Subject: LANDFILLS ARE DANGEROUS .
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LANDFILLS ARE DANGEROUS
A new study by the New York State Department of Health reports
that women living near solid waste landfills where gas is
escaping have a four-fold increased chance of bladder cancer or
leukemia (cancer of the blood-forming cells).[1]
The new study examined the occurrence of seven kinds of cancer
among men and women living near 38 landfills where
naturally-occurring landfill gas is thought to be escaping into
the surrounding air. Of the 14 kinds of cancer studied (7 each
in men and women), 10 (or 71%) were found to be elevated but only
two (bladder and leukemia in women) achieved statistical
significance at the 5% level. The seven cancers studied were
leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, liver, lung, kidney, bladder,
and brain cancer. In women living near landfills, the incidence
of all seven kinds of cancer was elevated. In men, the study
found elevated (though not statistically significant) incidence
of lung cancer, bladder cancer, and leukemia.
What is most surprising about the New York study is that it only
examined 38 landfills. The state Department of Health began
looking at 131 landfills, but eventually studied only 38 of them
(29%) on the grounds that only those 38 were likely to be
releasing gases. In contrast, a 1990 study of 356 California
landfills found 240 of them (or 67%) emitting one or more toxic
solvents.[2] It is not clear why New York authorities assumed
that gases are escaping from only 29% of New York landfills when
toxic gases have been measured escaping from 67% of the landfills
tested in California.
Landfill gas consists of naturally-occurring methane and carbon
dioxide, which form inside the landfill as the waste decomposes.
As the gases form, pressure builds up inside a landfill, forcing
the gases to move. Some of the gases escape through the
surrounding soil or simply move upward into the atmosphere, where
they drift away.
Typically, landfill gases that escape from a landfill will carry
along toxic chemicals such as paint thinner, solvents, pesticides
and other hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), many of
them chlorinated.
The New York state health department tested for VOCs escaping
from 25 landfills and reported finding dry cleaning fluid
(tetrachloroethylene, or PERC), trichloroethylene (TCE), toluene,
1,1,1-trichloroethane, benzene, vinyl chloride, xylene,
ethylbenzene, methylene chloride, 1,2-dichloroethene, and
chloroform in the escaping gases.[1]
This is not the first study to show that people living near
landfills have an increased incidence of cancer. A 1995 study of
families living near a large municipal solid waste landfill (the
Miron Quarry) in Montreal, Quebec reported an elevated incidence
of cancers of the stomach, liver, prostate, and lung among men,
and stomach and cervix/uterus among women.[3]
A 1984 study reported that men (but not women) living near the
Drake Superfund site in Pennsylvania, had an excessive incidence
of bladder cancers, though occupational exposures could not be
ruled out as the source of those cancers.[4]
A 1990 study found an increased incidence of bladder cancers in
northwestern Illinois where a landfill had contaminated a
municipal water supply with trichloroethylene (TCE),
tetrachloroethylene (PERC), and other chlorinated solvents.[5]
A 1989 study by the EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]
examined 593 waste sites in 339 U.S. counties, revealing elevated
cancers of the bladder, lung, stomach and rectum in counties with
the highest concentration of waste sites.[6]
Increased incidence of leukemia has been reported in a community
near a toxic waste dump in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.[7]
A 1986 study of children with leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts
statistically linked the disease to drinking water supplies that
had been contaminated by a waste site.[8]
Thus leukemias and bladder cancer are the most commonly reported
cancers among populations living near landfills, providing
support for the recent findings in New York.
It should come as no surprise that living near a landfill is
hazardous to your health --and it doesn't matter whether the
landfill holds solid waste or hazardous waste. Hazardous waste
landfills hold unwanted toxic residues from manufacturing
processes. On the other hand, municipal solid waste landfills
hold discarded products, many of which were manufactured from
toxic materials. The wastes go out the back door of the factory
while the products go out the front door, but after they have
been buried in the ground both wastes and products create very
similar hazards for the environment, wildlife, and humans. The
leachate (liquid) produced inside the two kinds of landfills is
chemically identical.[9] (See REHW #90.)
The most commonly reported effect of living near a landfill is
low birth weight and small size among children. The first
careful study of this subject took place at Love Canal near
Niagara Falls, New York. In a blinded study published in 1989,
researchers found that children who had lived at least 75% of
their lives near Love Canal --the notorious toxic chemical dump
--had significantly shorter stature than children who lived
farther away from the dump site. These results held up even
after controlling for birth weight, socio-economic status, and
parental height.[10]
A previous (1984) study had shown that children who lived near
Love Canal had abnormally low weight at birth.[11] The following
year, another study confirmed low birth weight in children born
to parents living near Love Canal.[12] There does not seem to be
any remaining doubt that the children of Love Canal were put in
harm's way by exposure to the 20,000 tons of chemical wastes
buried in their back yards. Those wastes remain buried there,
and the families that have recently moved into homes at Love
Canal are likely in danger too.
Studies of children living near other landfills have confirmed
these findings. A study of families living near the Lipari
landfill in New Jersey reported low birth weight among babies
born during 1971-1975, when the landfill was thought to have
leaked the greatest quantity of toxic materials into the local
environment.[13]
A study of people living near the BKK landfill in Los Angeles
County, California in 1997 reported significantly reduced birth
weight among children born during the period of heaviest dumping
at the site.[14]
A 1995 study of families living near a large municipal solid
waste dump (the Miron Quarry) near Montreal, Quebec found a 20%
increased likelihood of low birth weight among those most heavily
exposed to gases from the landfill.[15]
At least five studies have reported finding an increased chance
of birth defects among babies whose parents live near a landfill.
In Wales, the chances of birth defects were doubled among
families living near the Nant-y-Gwyddon landfill.[16] A 1990
study in the San Francisco region found a 1.5-fold greater chance
of birth defects of the heart and circulatory system among
newborns whose parents lived near a solid or hazardous waste
site.[17]
A 1990 study of 590 hazardous waste sites in New York state found
a 12% increase in birth defects in families living within a mile
of a site.[18] A 1997 study of women living within a
quarter-mile of a Superfund site showed a two-to four-fold
increased chance of having a baby with a neural tube defect, or a
heart defect.[19] A preliminary report in 1997 found a
statistically significant 33% increased chance of a birth defect
occurring in babies born to families living within 3 kilometers
(1.9 miles) of any of 21 landfills in 10 European countries.[20]
Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
recently reviewed 46 studies of the human health effects of
landfills.[21] They concluded, "[L]andfill sites may represent
real risks in certain circumstances." They also pointed out that
exact mechanism of the hazard remains unknown. Is the biggest
hazard air or water pollution? No one knows. But the evidence
seems overwhelming: living near a landfill can be dangerous. So
long as we remain a society addicted to chlorine chemistry and
other toxic technologies, our discards will be toxic, and the
places where we bury them will be hazardous to health for a long
time to come.
--Peter Montague
(National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981/AFL-CIO)
===============
[1] State of New York Department of Health, INVESTIGATION OF
CANCER INCIDENCE AND RESIDENCE NEAR 38 LANDFILLS WITH SOIL GAS
MIGRATION CONDITIONS, NEW YORK STATE, 1980-1989 (Atlanta, Ga:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, June, 1998).
Available from the National Technical Information Service in
Springfield, Virginia [1-800-553-6847]; request publication
PB98-142144.
[2] Lynton Baker, Renee Capouya, Carole Cenci, Renaldo Crooks,
and Roland Hwang, THE LANDFILL TESTING PROGRAM: DATA ANALYSIS AND
EVALUATION GUIDELINES (Sacramento, Calif.: California Air
Resources Board [1102 Q Street, P.O. Box 2815, Sacramento, CA
95812], September, 1990). See REHW #226.
[3] M.S. Goldberg and others, "Incidence of cancer among persons
living near a municipal solid waste landfill site in Montreal,
Quebec," ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Vol. 50, No. 6
(November 1995), pgs. 416-424.
[4] L.D. Budnick and others, "Cancer and birth defects near the
Drake Superfund site, Pennsylvania," ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH Vol. 39, No. 6 (November 1984), pgs. 409-413.
[5] K. Mallin, "Investigation of a bladder cancer cluster in
northwestern Illinois," AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY Vol. 132
No. 1 Supplement (July 1990), pgs. S96-S106.
[6] J. Griffith and others, "Cancer mortality in U.S. counties
with hazardous waste sites and ground water pollution," ARCHIVES
OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Vol. 44, No. 2 (March 1989), pgs. 69-74.
[7] E. Greiser and others, "Increased incidence of leukemias in
the vicinity of a previous industrial waste dump in North
Rhine-Westfalia, West Germany [abstract]," AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
EPIDEMIOLOGY Vol. 134, No. 7 (1991), pg. 755.
[8] Kirk Brown and K.C. Donnelly, "An Estimation of the Risk
Associated with the Organic Constituents of Hazardous and
Municipal Waste Landfill Leachates," HAZARDOUS WASTES AND
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), pgs. 1-30.
[9] S.W. Lagakos and others, "An analysis of contaminated well
water and health effects in Woburn, Massachusetts," JOURNAL OF
THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 81, No. 395 (1986),
pgs. 583-596.
[10] B. Paigen and others, "Growth of children living near the
hazardous waste site, Love Canal," HUMAN BIOLOGY Vol. 59, No. 3
(June 1987), pgs. 489-508.
[11] N.J. Vianna and A.K. Polan, "Incidence of low birth weight
among Love Canal residents," SCIENCE Vol. 226, No. 4679 (December
1984), pgs. 1217-1219.
[12] L.R. Goldman and others, "Low birth weight, prematurity and
birth defects in children living near the hazardous waste site,
Love Canal," HAZARDOUS WASTE & HAZARDOUS MATERIALS Vol. 2, No. 2
(1985), pgs. 209-223.
[13] M. Berry and F. Bove, "Birth weight reduction associated
with residence near a hazardous waste landfill," ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH PERSPECTIVES Vol. 105, No. 8 (August 1997), pgs. 856-861.
[14] M. Kharrazi and others, "A community based study of adverse
pregnancy outcomes near a large hazardous waste landfill in
California," TOXICOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL HEALTH Vol. 13, Nos. 2/3
(1997), pgs. 299-310.
[15] M.S. Goldberg and others, "Low birth weight and preterm
births among infants born to women living near a municipal solid
waste landfill site in Montreal, Quebec," ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH,
Vol. 69, No. 1 (April 1995), pgs. 37-50.
[16] H.M.P. Fielder and others, "Report on the health of
residents living near the Nant-Y Gwyddon landfill site using
routinely available data," (Cardiff, Wales: Welsh Combined
Centres for Public Health: 1997).
[17] G.M. Shaw and others, "Maternal water consumption during
pregnancy and congenital cardiac anomalies," EPIDEMIOLOGY Vol. 1,
No. 3 (May 1990), pgs. 206-211.
[18] S.A. Geschwind and others, "Risk of congenital malformations
associated with proximity to hazardous waste sites," AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY Vol. 135, No. 11 (June 1, 1992), pgs.
1197-1207.
[19] L.A. Croen and others, "Maternal residential proximity to
hazardous waste sites and risk of selected congenital
malformations," EPIDEMIOLOGY Vol. 8, No. 4 (July 1997), pgs.
347-354.
[20] M. Vrijheid and H. Dolk [EUROHAZCON Collaborative Group],
"Residence near hazardous waste landfill sites and risk of
non-chromosomal congenital malformations [abstract]," TERATOLOGY
Vol. 56, No. 6 (1997), pg. 401.
[21] Martine Vrijheid, Ben Armstrong and others, POTENTIAL HUMAN
HEALTH EFFECTS OF LANDFILL SITES; REPORT TO THE NORTH WEST REGION
OF THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (London: Environmental Epidemiology
Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, March,
1998). We are indebted to Alan Watson of Public Interest
Consultants in Swansea, UK for providing us with a copy of this
report. Mr. Watson's telephone is 0179-285-1599; his E-mail is
alanwatson@gn.apc.org.
Descriptor terms: landfilling; cancer; carcinogens; chlorine;
chlorinated solvents; birth weight; birth defects; bladder
cancer; leukemia; canada; low birth weight;
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