The Acreage Cancer Study

Hi Everyone,

Welcome back. We hope you had a great weekend. Now, it is back to work.

Reminder: Tonight is the next Acreage Community Focus Group Meeting. The special guests will include the South Florida Water Management District and I.T.I.D. For more information, Click Here.

On Friday, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection began calling residents to inform them of their soil results. The actual reports should be released next week. We won't be able to comment on the actual results until we can see the report. We do not yet know exactly what the FDEP tested for. We will allow each resident to report their soil results on the forum, if they wish.

Below are several articles that may be of interest to you. We hope you enjoy them.

Have a great day!

For Acreage residents, a hidden history and fearsome future

By Charles Elmore

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

July 18, 2010

THE ACREAGE — The way residents like Michael Plunkett saw it, the road to The Acreage was unpaved with good intentions.

He could see one neighbor when he built his house in 1994. Today houses line both sides of his dirt road. Around him, the unincorporated Palm Beach County community has grown seven fold in 25 years to an estimated 39,000 people.

The Acreage seemed to offer a refreshing lack of history compared with much of paved-over South Florida: Back yard wells for water. Few stores or commercial signs. Room to build where a grocery king's plan to grow oranges for his stores ran out of juice in the 1960s.

Six months after the identification of a cancer cluster, history has come bubbling up again.

"I have an 8-year-old son," said Plunkett, a custom home designer and artist. "We're really concerned for him. Mentally, it's very stressful because we're praying there's nothing wrong with our water."

Testing has identified no obvious cause. Health officials caution it is possible none will ever be found.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Counley to county: Test every well

By KEVIN P. CRAVER

Northwest Herald

July 18, 2010

McCullom Lake Village President Terry Counley says the time for talkis over regarding whether the village is safe today from chemicals alleged to have caused a brain cancer cluster.

With a failed effort by McHenry County government to get theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago to investigate, Counley said the time had come for the county to do something it should have done years ago:Test every well in the town of 1,100 to ensure that they are free of industrial pollution.

Counley plans to ask for exactly that at a private meeting Tuesday with county officials.

He said the county’s present plan – holding a town-hall meeting wi UIC and the McHenry County Department of Health to talk about environmental health issues – is a waste of time.

“If they want to come out and have a town-hall meeting as to what causes cancer, we don’t need to hear that. We’ve heard all of that,” Counley said. “So aside from the county coming out here and literally testing every well, I don’t see the purpose in any more explanations.”

Thirty-one lawsuits since April 2006 allege that pollution from Ringwood manufacturers Rohm and Haas and Modine Manufacturing fouled area groundwater and air with vinyl chloride and other carcinogens. The lawsuits allege the pollution caused a cluster of brain and pituitary tumors in the village and the neighboring Lakeland Park subdivision in McHenry.

Annual well tests done by the county health department since the lawsuits show no trace of the chemicals. However, the department tests the same dozen or so wells each year, a fact that Counley said he hears often from his constituents.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH)

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

CAS ID #: Totalpetroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) is a term used to describe a large family of several hundred chemical compounds that originally come from crude oil. Crude oil is used to make petroleum products, which can contaminate the environment. Because there are so many different chemicals in crude oil and in other petroleum products, it is not practical to measure each one separately. However, it is useful to measure the total amount of TPH at a site.

TPH is a mixture of chemicals, but they are all made mainly from hydrogen and carbon, called hydrocarbons. Scientists divide TPH intogroups of petroleum hydrocarbons that act alike in soil or water. These groups are called petroleum hydrocarbon fractions. Each fraction contains many individual chemicals.

Some chemicals that may be found in TPH are hexane, jet fuels, mineral oils, benzene, toluene, xylenes, naphthalene, and fluorene, as well as other petroleum products and gasoline components. However, it is likely that samples of TPH will contain only some, or a mixture, ofthese chemicals.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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ATSDR TOXFAQ'S: ARSENIC

Highlights

Exposure to higher than average levels of arsenic occur mostly inthe workplace, near hazardous waste sites, or in areas with high natural levels. At high levels, inorganic arsenic can cause death.Exposure to lower levels for a long time can cause a discoloration of the skin and the appearance of small corns or warts. Arsenic has been found in at least 1,149 of the 1,684 National Priority List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What is arsenic?

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element widely distributed in the earth’s crust. In the environment, arsenic is combined with oxygen,chlorine, and sulfur to form inorganic arsenic compounds. Arsenic inanimals and plants combines with carbon and hydrogen to form organicarsenic compounds.

Inorganic arsenic compounds are mainly used to preserve wood. Copperchromated arsenate (CCA) is used to make “pressure-treated” lumber. CCA is no longer used in the U.S. for residential uses; it is still used inindustrial applications. Organic arsenic compounds are used as pesticides, primarily on cotton fields and orchards.

For more information, Click Here.

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ATSDR TOXFAQ'S: BENZENE

Highlights

Benzene is a widely used chemical formed from both natural processes and human activities. Breathing benzene can cause drowsiness, dizziness, and unconsciousness; long-term benzene exposure causes effects on the bone marrow and can cause anemia and leukemia. Benzene has been found in at least 1,000 of the 1,684 National Priority Listsites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What is benzene?

Benzene is a colorless liquid with a sweet odor. It evaporates into the air very quickly and dissolves slightly in water. It is highly flammable and is formed from both natural processes and human activities.

Benzene is widely used in the United States; it ranks in the top 20 chemicals for production volume. Some industries use benzene to make other chemicals which are used to make plastics, resins, and nylon and other synthetic fibers. Benzene is also used to make some types of rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides. Natural sources of benzene include emissions from volcanoes and forest fires. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke.

For more information, Click Here.