Citizens demand investigation into whether high rates of children’s cancer and women’s pancreatic cancer may be linked to Kodak’s carcinogenic emissions  

(Rochester,NY) A coalition of 66 local, state, and national community, environmental, and labor organizations released letters today to State and Federal Health agencies requesting action and investigation of area environmental health concerns. The coalition of groups are concerned that the high rates of children’s cancer and women’s pancreatic cancer may be linked to Kodak’s emissions of cancer-causing chemicals in Rochester.

“Today we are calling on state and federal health agencies to follow up on their promises to address the high rates of children’s brain cancer in the Rochester community,” said Mike Schade, Western New York Director of Citizens’ Environmental Coalition.  “We are calling on the NYSDOH to release targeted cancer maps for the community surrounding Kodak, and the ATSDR to conduct their long-promised “intensive review” of childhood brain cancer cases.  While we don’t know if Kodak is fully responsible for the increase in childhood cancer in Monroe County, one thing is certain – carcinogens cause cancer.”

In February of 1998, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released its Final Report of the “Evaluation of Childhood Brain Cancer Investigations in Monroe County, New York”.  In the study ATSDR recommended an “intensive review of all childhood brain cancer cases appearing in the New York State Cancer Registry from 1976 to the most recent year to determine if additional study is necessary”.   The coalition is calling for further investigations of any links between Eastman Kodak’s major dioxin and other toxic releases and the alarming rates of childhood brain cancer rates in Monroe County. 

“We feel that this intensive review is long overdue, and urge the ATSDR to commission an independent team of scientists to conduct an interview study investigation into the incidence of childhood brain cancer cases in Monroe County,” said Fred Miller, a local activist from the Kandid Coalition. 

In December of 1999 the Department of Health released the first in a series of maps showing the incidence of various types of cancer.  Unfortunately the maps excluded testicular and prostate cancer (associated with endocrine-disrupting chemicals), central nervous system cancers, leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.  66 organizations from around the country are requesting the New York State Department of Health to release targeted, accurate cancer maps, including the incidence of central nervous system, testicular and prostate cancers, and leukemia in Monroe County children, cancers that may be linked to high emissions of endocrine disrupting chemicals.  These maps should be useful neighborhood, city, and county maps.  Maps should use gradations of 10% that provide a more precise picture of county cancer rates as opposed to gradations of 20-40% like was done in 1999.   

In the coming months, the EPA is expected to release the Dioxin Reassessment report which concludes that dioxin is a known human carcinogen and is 10 times more hazardous than previously thought.  Also on May 23, 2001 in Stockholm, the U.S. joined 120 other nations in signing the Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a treaty that bans or places tough restrictions on twelve of the most highly toxic and persistent chemicals known and calls for the reduction and eventual elimination of dioxin.   

“The historic release and signing of these two documents underscores the need for the ATSDR and DOH to move forward with further studies and maps,” said Judy Braiman, of the Empire State Consumer Association.  “As Rochester residents living in the shadow of one of the largest emitters of recognized carcinogens in the country, policy makers and government officials need to step up to the plate to protect our health.” 

Kodak is one of the nation’s top emitter of cancer-causing chemicals and is also New York State’s leading manufacturing polluter and the number two emitter of persistent toxic metals to a waterway.  Monroe County has the highest toxic emissions of all 64 counties.  Kodak’s hazardous waste incinerator – known as Building 218 – emits more dioxin and hexavalent chromium (both human carcinogens) than all the state’s hazardous waste incinerators combined based on NYS Department of Environmental Conservation tests in 1992.   For many years, high levels of cancer-causing chemical emissions from Eastman Kodak have polluted Rochester’s air and the Great Lakes Basin.  The coalition of groups are concerned that Kodak’s decades of pollution may be taking a profound toll on the people of Rochester.    

In the 1998 study, ATSDR reported an “excess of thyroid cancers in young girls in Monroe County” where Kodak is located.  According to the NYS Department of Health (DOH), “(W)omen living near Kodak Park had approximately an 80% greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer,” increasing to 96% for women living near Kodak for more than 20 years.  The NYS DOH reported that between 1983 and 1995, 446 Monroe County children were diagnosed with cancer.   In 1997 alone, 33 cases of childhood brain and spinal cord cancer were reported within a five mile radius of Kodak Park. 

The release of the EPA’s draft Dioxin Reassessment also warrants the need for the Department of Health to take steps to redo their dioxin risk assessment in relation to Kodak’s dioxin releases and their various air permits issued by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. This should be done with wind pattern analysis to identify whether Kodak's dioxin emissions are reaching St. Lawrence County, a top dairy producer in NYS.   Based on the EPA’s conclusions in the reassessment that dioxin is a known human carcinogen and is ten times more hazardous than previously thought, the coalition is requesting the DOH to take steps to redo the risk assessment for Kodak’s dioxin emissions.