Griffin Park needs more toxin studies

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Griffin Park development in Bangor, home to 50 income-sensitive families, needs a modern day Sherlock Holmes. For years, families have complained of health problems, such as asthma, nosebleeds, sore throats, migraines and cancers.

As parents raising children in this neighborhood, the eerie similarity of the health problems have led us to believe there might be an environmental cause lurking behind our ailments. We want to make sure our kids are growing up in a safe and healthy home, while we aren’t scientific experts, and we certainly aren’t Sherlock Holmes, we began searching for the source of the problems and solutions, by following our noses.

One source of the health problems might be in the fumes we frequently breathe coming from Birch Stream, a small brook that runs adjacent to our development. The most potent chemical odor was eventually traced to de-icing chemicals, used and released in large quantities by the Bangor International Airport and their tenants, Air National Guard.

A waste collection system to minimize chemical releases into Birch Stream has been installed by the Airport, however the fumes of de-icing chemicals are still in our air and worsen in the cold weather months. A recent oil spill coming from the airport into Birch Stream tells us that the environmental problems there have not truly been solved.

As residents, we continued being the squeaky wheel, hoping for some grease from the city, state or government to tackle our odor and health problems.

Our quest led to two investigations over the past year, one by the city, one by the state. These studies have raised more questions than answers.

The first investigation was an indoor air quality survey funded by the City of Bangor and conducted by a certified environmental health and safety expert from Klane’s Education Information Training Hub. Although no air samples were taken, the study looked for significant air quality trends that may be affecting our health by comparing our development to the nearby Park Woods Apartments, where few health complaints have been reported. One of the strengths of this study was it investigated every home in Griffin Park.

The study found that a significant number reported that the air in Griffin Park smelled bad. It also found there are a number of air pollution sources (outside the development) and moisture damage (inside our homes) that may be detrimental to the air we are breathing.

The report recommended Bangor Housing Authority (BHA) remove mold in our homes and install exhaust fans to cut down on future mold outbreaks (fans were installed). The study also recommended that the city work closely with the state to conduct air sampling at various times in the neighborhood (has not been done).

Second study, conducted by the Maine Bureau of Health was a health survey of past and current residents in the last year. Unlike the air quality study, which investigated every apartment, this survey was only able to garner voluntary responses from one out every three Griffin Park homes.

This study corroborated the air quality investigation by finding that 94 percent of respondents detected unusual smells and odors outside their homes and 69 percent identified musty, moldy and chemical-like smells inside their apartments.

The study also found of forty Griffin Park respondents to the health survey, over the past six months:

. Nine felt dizzy (23 percent)

. Fourteen always felt tired and fatigued (35 percent)

. Fourteen felt nauseous or vomiting (35 percent)

. Twenty-one suffered migraines and headaches (53 percent)

. Twenty-three suffered from sore throats (58 percent)

. Wheezing, tightness in chest (25 percent) shortness of breath (20 percent)

. Coughs lasting 2 weeks or more (43 percent)

Although both of the studies show air quality problems, inside and outside, the state, city or government officials have yet to conduct air monitoring in our neighborhood. Since a variety of additives make-up the formula for the de-icer alone, plus traces of hundreds of other chemicals have been found in the stream unrelated to de-icers, just what chemical mixtures have we been breathing and exposing our children to and what is it doing to our health?

No one has answered these questions. We’ve had to take testing matters into our own hands. Through funding we brought in an air monitoring expert from the Global Community Monitor, a non-profit group located in San Francisco, California. We learned how to build and operate an air sampling unit to test our own air when we smell chemicals. We also sampled dust in our apartments.

The dust sample indicated that a large amount of soot pollution was getting into our apartments. One apartment sample showed carbon black levels at 45 percent. Carbon black, or soot, at 45 percent is highly uncommon, and it is unusual to find more than a few percent of carbon black in such a sample, especially when the home has electric heat.

Griffin Park residents need to work with the state, city, and government officials. The problems in the neighborhood are too large for us residents to tackle on our own. While we, as residents, have sat down and compared the results of the two studies, the state and the city have not. Looking at the studies side-by-side with the experts that wrote them, what more can we deduce? What other problems should be investigated?

The state, city and government need to come together and figure out a quick response plan for when chemicals are in our air.

Our noses lead us to reporting the oil spill coming from Bangor International Airport on April 3, 2005, preventing over 300 gallons from entering Birch Stream, so when we report a smell we need to be heard and testing done right away, day or night.

Protectors of our health need to trace where chemicals are coming from and stop their release. Citizens need to be alerted of such releases and their potential harm.

Bottom line, more testing needs to be conducted at Griffin Park. We can’t protect our families if we don’t know what is threatening them. Since it’s unlikely that Sherlock Holmes will show up we need state, city and government officials to do more sleuthing of their own.

Ann Birmingham and Gina Pratt, members of Griffin Park Citizens Against Toxic Streams, a community group looking into health and environmental problems in their neighborhood.