Mid Hudson Times , Wednesday , February 22 , 2017 3
PFC blood test results are in
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
Test results are in and they reveal that many people in the City of Newburgh have above average levels of perfluorinated chemicals in their blood .
Results were mailed this month to 370 people who had their blood sampled following perfluorooctane sulfonate ( PFOS ) contamination of the City of Newburgh water supply last year .
“ I ’ m very surprised ,” said Ophra Wolf , whose blood test showed a PFOS level more than three times the average for people tested in the U . S . in 2013 and 2014 . “ I was drinking the tap water in Newburgh for one year . To me , that means the levels in the water must have been very high .”
The New York State Department of Health will hold public information meetings to help clarify the test results on Feb . 22 and Feb . 28 at the SUNY Orange campus in Newburgh .
The state-sponsored blood tests measured a group of perfluorinated compounds ( PFCs ), including PFOS and perfluorohexane sulfonate ( PFHxS ), which has also shown up at somewhat high levels in test results .
According to the state , high levels of exposure to PFCs have been linked to problems in fetal development , liver damage , high cholesterol , testicular and liver cancer .
However , human studies on the effects of exposure to PFCs are relatively few . And , the DOH cautions , “ knowing your
Rollover on 9W
PFOS blood level cannot tell you whether you have or will have a health effect related to the PFOS levels in your body .”
“ I was shocked ,” said longtime city resident Peter Smith , whose numbers show comparatively high levels of PFCs in his blood .
Smith ’ s blood contains 48 micrograms per liter of PFOS ; the U . S . population had an average of 5.2 micrograms per liter of PFOS in 2013-2014 . ( The DOH states one microgram per liter equals about one drop in an Olympic-size swimming pool .)
This means Smith has roughly nine times the amount of PFOS in his blood as did the U . S . population tested in those years .
The test group itself – the first 370 people who had their blood taken in November – tested with an average of 16 micrograms per liter of PFOS . According to the numbers , the Newburgh group tested with an average PFOS level approximately three times the national average in 2013-2014 .
Smith has lived in the City of Newburgh since 1984 . When asked if he was concerned about his health after receiving his test results , he said no . “ Worry is almost a pointless exercise ,” he said . “ I ’ m angry . All of a sudden , there ’ s a risk that needn ’ t have been there .”
As a longtime member of the Quassaick Creek Watershed Alliance , Smith has been at the forefront of efforts to keep pollution out of local waterways . “ One of our early concerns was what happens with all the de-icing fluid from airplanes ,”
Bob McCormick
Middlehope and Cronomer Valley firefighters were dispatched to a tractor trailer roll over on Tuesday morning . The vehicle rolled off I-84 Exit 10 onto State Route 9W . Traffic was shut down in both directions . Maybrook Hazmat was called for a fuel spill . New York State Police and Town of Newburgh Police were at the scene .
City of Newburgh resident Peter Smith received his blood-test results last week . His PFOS level is about nine times the average in the general U . S . population .
he said .
“ We were shown methods at the airbase that were supposed to prevent that kind of pollution . It ’ s tested all the time . So , when this stuff shows up , it tells us that the state must have known about this contaminant for a long time .”
The community first learned of PFOS contamination at Washington Lake in the spring last year . A state of emergency was declared and the city switched to using water from Brown ’ s Pond and the Catskill Aqueduct . The lake , which serves as the city ’ s primary source of drinking water , is currently being treated by a granularactivated carbon filtration system paid for by the state .
Through testing , the source of the contamination was identified as the Stewart Air National Guard Base at Stewart International Airport , where PFC-containing fire foam had been used for many years .
Speaking at a meeting of the Quassaick Creek Watershed Alliance last month , George Heitzman of the state Department of Environmental Conservation described two separate releases of fire-foam concentrate at the air base in 1990 as the “ motherload ” causing the bulk of the water contamination . “ We think a lot of it got into the ground and drained into the ground water ,” he said .
The DOH has expanded the current blood testing program to include three new test locations in Newburgh - St . Luke ’ s Cornwall Hospital , Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp .
Information meetings on PFC test results
WHEN : Wednesday , Feb 22 at 7 p . m . WHERE : SUNY Orange / Kaplan Hall Great Room , located at 1 Washington Center
WHEN : Tuesday , Feb 28 at 10 a . m . WHERE : SUNY Orange / Kaplan Hall Great Room , located at 1 Washington Center
* To schedule a PFC blood test , call the Dept . of Health at 1-800-801-8092 .