Sea-Tac Neighbors Raise Fears Of Cancer -- Study To Determine Air- Pollution Levels Around The Airport
Darlene Malcolm has lived under the shadow of cancer.
Her husband died a year and a half ago of a cancerous brain tumor. Her closest friend and neighbor, JoAnn Geving, died three years ago of breast cancer at age 48. Malcolm herself has survived breast cancer.
They and 16 other of Malcolm's friends - once neighbors in a tiny middle-class subdivision immediately north of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport - have developed cancer since 1985. Sixteen of the 19 are dead.
Malcolm, 65, began tracking those cases after her husband died because she suspected the illnesses might be linked to exhaust from planes at the airport.
Rachel Darling has similar suspicions. Her family lived in the same neighborhood as Malcolm their entire lives. She has lost four relatives and a neighbor to cancer and has had the disease herself.
Today, Malcolm and Darling are no closer to having any kind of hard evidence to prove their suspicions. And there are so many other factors - such as family histories, personal health habits and ages - to be considered if experts studied the situation.
But they're no longer alone in raising questions about possible health problems associated with living close to the airport.
With the Port of Seattle pushing to add a third runway that would enable the airport to handle an additional 100,000 flights per year, many doctors, environmental experts and citizens now call for the port to take a closer look at health risks.
A "Flight Plan" committee has recommended the third runway, opening Paine Field near Everett to commercial airlines and building a secondary airport in about 20 years in Pierce or Thurston counties.
Raising the specter of an abnormal number of health problems - from cancer to respiratory illnesses - near the airport may be just one tactic of those who oppose the expansion plans. But it also seems to be a legitimate fear and a topic that is gaining attention:
-- Seventy-five members of the medical staff at Highline Community Hospital last month wrote a letter asking the port to study whether known carcinogens released in jet exhaust are damaging the health of those who live in the flight path.
-- Rose Clark, who works in the mail room at the Highline School District under the Sea-Tac flight path, recently asked PTA presidents to spread the word that she wants information about anyone in the district who has had cancer or respiratory illness in the past decade. She plans to plot the information on a map. "It will not be scientific," Clark said, "but the community needs to know exactly where we stand."
-- Dr. Gordon Baker, a Burien allergist, sorted more than 1,000 of his asthma patients by zip code. Out of 120 ZIP codes, one-third of his patients were clustered in the six ZIP-code areas ringing the airport. "I'd have expected a much more even distribution," he said.
-- Port officials say they intend to search for any overlooked studies linking airports and cancer.
"We want to see if there's anything that's real, not just anecdotal information," said airport Planning Director Joe Sims, adding: "We find we're a convenient large entity for people to point a finger at."
LITTLE INFORMATION EXISTS
Questions about the relationship between jet exhaust and health seem to be occurring in a vacuum of little information. Neither the Environmental Protection Agency, National Cancer Institute nor Federal Aviation Administration have studied the issue.
"What we don't want to see is a third runway now and find out 15 years later we've got a Love Canal," said Dr. Dennis Hansen, a cardiologist at Highline Community Hospital, referring to the scare set off in 1978 when chemicals dumped there three decades earlier leaked into basements in the Niagara Falls neighborhood.
It's not even known at what level benzene, a component of gasoline known to cause cancer, is emitted from jet exhaust, said Clint Bowman, a Department of Ecology scientist in Olympia.
Benzene is also emitted when cars run or are being refueled at gasoline stations. There seems to be some evidence, however, that at least points a finger at jet exhaust.
Rep. Greg Fisher, D-SeaTac, requested a limited DOE study a year ago, saying airport neighbors long have complained about jet exhaust "so thick you could cut it with a knife."
That study included Malcolm's former neighborhood as one that may be exposed to levels of benzene 400 times higher than what is considered acceptable - 24,000 parts per trillion vs. acceptable state standards of 60 parts per trillion.
The benzene level in Malcolm's neighborhood "increases the risk of contracting cancer but I'm not sure by how much," Bowman said.
STUDY IS PLANNED
Some answers might be coming - eventually. Under pressure from residents, medical experts and environmental specialists, the port - with the help of local and state environmental agencies - will conduct what likely will be a yearlong study of air-pollution levels around the airport it operates.
The study will look at air quality around the airport and at what level the airport contributes to pollution.
It will try to determine if benzene is coming from cars or jets and, possibly, at what level. Other carcinogens will be examined as well.
The study may lay the groundwork to show whether a third runway will add to the pollution problem or, in fact, reduce it as planes would spend less time waiting on the ground with their engines revved up before takeoff.
Port Planner Mike Feldman said the overall cost, scope and starting date of the study will be decided within the next few months.
The first goal is to figure out pollution levels and where pollutants are coming from.
At a later point, the study may be expanded to see if there are any links between pollution and health problems in the area.
"I really don't know exactly what the study is going to entail at this point," Feldman said.
NO SOLID EVIDENCE
Meanwhile, Malcolm doesn't have the scientific background to pin 19 cases of cancer in her old neighborhood to the airport. She doesn't even have numerical evidence that might show that 19 cases is unusually high in her neighborhood because she's not sure how many once lived in the area near South 146th Street and 25th Avenue South.
It's largely vacant now with the port having purchased and boarded up or hauled away most of the houses there because they were exposed to high aircraft-noise levels.
Malcolm's house was purchased and she moved last fall to Federal Way.
Malcolm simply says: "I feel like there is a connection to the airport, but I can't prove it."
Rachel Darling wonders, too.
Darling, 33, who now lives in South Park with her husband and two children, lost her grandfather, father, mother, aunt and her aunt's next-door neighbor to cancer.
Darling herself had a hysterectomy after developing cancer of the cervix 4 1/2 years ago.
"I think about cancer every day of my life," she said. "I wonder, who's next?"
-- Times South bureau reporter Bob Ortega contributed to this story.