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State of Massachusetts Department of Health - Ashland Nyanza Health Study Final Report, April 2006
Residents of Ashland, MA had a right to know the reasons behind the pain and suffering caused by the former Nyanza Textile and Dye Plant.
The following report from the Massachusetts Department of Health shows that various cancers and other health risks can be definitively linked to the alarming number of cancer cases in the surrounding areas, including the contaminated lagoons and ponds where many residents swam as children.
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Background
The Town of Ashland, Massachusetts is located 22 miles west of Boston with a population of approximately 14,674 people.
Although Ashland is predominantly a residential community, historically it was also home to the Nyanza Company, which operated a dye manufacturing facility in the town from 1965 to 1978.
The Nyanza Inc. Company was one of the first and largest dye manufacturers in the United States. The site has a lengthy history in the Ashland community; prior to 1965 a number of other companies also operated at the Nyanza site location.
During the early 1980s several environmental studies at the Nyanza property documented widespread chemical contamination at and around the site.
Consequently, in 1983 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed the Nyanza property on the National Priority List as the Nyanza Chemical Waste Dump.
Historically, liquid wastes were discharged from the Nyanza site into the environment in several ways including into an underground vault, unlined lagoons, and nearby brooks and wetlands.
More than 100 different chemicals including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), dye manufacturing compounds, and metals were detected on the approximately 35-acre site.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) completed a Public Health Assessment for the Nyanza Chemical Waste Dump in 1994 and identified a number of exposure pathways from the Nyanza site.
This assessment demonstrated that opportunity for human exposure to Nyanza site contaminants in the past was high and included exposures to children playing in the soils and lagoons on-site as well as in the Chemical Brook located at the northern perimeter of the site and near adjacent residential properties.
Although this assessment determined that exposures to Ashland residents likely occurred in the past, information regarding the community’s health status was not available at the time to determine if exposure could be related to adverse health effects among Ashland residents.
| “One of the things the Ashland High School football team did when they won a big game was jump in the lagoons,” said Suzanne Condon, head of the environmental health division at the DPH. |
Two health studies examining the incidence of bladder and kidney cancer were also completed as part of the Public Health Assessment for the Nyanza Chemical site.
Both studies targeted bladder and kidney cancer because these cancers types are associated with occupational exposure to azo dye manufacture and the use of two contaminants detected at the Nyanza site.
An Expert Panel convened by the MDPH reviewed the findings of the two health studies along with environmental data for the Nyanza site and concluded that the number and distribution of bladder and kidney cancers in Ashland during the study period 1982 to 1986 was not atypical.
However, the panel also concluded that potential past exposures to environmental contaminants from the Nyanza site could have contributed to a variety of disease outcomes, including cancer, among Ashland residents.
The panel believed the 1960s to be the critical time period of interest based on possible population changes in the town and the latency period of diseases that could potentially be associated with exposures.
Further, given site accessibility and the types of activities that occurred at the Nyanza property during the 1960s through the 1980s, the opportunity for exposure was greatest to children and young adults who frequented the property.
see also:
Study Design and Methodology
Nyanza - Study Design and MethodologyNyanza - Study Design and Methodology
Introduction to Ashland Nyanza Health Study
Introduction to Ashland Nyanza Health StudyIntroduction to Ashland Nyanza Health Study
Legacy of Kevin Kane
Legacy of Kevin KaneNyanza Chemical Waste Dump and the Death of Kevin Kane
