GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — A new study finds some people living in Glynn County have high levels of toxic chemicals in their blood.
Emory University researchers link that health threat to pollutants from the county’s industrial sites.
Glynn County is home to four federal Superfund sites. Superfund sites are the nation’s most contaminated areas. It means the federal government finds this pollution is so severe it requires years-long monitoring and cleanup.
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Brunswick residents still live in the shadow of shuttered buildings that pose an environmental risk. Although many may not even know it.
Dorothy Story had no idea she lives two blocks from a federally designated superfund site.
“It’s scary. I’ve lived there for 20 years. We’ve always been near the plant,” said Story.
Emory University researchers took samples from 100 Glynn County residents, finding elevated levels of rare chemicals in many people’s blood.
40% of participants had levels of highly chlorinated PCBs that are above the 95th percentile of the U.S. population. Some had even higher levels of known cancer-causing chemicals.
“Something should be done about it,” Story said.
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Rachael Thompson, who is the executive director of Glynn Environmental Coalition, spoke with Emory University Rolling’s School of Public Health this week.
“For the longest time, we knew that these hazardous waste sites in Glynn County had a significant impact on the people here, but we never had the scientific evidence to say these chemicals have made it into the people and our people population here,” Thompson said.
On the heels of this study, the National Institutes of Health is awarding $15 million dollars to establish a superfund research center in Brunswick.
“It’s taking that evidence and putting it in the face of people responsible. Whether it is the leaders that are responsible, the agencies that were in charge, the EPA the EPD, and say you can’t dismiss them, because we have the evidence now,” Thompson said.
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Researchers say they’ll go beyond simply documenting exposure. Saying the goal is to determine how contaminants from sites such as LCP Chemicals, Hercules, and other legacy industrial facilities are still affecting the lives of the people who work and live here.
“I would like to know if I’ve got it in my blood. It’s not funny, it’s serious,” Story said.
To read the full study, CLICK HERE.
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