June 1, 2006 Press & Sun-Bulletin, Greater Binghampton, NY:

The latest report from state and federal health experts confirms an unusually high rate of birth defects and certain cancers in a polluted area of Endicott and rules out some possible causes other than pollution.

The document, published by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry with the state Department of Health, is an update of a study in August that found high rates of testicular and kidney cancers, birth defects of the heart and low birth weights in areas polluted with industrial solvents, including trichloroethylene (TCE). Both documents found the illnesses were not likely due to chance but could not explain them.

The affected areas included about 300 acres between North Street and the Susquehanna River tainted with a subterranean plume of solvents seeping from under the former IBM factory on North Street, and a slightly smaller area to the west polluted with solvents from an undetermined source.

The updated study, dated May 26 and available at a question-and- answer session at the Union Endicott High School Wednesday, took into consideration additional factors that could explain poor birth outcomes, including the mother's age, education, race, number of previous live births, and the amount of prenatal care she received. But they didn't influence the findings.

"It (poor birth outcomes) isn't explained by prenatal care or these other factors," said Karolina Schabses, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Health.
But there are other possibilities still being considered, mainly exposure to factory emissions or chemical gases seeping in the ground, or occupational exposure. They seem like logical suspects, but they are difficult to pin down.

While scientists from the state Department of Health document the rate of illness in the area, their counterparts in the federal ATSDR are using sophisticated computer modeling to attempt to learn who may have been exposed to what. The federal agency determined the Endicott water supply doesn't pose a significant health risk. Now it is focusing on indoor and outdoor air over the last few decades, when IBM was a thriving micro-electronics plant and environmental standards were lacking.

TCE spilled in the ground formed vapors that seeped into basements of hundreds of properties to the south through a process called vapor intrusion. The TCE pollution was discovered in 1980, but scientists did not know about vapor intrusion until 2003.

A preliminary report by the ATSDR released last July determined that from 1987 to 1993 residents in Endicott, Endwell, West Corners and parts of the Town of Vestal were exposed to airborne emissions from the IBM factory that posed a "low risk" of cancer to residents. The study has not determined risks associated with exposure to plant emissions before 1987, before the Clean Air Act. That assessment is expected in July, said Gregory Ulirsch, a scientist with the ATSDR.

The agency is also considering the feasibility of undertaking something that has never been done before -- computer modeling to determine a building-by-building map of past levels of vapor intrusion in the affected are of Endicott, he said. But the technology and methodology required for that task may be lacking.
To the layman, it seems like a matter of common sense: Toxic chemicals cause illness. But waiting for years of detailed study to determine exactly who was exposed to what, at what levels, for how long and to what effect have proven frustrating for community members, said Frank Roma, a member of the Western Broome Environmental Stakeholders Coalition.
 

February 6, 2006 - New York Times

New York's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will investigate some 400 sites, many which were deemed "clean" after remediation operations were previously performed, to determine whether additional cleanup is necessary to protect the public. While deemed "clean" many of the previous cleanup plans allowed for certain levels of contamination to remain in place. The renewed concern stems from the escape of volatile chemical vapors from the soil and possibly into homes and businesses. The concern is that any volatile chemical vapors from industrial solvents such as trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, xylene, toluene and trichloroethane may cause serious adverse health affects including cancer and birth defects. While there are no estimates for any necessary cleanup costs associated with these sites the DEC intend to hold current and past owners of the sites liable for the costs. A former I.B.M. plant in Endicott, NY provides one example of where the original cleanup of a 4,100 gallon spill of an industrial solvent in 1979 proved inadequate. By 2004, I.B.M. discovered measurable levels of vapors in 470 homes and other buildings adjacent to the former facility. The company has since spent another $40 million in cleanup costs to remediate soil and groundwater.