Health Officials Downplay Paradise Hills Asbestos Risk

A review of death certificates has persuaded county officials that there is little if any health risk to residents living in the Paradise Hills area, where extremely high levels of cancer-causing asbestos were recently found in the soil.

Gary Stephany, chief of the county’s environmental health division, said a survey of deaths in three census tracts covering the area where asbestos was found shows that no one died as a direct result of contamination from the material, which can be hazardous if inhaled.

“I can’t say there is no risk to people living there, but the chances of getting sick from this stuff--if it remains underground--are slim to none,” Stephany said. “During the seven-year period of our review, it appears no one died from asbestos contamination out there.”

Stephany added, however, that any residents who moved and later contracted asbestos-related diseases would not have shown up in the study. He estimated that 50% of the residents living in Paradise Hills five years ago have relocated.

Moreover, the county is still awaiting results of soil samples taken near homes in the Paradise Hills area. Those results could shed further light on the level of contamination and help the county decide whether a cleanup is merited and what safety measures are appropriate.

The asbestos and extremely high levels of toxic heavy metals were found buried in the soil of four residential yards in the 6000 block of Edgewater Street. The materials were first detected Oct. 26 by a swimming-pool contractor who unearthed landfill debris containing asbestos behind the home of Gloria Price.

Physical contact with asbestos is not dangerous, but it can cause cancer if particles are inhaled. Price, who has since moved out of the Edgewater Street home once owned by her parents, has blamed the asbestos for the death of her father of cancer in 1979.

Stephany said a consulting epidemiologist, Dr. Herschel Griffin, reviewed death certificates filed from 1981 to 1988 that cited three diseases traceable to asbestos contamination--lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.

There were no deaths from mesothelioma or asbestosis, and the rate of lung cancer deaths in the three tracts was below the county average, Stephany said.

“So at this point, there doesn’t appear to be any connection there,” Stephany said. “But we still want people to understand that, if they are going to go dig in their yards, they should know what they’re dealing with.”

Stephany said the source of the asbestos is still unknown. Although the neighborhood hit by contamination was built on the site of the old National City Chemical Co., which shut down in the 1920s, officials have no evidence that the company is responsible for the problem.

To help unravel the mystery, county officials are interviewing residents about events that occurred 20, 30 and 40 years ago that may provide clues to the contamination’s source.