Effects
In the mid-1980s, the Borough of Pitman closed a playground at Betty Park, an area adjoining Alcyon Lake, as the levels of hazardous chemicals present in the soil were higher than safety levels established at the Federal level.
A study performed by the New Jersey Department of Health in 1989 showed that those living within one kilometer of the dump site were at greater risk of adult leukemia and of giving birth to low birth weight babies than those living further away.
A follow-up study by medical investigators released in 1997 reviewing details of 9,000 children born to parents living near the dump site found clear evidence of a link to the toxic chemicals and a significant drop in birth weight and a risk of pre-term delivery that was twice as high as normal. The increased effects peaked for those children born between 1971 and 1975, a period when the contaminants leaking from the site were at their peak. The study also found that after the dump was closed and cleanup began, birth weights increased until they were higher than those from surrounding areas in the most recent data. The peer-reviewed studies were included in Environmental Health Perspectives, a monthly journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Read more about this topic: Lipari Landfill
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