I learned the toxic truth about my idyllic childhood camp... are your children at risk too?
It was the start of many years of sailing on the Toms River and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, where I spent summers in an idyllic small town surrounded by family.
As a child, I didn't question the absence of fish, the scum lining the shore or its faint foul odor.
For eight years, I swam in a river that had once been a toxic dumping ground for a plant owned at the time by Ciba-Geigy, a chemical company that churned out dyes, plastics, and adhesives seven miles northwest.
The toxic waste from Ciba-Geigy's plant was later linked by state health officials to a cluster of childhood cancers - over 100 cases in around 15 years - just a few miles from my grandparents' house.
A flood of toxins seeped into the area's groundwater and sickened hundreds of children. State health data has since shown that, for decades, every glass of water filled in Toms River carried trace amounts of toxic chemicals.
Not many people were aware of the dumping. According to my dad, who grew up in a small town next to Toms River, 'We didn't know anything about it until it came out later with the cancer cluster.
'I remember when it was just rumors and everyone was like it couldn't be, everyone loves Ciba-Geigy.'
When Ciba-Geigy opened in 1952, it revived Toms River's economy with hundreds of jobs.
A long-time Toms River resident, Summer Bardia, told DailyMail.com her Uncle Ed, who worked at Ciba-Geigy for 10 years, 'would come home and he'd sweat out the different colors that he was working with that day.'
'My Uncle Ed knew something was wrong, as did his co-workers at the plant,' Bardia said. 'He took his clothes off and got into the shower as soon as he got home from work.'
Ed developed rare bladder cancer, brain tumors, and dementia. While she can't prove it, Bardia said the connection between her uncle's workplace exposure and his diseases seems undeniable.
Dye production uses several cancer-linked chemicals, and EPA investigations found the company's runoff contained suspected or known carcinogens like benzene, chromium, lead, arsenic and mercury.
It also uses tetrachloroethene (PCE), which has been shown to double bladder cancer risk and raise risk of nervous system cancers, and trichloroethene (TCE), which raises leukemia risk two to five times.
For decades, the company dumped toxic wastewater into unlined pits, allowing carcinogens linked to bladder, brain, and kidney cancers and leukemia, to leach into the groundwater and flow into Toms River.
Under pressure from outraged residents of Ocean County, Ciba-Geigy stopped dumping waste in lagoons, instead pumping it 10 miles offshore, until a 1984 pipe rupture spewed black sludge.
By the mid-1970s, the town saw a disturbing spike in childhood cancers.
Before merging into Toms River, Dover Township recorded 90 childhood cancer cases over 17 years—far above the 67 expected. Leukemia in young girls stood out, with seven cases instead of the expected 2.7.
In Toms River, 24 cases were recorded where just 14 were expected, including 10 in young girls, most of which were brain cancer and leukemia.
The toll was worst among preschool girls. Brain cancers were at least 10 times the normal rates and leukemia rates were eight times the national baseline for girls that age.
Scientists confirmed these weren't random flukes. The data matched patterns near other toxic waste sites around the US. The Ciba-Geigy campus was designated a Superfund site in 1983.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried for the kids in towns along the river beginning their sailing programs every summer and the older long-time residents who still love to sail.
I would also be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit of trepidation when I turn on the faucet at my grandparents' house, where the water has a slightly odd smell.
I ask myself now if it's due to old metal pipes or a remnant of corporate wrongdoing.
The plant shut down all operations in 1996. The chemical company BASF acquired it in 2009, inheriting all clean up responsibility.
The EPA oversight has shrunk Toms River's toxic plume, but full cleanup is years away. Alec Boss, communications and outreach coordinator for the activist group Save Barnegat Bay, called cleanup efforts 'woefully inadequate.'
Contaminated groundwater is being pumped out, treated, and discharged back into the ground.
Boss told DailyMail.com: 'Imagine that you come up to a pond filled with this horrible pond scum and nasty bacteria, you get a cup of this dirty pond water and one of those iodine tablets that you would take if you were going camping, and you put that in that cup and you clean up that water, and then you just dump that back into the pond.
'That's essentially what they're doing.'
Diane Salkie, EPA's remedial project manager for the site, told members in a webinar that 'we've probably gone down about 40 percent, maybe there's about 60 percent [of the toxic plume] remaining, but that's very ballpark.'
However, the ocean is much cleaner now, Bardia said.
'I love jumping in those ocean waves. I love bringing my family and friends and showing them how clean the ocean is now, looking at all the dolphins and the whales and the rays.'
The river is cleaner, too. I've noticed when I go back to Island Heights it's bluer and I no longer see foam at the shoreline.
Ocean County still suffers high cancer rates, with 524 cases per 100,000 compared to the state average of 474 per 100,000. The national rate is still lower at about 444 cases per 100,000.
A statement from BASF said: 'We want to be clear that a significant amount of work has been done over the past 30 years, and the US EPA has determined that the site currently poses no risk to human health and the environment.
'BASF will continue to work with the US EPA and NJDEP until all federal and state requirements are met. While US EPA has stated that full remediation of the groundwater plume may take several more years, this is typical of larger groundwater cleanup efforts.'
But the EPA-supervised cleanup only treats the former plant site, not the broader community's toxic burden.
Bardia said: 'What about the rest of Toms River? What about the area around the pipeline? What about all those backyards with all that soot that landed on people's homes and yards?
'I don't want to scare people away, but I want them to know that this fight is still going on.'
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Daily Mail
2 days ago
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I learned the toxic truth about my idyllic childhood camp... are your children at risk too?
On my wall hangs a photo of a seven-year-old me in a small yellow sailboat with my father beside me, holding lines while I steered the boat. It was the start of many years of sailing on the Toms River and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, where I spent summers in an idyllic small town surrounded by family. As a child, I didn't question the absence of fish, the scum lining the shore or its faint foul odor. For eight years, I swam in a river that had once been a toxic dumping ground for a plant owned at the time by Ciba-Geigy, a chemical company that churned out dyes, plastics, and adhesives seven miles northwest. The toxic waste from Ciba-Geigy's plant was later linked by state health officials to a cluster of childhood cancers - over 100 cases in around 15 years - just a few miles from my grandparents' house. A flood of toxins seeped into the area's groundwater and sickened hundreds of children. State health data has since shown that, for decades, every glass of water filled in Toms River carried trace amounts of toxic chemicals. Not many people were aware of the dumping. According to my dad, who grew up in a small town next to Toms River, 'We didn't know anything about it until it came out later with the cancer cluster. 'I remember when it was just rumors and everyone was like it couldn't be, everyone loves Ciba-Geigy.' When Ciba-Geigy opened in 1952, it revived Toms River's economy with hundreds of jobs. A long-time Toms River resident, Summer Bardia, told her Uncle Ed, who worked at Ciba-Geigy for 10 years, 'would come home and he'd sweat out the different colors that he was working with that day.' 'My Uncle Ed knew something was wrong, as did his co-workers at the plant,' Bardia said. 'He took his clothes off and got into the shower as soon as he got home from work.' Ed developed rare bladder cancer, brain tumors, and dementia. While she can't prove it, Bardia said the connection between her uncle's workplace exposure and his diseases seems undeniable. Dye production uses several cancer-linked chemicals, and EPA investigations found the company's runoff contained suspected or known carcinogens like benzene, chromium, lead, arsenic and mercury. It also uses tetrachloroethene (PCE), which has been shown to double bladder cancer risk and raise risk of nervous system cancers, and trichloroethene (TCE), which raises leukemia risk two to five times. For decades, the company dumped toxic wastewater into unlined pits, allowing carcinogens linked to bladder, brain, and kidney cancers and leukemia, to leach into the groundwater and flow into Toms River. Under pressure from outraged residents of Ocean County, Ciba-Geigy stopped dumping waste in lagoons, instead pumping it 10 miles offshore, until a 1984 pipe rupture spewed black sludge. By the mid-1970s, the town saw a disturbing spike in childhood cancers. Before merging into Toms River, Dover Township recorded 90 childhood cancer cases over 17 years—far above the 67 expected. Leukemia in young girls stood out, with seven cases instead of the expected 2.7. In Toms River, 24 cases were recorded where just 14 were expected, including 10 in young girls, most of which were brain cancer and leukemia. The toll was worst among preschool girls. Brain cancers were at least 10 times the normal rates and leukemia rates were eight times the national baseline for girls that age. Scientists confirmed these weren't random flukes. The data matched patterns near other toxic waste sites around the US. The Ciba-Geigy campus was designated a Superfund site in 1983. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried for the kids in towns along the river beginning their sailing programs every summer and the older long-time residents who still love to sail. I would also be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit of trepidation when I turn on the faucet at my grandparents' house, where the water has a slightly odd smell. I ask myself now if it's due to old metal pipes or a remnant of corporate wrongdoing. The plant shut down all operations in 1996. The chemical company BASF acquired it in 2009, inheriting all clean up responsibility. The EPA oversight has shrunk Toms River's toxic plume, but full cleanup is years away. Alec Boss, communications and outreach coordinator for the activist group Save Barnegat Bay, called cleanup efforts 'woefully inadequate.' Contaminated groundwater is being pumped out, treated, and discharged back into the ground. Boss told 'Imagine that you come up to a pond filled with this horrible pond scum and nasty bacteria, you get a cup of this dirty pond water and one of those iodine tablets that you would take if you were going camping, and you put that in that cup and you clean up that water, and then you just dump that back into the pond. 'That's essentially what they're doing.' Diane Salkie, EPA's remedial project manager for the site, told members in a webinar that 'we've probably gone down about 40 percent, maybe there's about 60 percent [of the toxic plume] remaining, but that's very ballpark.' However, the ocean is much cleaner now, Bardia said. 'I love jumping in those ocean waves. I love bringing my family and friends and showing them how clean the ocean is now, looking at all the dolphins and the whales and the rays.' The river is cleaner, too. I've noticed when I go back to Island Heights it's bluer and I no longer see foam at the shoreline. Ocean County still suffers high cancer rates, with 524 cases per 100,000 compared to the state average of 474 per 100,000. The national rate is still lower at about 444 cases per 100,000. A statement from BASF said: 'We want to be clear that a significant amount of work has been done over the past 30 years, and the US EPA has determined that the site currently poses no risk to human health and the environment. 'BASF will continue to work with the US EPA and NJDEP until all federal and state requirements are met. While US EPA has stated that full remediation of the groundwater plume may take several more years, this is typical of larger groundwater cleanup efforts.' But the EPA-supervised cleanup only treats the former plant site, not the broader community's toxic burden. Bardia said: 'What about the rest of Toms River? What about the area around the pipeline? What about all those backyards with all that soot that landed on people's homes and yards? 'I don't want to scare people away, but I want them to know that this fight is still going on.'
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A trip to the dentist can reveal a lot more about your health than just how often you floss. Routine cleanings and regular dental check ups are important as the mouth is considered the 'gateway' to the body, thus it can be the origin of problems in many different aspects of the body. Research has also shown that more than 90 percent of all systemic diseases have some form of oral manifestation, meaning the condition may cause oral complications or present with oral signs or symptoms. So, when you're in the dentist's chair, the doctor will check for cavities, but your mouth can also provide insight into your overall health, including if you have diabetes, cancer, heart disease or kidney disease and even HIV. However, your mouth can also unknowingly reveal a lot about your lifestyle, and a dentist can see more than just disease. Routine dental exams may divulge embarrassing habits or risqué activity that you would otherwise prefer to keep private. 'Dentists are the first line of defense in detecting system diseases and nutrition deficiencies because some of these diseases and deficiencies have oral manifestations,' Dr Jarrett Manning, founder of JLM Dental Studio, told HuffPost. 'This means the disease process may present as abnormal mouth lesions that dentists are trained to detect.' While dentists check for gum health, tooth conditions and overall mouth hygiene, Manning emphasized that any dental checkups are also necessary because 'any lesion, sore, or patch in the mouth can tell another story and give us insight to a deeper issue.' Below, outlines just some of what your mouth can reveal in the dentist's office. Childish habits and oral fixations If you're still partaking in the self-soothing habit of thumb sucking, you could be causing major damage to your teeth, and your dentist will be able to tell if you're holding onto the childish practice. Sucking your thumb, especially into adolescence and adulthood when permanent teeth come in, raises issues as it changes the structure of your jaw and growth of teeth. Dr Erin Fraundorf, an orthodontist and founder of BOCA Orthodontic + Whitening Studio, told HuffPost: 'Thumb-sucking may significantly alter not only a patient's teeth but their jaws. 'These signs include protruding upper front teeth with spacing, tucked back lower front teeth with crowding, a narrow upper jaw and an anterior open bite ― a lack of vertical overlap between the upper and lower front teeth.' Dentists can also tell if you bite your nails or have an oral fixation that makes you bite or chew on things that should be left out of your mouth. Dr Fraundorf added: 'Without glancing at your nails, a dentist may be able to detect if you bite your nails ― or bite on other items, like pen caps or bottle caps.' This is because the stress and wear and tear on your teeth from biting or chewing hard objects can cause chipping, cracking and wearing away of the enamel. Bedroom activities While you may prefer to keep your bedroom habits private, if you visit the dentist shortly after engaging in sexual activity, your doctor will be able to tell. This is because performing oral sex on a person with a penis leads to distinct changes in the mouth, lasting for several days. The giveaway is a rash of small red or purple marks at the back of the throat or the roof of the mouth, called palatal petechiae. The marks are caused by bleeding beneath the oral tissue, similar to a bruise. While palatal petechiae can be triggered by a sickness or virus, in the case of oral sex, it's caused by something repeatedly hitting the back of the mouth or throat. This, combined with the pressure created if making a sucking action, which boosts blood flow in the mouth, increases the risk of marks appearing. 'Sometimes we can tell,' orthodontist Brad Podray said in a TikTok. 'It's usually bruising on the soft palate called petechiae. But unless the patient's really young or shows signs of abuse, we don't care.' The revelation prompted hundreds of comments from followers, including one who wrote: 'Oh my god, my dad is my dentist.' Risky sexual behavior Some of the health conditions that cause oral symptoms include sexually transmitted diseases. So, your dentist may be able to tell if you're engaging in risky or unprotected sexual behavior. Because the symptoms of STDs vary, some may only present with oral signs and you may not realize you have the disease. Herpes causes lesions and sores on and around the mouth and lips, while gonorrhea oral symptoms include swollen tonsils and white spots inside the mouth and throat. The STD can also cause burning sensations and pain in the mouth and throat. Syphilis can cause sores on the lips, tongue, gums, mouth and throat and hepatitis A and C can lead to altered taste and inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth. Illicit indulgences Drug users, whether those who occasionally indulge in party drugs or people with addictions, may unwillingly reveal their secret to their dentists. Cocaine can cause perforation of the palate, according to a study in the journal Nature, as well as lesions and the erosion of the tooth surfaces. The drug also makes you more prone to periodontal diseases, or those of the gum and oral tissues. Additionally, people who use meth may experience 'meth mouth,' which causes tooth decay and gum disease and can lead to teeth cracking and falling out. Hidden diseases While it may seem unexpected, dentists may be the doctors that actually reveal major health complications that go far beyond your mouth. 'You can see if someone has HIV by identifying specific lesions called Kaposi's sarcoma that are common in uncontrolled HIV cases and have a distinct visual appearance,' Dr Ilona Casellini, founder of Swiss Quality Smile, told HuffPost. Karposi's sarcoma appears as lesions on gums, the mucous membranes and the roof of the mouth. People with HIV may also experience chronic dry mouth, canker sores and hairy leukoplakia, which presents as white patches on the tongue, that dentists can pick up on. 'Oral yeast infections can be a symptom of HIV in young patients who seem to otherwise present as healthy,' Fraundorf added.
