Evaluate cancer rate in Tanapag
Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez has asked the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to evaluate the cancer rate in Tanapag village where there is widespread contamination of polychlorinated biphenyl.
Tanapag residents have expressed concern on what they have observed as increasing number of people in the community who have died of cancer. Researches have raised concern on the cancer-causing potential of PCB on human.
People who have been exposed to PCBs for a long time have also experienced nose, lung and skin irritation such as acne and rashes, according to ATSDR.
Mr. Villagomez said a core group of Tanapag residents will be formed to coordinate with the Commonwealth Health Center medical team to deal further with the health issues in connection with PCB.
The DPH chief asked ATSDR to look into the neurological problem of children in the village since the toxic chemical was also found to cause learning disorder.
Mr. Villagomez also raised the possibility of having a control group to determine and compare the level of PCB contamination among village residents.
Results of the health evaluation including blood tests to find out the PCB level among community members have yet to be revealed by the department. An environmental assessment carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 in Tanapag is expected to be revealed this month.
The Tanapag Action Group has demanded the testing of five additional areas in the village which were not earlier included in the list of hotspots where soil and water samples were taken in May by the U.S. EPA.
Abandoned electrical capacitors in Tanapag resulted in PCB and dioxin contamination in the village, endangering people’s health. While the capacitors have been in the village since the 1960s, DEQ was first notified about the presence of these capacitors in 1988.
The capacitors were used then as boundary markers, roadblocks for driveways, windbreakers for barbecue sites and headstones. Studies show PCBs caused cancer in animals, as well as destroyed their immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.
