Chapter 53 Section 3

Since then, Anne and Donna have come and gone frequently, exchanging experiences and ideas with each other.More often, they just sit together silently, guarding each other's sick children, sending silent support to each other, and obtaining spiritual comfort from each other. In the spring of 1979, Woburn Police Station was called in to investigate a case of littering.Overnight, 184 barrels of industrial waste suddenly appeared near the "Industrial Park" less than half a mile north of Wells G and H.Although the police never caught the person who littered the waste, nor did they find out the specific source of the waste, the case was reported to the Massachusetts Department of Environment, and the staff rushed to the scene immediately to conduct sampling and analysis of the surrounding environment including wells G and H.

On May 22, the results of the analysis reached the desk of Gerald McColl, executive director of the state Department of the Environment, which oversees the Northeast. After 10 minutes, Director McColl asked his secretary to connect with the engineer of Woburn City Hall, and he personally ordered the immediate closure of Shaft G and Shaft H on the phone.Both wells were heavily contaminated with high levels of trichlorethylene, commercially known as TCE, an industrial solvent used to dissolve oils and fats, and lower concentrations of four other pollutants, including tetrachloride Ethylene, another industrial solvent.Both solvents are listed as "probable" carcinogens by the National Environmental Protection Agency.

Anne Anderson did not pay particular attention to the closure of Well G and H in the Woburn Daily Times.The article spends a lot of space urging citizens to save water in the coming summer, because the mayor has strictly prohibited households from washing their cars and watering their gardens.In the article, the reporter only vaguely mentioned "pollutants of unknown nature". Director Gerald McColl visited Woburn in person to inspect the 184 barrels of industrial waste.Before that, he had heard that the barrels were filled with polyurethane resin that had deteriorated and failed, and its composition had nothing to do with the pollutants in the two wells.So where does TCE, or trichlorethylene, come from?

One of the city's engineers, Thomas Morning, lived in Wood Street, east of the city, a quarter of a mile from Wells G and H.As Director McColl chatted with him, Thomas talked about his neighbors, the Toomeys.The three children of Toomey's family suffer from skin rashes for a long time, and they have to go to the dermatology department of the hospital several times a year, and no matter what medicine they use, there is no effect.Mrs. Toomey, Mary suspects that it is a water problem, because the water pipes in their house are badly corroded and leak all the time. In August 1979, three months after the closure of Shafts G and H, the Toomey family's oldest child—actually the second, who had been killed in a car accident several years earlier—Peter, 10, fell ill. .Like Jimmy Anderson back then, the local doctor found out that there was something wrong with his blood and sent him to Massachusetts General Hospital.Director John Truman performed a bone marrow aspiration test for him, and the conclusion came out quickly: chronic myeloid leukemia, the deadliest of all leukemia types.

On September 10 of that year, Anne Anderson received a call from Car Gray, who only said on the phone: "Look at today's newspaper." The headline on the front page of the "Woburn Daily Times" is "Arsenic Pond Discovered in the North of the City".A young reporter named Charlie Ryan reported that in July this year, a construction team dug up a waste pond in the ruins of a chemical plant that had been closed for many years.The pool is five feet deep and measures one hectare.Contaminants in the pool include high levels of arsenic (arsenic), lead, chromium and traces of other heavy metals.At that time, in addition to producing chemicals for tanning, the chemical factory named Merri Mark also produced arsenic-based pesticides.There are also animal skins and debris discarded by tanneries in the waste pool.The article said that experts believe that a very small amount of arsenic may cause cancer, while metal chromium has always been identified as having a relationship with lung and respiratory tract cancer.The article stated that it is not very clear whether these toxic substances have contaminated the G and H wells a mile south, but there is definite information that the closure of the two wells is because: "The water contains high concentrations of trichlorethylene , or TCE, an industrial solvent."

The Reverend Bruce Younger of Trinity Anglican Church also saw the report.He later recalled: “It was at that moment that the words that Anne Anderson had said to me over the years had real meaning.” Anne had always believed that the children’s leukemia was caused by the suspicious tap water.She first told her husband at home that Joels was tired of listening to it over time, and he interrupted Anne impatiently, saying that so many experts and scholars couldn't figure it out, why do you, a housewife with only a middle school education, Jump to conclusions?Anne had to go to the good-tempered Reverend Younger.

The next day, Reverend Young called Annie and said he had drawn up a plan to place an ad in the Warburn Daily Times asking all children who had been diagnosed with leukemia in the past 15 years The parents of the family attended an investigative meeting at Trinity Anglican Church. Well G was opened in 1964, exactly 15 years ago.One night three weeks later, more than 30 people came to the Anglican church for a meeting.Pastor Young distributed to attendees a questionnaire about leukemia that a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital helped draft.As a result of the investigation, there were a total of 12 cases of childhood leukemia.Reverend Young bought a map of Woburn and marked it with 12 addresses. Eight of the twelve children live within half a mile of each other in the east of Woburn, and six of them are near Pine Street, almost next-door neighbours.

Pastor Young took this map to visit Director John Truman at Massachusetts General Hospital."12 cases in 15 years - maybe more - does that count as an 'outlier'?" the pastor asked. Director Truman replied: "Without a doubt." At the same time, Charlie Ryan published an investigative article on the front page of the "Woburn Daily Times".According to the disclosure, statistics from the State Department of Health showed that in the mid-1970s, the number of cancer deaths in Woburn rose by 17% in five years, with leukemia being the highest and kidney cancer second.However, the article said: "At present, no one has been able to prove whether the sharp increase in the incidence of cancer is related to the toxic waste found in the north of the city."

Immediately after reading the report, Reverend Bruce Younger telephoned the Woburn Daily Times to tell Charlie Ryan what he and Anne Anderson had discovered about an "unusual high incidence" of childhood leukemia. On December 12, 1979, Charlie Ryan published his third front-page investigative article, "Searching for Answers to Childhood Leukemia."