A new investigative task force will “review and record
reports from the community” on the use of polychlorinated biphenyl, or
PCB, DDT and Agent Orange on Guam, Sen. Fernando Esteves announced in a
news release Jan. 10.
Esteves, who serves as vice-chairman of the Guam Legislature’s Committee on Health, will be joined on the task force by Sen. Dennis Rodriguez Jr., the committee's chairman, and Sen. Louisa Borja Muna.
The
task force will reach out to the community, review records and compile
recent research data, Esteves said, and will attempt "to correlate these
environmental pollutants with an array of congenital health problems
that plague our island.”
“For example, if certain
diseases are attributed to specific hazardous constituents, then we want
to correlate that with a mix of subjective and objective historical
data about the surrounding area,” Esteves said. “Much work has been done
over the years. ... It is our intention to bridge the various entities
and compile their findings with ours.”
Due
to small spikes in PCB contamination levels, the Coast Guard has begun
the federal regulatory process for procuring a contract for
environmental remediation service on Cocos Island. The Coast Guard hopes
to begin physical remediation work of the area in 2017.
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