Lee — Town officials are struggling to find the results and draft information pertaining to a 2021 state study aimed at evaluating the pattern of certain types of cancer in individuals living in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, Lenox, Lee, and Stockbridge, residents who may have been exposed to toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Town Administrator Christopher Brittain submitted a public record request on June 20 to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) Bureau of Climate and Environmental Health (BCEH). On July 1, he received a response stating, “the final report is under review and anticipated to be released in summer 2025.”
“The Department is prohibited from disclosing records concerning the Department’s ongoing work regarding the Berkshire County Housatonic River cancer study as a public record … in order to protect the integrity of policies under development related to this study,” the Commonwealth response states.
Although General Electric Company (GE) used PCBs in the manufacture of transformers at its Pittsfield plant from 1932 to 1977, those chemicals are now banned from production and are the subject of a Superfund cleanup of the waterway after the toxins were deposited into the Housatonic River.
Built on landfill from soil removed from the GE plant, the Allendale Elementary School, 180 Connecticut Avenue, Pittsfield, was found to have PCBs on its site and remediation measures were subsequently deployed, according to a DPH Bureau of Environmental Health document recapping the history of the study. That document can be found here.
In 2002, the DPH evaluated incidences of six types of cancer diagnosed in residents of Pittsfield, Great Barrington, Lenox, Lee, and Stockbridge from 1982 to 1994, with those results not “suggest[ing] a relationship to PCB exposure or that a common environmental exposure pathway played a role,” the DPH document states.
In January 2021, however, the Pittsfield Public Health and Safety Committee urged the DPH to undertake an updated evaluation of cancer incidences in the relevant geographical area, with that action resulting in the current study. This study aims to review the 25-year pattern of 10 types of cancer—including bladder cancer, that showed increased rates in the 1982 to 1994 study—found in residents who live along the Housatonic River area. The project employs data collected from the Massachusetts Cancer Registry.
“DPH will look to see if the patterns of these cancer types appear unusual at the community and census tract level,” the DPH document states. “If the pattern appears unusual, DPH will provide additional support to residents and work with [Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] on any follow-up actions.”
But the project has its limitations as it will not evaluate the incidences of cancer among Allendale School staff and students, nor will it determine the cause of cancer in individuals. According to the DPH, the findings are to be shared with local health officials in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge and will be made available on the organization’s website.
During an October 10 information session hosted by the EPA addressing human health risks from airborne toxins such as PCBs, DPH Health Assessor Jessica Burkhamer commented on the study during the meeting and to The Berkshire Edge following the event. She referred to the initial PCB-blood serum sampling study of some staff and students at Allendale School that was performed in 2006 and showed “that PCBs in blood serum there [were] actually about the same as what we see on a national level and, in some cases, lower.”
At the session, Burkhamer said the 2021 study results would be released by the end of 2024.
Responding to a request for comment, DPH Spokesperson Omar Cabrera stated to The Berkshire Edge on July 2 that “the report is currently undergoing internal review, and we expect to release it by the end of summer.”
A 2020 settlement agreement between the EPA, GE, and five affected towns—Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Sheffield, and Stockbridge (Rest of River)—determined the most toxic materials dredged from the river are to be taken out of the area, leaving the lower-PCB-concentrated materials to be stored in a UDF, or landfill, in Lee. The town’s residents and officials have long opposed the provisions, citing safety and environmental concerns regarding the site, as well as the proposed transportation route to cart the dredged toxic materials through southern Berkshire County.
For Lee Select Board member Robert “Bob” Jones, the question of detailing cancer rates due to PCB exposure isn’t new but “has been ongoing for decades.” He said the 2020 agreement lacked input from local boards of health as to the safety of the remediation process set forth.
“How could anyone in government (federal, state, or local) sign off on an agreement before ascertaining the impact of PCBs on the health and wellbeing of the residents impacted by the unwanted exposure to them?” Jones stated. “The [Rest of River] agreement was signed off on by that small group without a wisp of knowledge as to the long-term effects of the terms now imposed on us. Now, we sit and wait for a study, pitifully overdue and perhaps too late to impact the course forward.”
