Health evaluation in Tanapag winds down in 2 weeks

The health clinic set up in Tanapag to evaluate residents and former residents of the village may be closed down in two weeks after 90 percent of the target number for screening in connection with potential exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl have showed up for testing.

Dr. Richard Brostrom urged all former residents of Tanapag to visit the clinic and avail of the free health evaluation. “We don’t know how to contact those who have stayed there for at least three years and moved to another village because we have no record that will at least help us trace them,” he said.

The Tanapag PCB Clinic is open to all residents and for anyone who lived in the village for a total of three years from 1968 to the present or whose mother lived there while pregnant.

Clinic hours starting today will begin from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. since the bulk of the patients come in the afternoon. There will be no clinic on May 27, 28 and 29. The color coding schedule is no longer followed so patients can just see the doctor anytime during clinic hours.

So far, almost 1,000 people, mostly residents of Tanapag, have already undergone medical evaluation which Dr. Brostrom said has far exceeded their expectations.

Assisting in the health evaluation is a team of four doctors from the U.S. Public Health. Dr. Brostrom said the team needs two more doctors in the next two weeks to accommodate the expected number of former residents who will be coming to the clinic.

Two blood samples are taken from the residents. One was subjected to 22 different types of tests which include liver, kidney, blood sugar and cholesterol. This was sent to Guam for analysis.

Preliminary results of the health evaluation show that a great number of the village residents are suffering from hypertension and diabetes, common diseases on the island.

The other tube will be for PCB testing and shipped to the US mainland for analysis in a laboratory that specializes in the toxic chemical. Results of the blood tests will be provided in about two months.

An exposure history was conducted on each patient to determine the extent of exposure to the highly toxic chemical.

PCB contamination in the village began when an unknown quantity of capacitors containing PCBs were shipped to Saipan in the 1960s. The Division of Environmental Quality was only notified about their presence in Tanapag village in 1988.

These electrical capacitors were used as barricades, boundary markers, road blocks for driveways, windbreaks for barbecue sites and headstones. Some capacitors were found broken open as their inner phenolic linings were used to decorate rooftops and cemeteries in the village.

The U.S. EPA has taken samples from soil, sediments, ground water and food in the village to determine whether there is still high level of PCB contamination in Tanapag.