is an important route by which people can be exposed to hazardous chemicals. Federal and state laws such as the Safe Drinking Water Act require testing of water supplies at specific intervals, although many industrial contaminants may not have been measured, particularly for years prior to 1989.

Information about water quality in a community might be obtained ffrom the local water department, county health departmet, or the state department of the environment. It is also important to determine whether any sources of hazardous waste were located in proximity to wells or reservoirs.

Community Organizations

Concerned citizens might also look for community organizations that focus on environmental issues and/or issues of hazardous chemicals. The could also contact the Environmental Clearinghosue, which "...enables effective public participation in crucial environmental decisions by connecting public interest groups with legal and technical experts."

The Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) was a Massachusetts law established in 1989 and amended in 2006 and requires Massachusetts companies that use large quantities of specific toxic chemicals to evaluate and plan for pollution prevention opportunities, implement them if practical, and annually measure and report the results.

The Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell was established by TURA and collaborates with businesses, community organizations and government agencies to reduce the use of toxic chemicals, protect public health and the environment, and increase competitiveness of Massachusetts businesses. Because of TURA and TURI, Massachusetts has led the nation in reducing use, waste and emissions of toxic chemicals over the past 20 years.

Historical Data

Information on environmental contamination occurring prior to the 1980s is limited, but there are other potential sources, such as:

  • City annual reports (which sometimes date back to the 1800s) describing the industries and how much they produced.
  • City Clerk and Assessors Offices, which maintain records of past land use.
  • The Fire Department, which may have copies of past and present flammable material permits and violation notices
  • The State Board of Health, which has detailed reports, sewer permits, and inspection records for each city and town.
  • The local libraries, which have old newspaper articles, insurance maps, and other old city maps which show the loation of industries over time.
  • Historical societies and trade associations, which may have further sources of information that could be useful.

Data indicates that groundwater in Woburn was contaminated with TCE and epidemiologic studies identified elevated incidence of leukemia in Woburn. However, these findings can all be coincidental at this point.

What should investigators do to establish a relationship between TCE contamination and leukemia in Woburn?

Superfund sites

A Superfund site is a site where toxic wastes have been dumped to such a degree that it is considered hazardous and was once eligible for federal money for cleanup.

It is also the name of the fund established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA statute). It allows the EPA to clean up hazardous waste sites and to compel responsible parties to perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-lead cleanups.

CAS number

CAS refers to Chemical Abstracts Services Registry Number, which is a numerical index for chemical substances that has the general format 000000-00-0. CAS registry numbers, along with the chemical name, are the most commonly used chemical identifiers employed in public chemical lists and toxicity databases.

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