ARTICLE -MAYWOOD CHEMICAL CO. POLLUTION CASE

Residents, Lawyers Discuss Cancer Cases

By Pamela Weber-Leaf
HERALD & NEWS

They came out in droves this week, the scared, the angry and the just plain curious, to hear lawyers discuss a potential suit against private companies and government agencies for cancer cases allegedly caused by radiation-contaminated soil and water.

About 170 residents of Lodi, Maywood and Rochelle Park attended an informational session at the Ramada Hotel in Rochelle Park Thursday to meet with attorneys from three New Jersey firms interested in representing clients whose health may have been affected by thorium buried on the grounds of the former Maywood Chemical Co.

Thorium was found in 1980 to have leached into soil and water both on and off the site of the company, which from 1916 until 1956 extracted the radioactive material from monazite ore for the manufacture of gas lantern mantles. Maywood Chemical, which was purchased by the Stepan Chemical Co. in the late 1950s, pumped the thorium waste into unlined lagoons west of the site, where it spread.

A study released last week by the state Department of Health (DOH) reported that brain cancer rates for women living near the site were twice the state average, and that lung and bladder cancer for males in the area were significantly elevated. But the report indicated no elevated rates for several other forms of cancer.

The study -- which has drawn criticism from some experts and elected officials for reasons ranging from allegedly improper methodology to delays in its release -- did not attempt to identify the cause of the cancers.

Now, lawyers have begun the laborious task of doing just that -- and after the Thursday night's meeting in Rochelle Park, many seemed to think thorium at Maywood Chemical the most likely culprit.

"When you look at what we've been asked to investigate, the incidence of cancers, it's absolutely amazing," said Woodbridge attorney Angelo Cifaldi.

Residents of the three municipalities who have long been associated with the issue exhibited a range of responses to the planned suit.

"Cancers tend to be from a chronic exposure, and we don't know how long these people have been there, because the study didn't address that," said James Signorelli, the chairman of the Maywood Cooperative Guidance Group (CGG), which monitors cleanup of the site by the federal Department of Energy, the government group most likely to be named a defendant in the suit.

"It was very interesting to see everyone there -- to know we're not alone, and we can't all be hallucinating," said Lillian Single, coordinator for a citizens group called The Alliance to Protect Maywood. Single described a myriad of her own health problems including thyroid cancer.

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