|
Puerto Rico Update,
Number 32, Spring 2001
Health and the Navy in Vieques by John Lindsay-Poland At the center of the controversy about the Navy's bombing exercises in Vieques, Puerto Rico are the high rates of cancer, heart disease, asthma and other health problems among the island-municipality's 9,300 residents. These illnesses represent the very human evidence that Navy activities are doing harm -- beyond the warfare for which training in Vieques prepares. From the beginning, the Navy has maintained that there is no link between these health issues and contamination generated by Navy bombing, training, or storage and disposal of toxics in either the western or eastern end of the island. Acting Navy Secretary Robert Pirie on April 11 called claims of negative health effects in Vieques "unfounded speculation." As new studies of contamination and health on Vieques emerge, however, the Navy's is a losing argument. Cancer Figures Confirmed In February, Governor Sila Calderón announced a million-dollar, five-month study to compile a cancer registry for Vieques and analyze the causes of the disease. The working group appointed for the task includes representatives of practically every entity imaginable: the Puerto Rico Health Department, the Vieques Commissioner Juan Fernández, Medical Surgeons College, Centers for Disease Control, the Puerto Rico Medical Association, American Cancer Society, and the Pan-American Health Organization. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico's new Secretary of Health, Johnny Rullan, estimates that Vieques has 40 new cases of cancer a year. Unpublished cancer statistics from 1997, cited by the Technical and Professional Support Group for Vieques, showed 17 people from Vieques dying of cancer, which represented a rate 55% higher than the rest of Puerto Rico for that year. A devastating study released in January by biologist Arturo Massol and radiochemist Elba Díaz showed that vegetables and plants growing in the civilian area of Vieques are highly contaminated with heavy lead, cadmium, copper and other metals. Edible crops had metals substantially above the maximum set by the European Union Council, and also far exceeded plants tested in the Puerto Rican town of Guánica. The plants most affected were those with shallow roots, such as chile, pasture grass, and squash, while trees were less contaminated. This is consistent with the thesis that heavy metals are deposited in the civilian area through air dispersion by the stead easerly trade winds blowing directly from the bombing zone. Heart Politics Calderón brought the findings of the study to President Clinton before he left office on January 20, asking him to order an immediate end to the bombing. Clinton instead ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a review of the study by the end of February. Clinton also ordered the Pentagon to produce a report by March 9 on alternative sites to Vieques and the Navy's training needs for the next two years. But the report had still not been completed by the end of March, and the Navy announced that renewed training did not depend on the results of the health review. Meanwhile, the Ponce School of Medicine conducted its own review of Viequenses' health, and confirmed a high incidence of vibroacoustic disease. Seventy-nine percent of Vieques fishermen have a thickening of heart tissue, the main symptom of vibroacoustic disease. This condition can result in a vareity of consequences, ranging from heart arrythmia to death. The Navy then paid a researcher from Johns Hopkins University $46,000 to review the heart study - but used only some of the data available. The researcher found "insufficient material available to form a definitive conclusion" that heart problems in Vieques were "related to sonic stressors." Toxic Agency? In Vieques, the ATSDR plans to examine four "pathways" for human exposure to contamination in Vieques: groundwater; the food chain; soil; and air dispersion of dust. This Spring, ATSDR will also conduct one-time testing of residents for exposure to lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and other heavy metals, though it will not analyze potential sources of contamination it may find. A study last year of heavy metals in violin crabs in Vieques waters showed extensive contamination. Many people believe that dust blown west from the bombing area by the prevailing winds is an important ingredient in Viequenses' health problems. But ATSDR chose to focus first on drinking water. Vieques obtains most of its drinking water from the big island, through a pipeline constructed in 1978. Water wells in Vieques are used in case of emergencies. Based on this and some well samples, ATSDR concluded that the "public water supply system is safe to drink." However, ATSDR neglected to test for explosive residues in water from the actual wells used in case the pipeline breaks down, known as the Sun Bay Wells, which was what the Agency originally was asked to do. "Are the wells contaminated or not? All you have to do is take the tops off and test them," said Gordon Rumore, the U.S. resident in Vieques who originally requested the ATSDR assessment. (In fact, in1978 Navy studies -- confirmed by Puerto Rico's Environmental Quaility Board -- detected military explosives residues in water tanks located in the civilian area.) ATSDR contends that contaminated water in eastern Vieques where the bombing range is located is irrelevant because the island's hydro-geology leads water north and south into the ocean, not west toward populated areas. During a public meeting in Vieques convened by ATSDR on March 14, resident Charlie Connelly asked why, if this was true, the Navy had installed monitoring wells between the explosive impact area and the civilian zone of Vieques -- monitors specifically designed to detect the migration west of explosive contaminants. The ATSDR did not respond to Connelly's question. In addition, the ATSDR review found a high level of benzene, a dangerous organic compound, in a groundwater well on Navy property in western Vieques. ATSDR found 21 parts per billion, more than four times the maximum allowed. Adding offense to injury, the Navy has openly scoffed at the results of these multiple studies demonstrating heavy contamination in Vieques. Signaling a broader military resistance to citizens' environmental and health concerns, Army Deputy Chief of Staff General R.L. Van Antwerp testified before a Senate committee on March 20 that the Army is seeking "relief from compliance with environmental Statutes." Clearly upset by the precedent set at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, a firing range in Cape Cod closed because of groundwater contamination, the General focused on "encroachment" onto firing ranges, and said the Army has trained personnel in "relationship-building and outrage management." Asking Congress for assistance, he said, "the best technical solution might not always be the best community solution." Should the court of public opinion rule that the Navy's training in Vieques is dangerous to community health, the verdict may reverberate far beyond Puerto Rico. It might seem obvious that training for killing brings destruction in itself. The Navy appears to fear the implications of that truth. For more on the history of ATSDR's disservices to communities whose health is affected by contamination, see "Inconclusive by Design," a 199_ report on the website of the Military Toxics Project: Sources: Navy's Vieques website (www.navyvieques.navy.mil); El Nuevo Dia, 3/7, 4/13/01; Grupo de Apoyo Técnico y Profesional, "Vieques: Situación Actual de la Salud," April 2000; Virginian Pilot, 3/21/01; Massol and Díaz, "Metales tóxicos en la vegetación de la zona civil de Vieques," Jan. 2001; La Voz de Vieques, 3/19/01; ATSDR, "Public Health Assessment, Vieques Bombing Range," Feb. 2001; Antwerp testimony before Senate Armed Services Committee, 3/20/01; Linda King, Gordon Rumore, Robert Johnson interviews; Johns Hopkins School of Public Health statement 4/13/01. |
|
Fellowship of Reconciliation ©2001 Fellowship of Reconciliation
|