Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say the capped-off General Electric landfills are not harmful, yet the last public health study that was conducted on them was in the 2000s.
In January, the City Council's Public Health and Safety subcommittee requested that MassDPH provide an updated study on cancer cases in that area.
The subcommittee on Thursday received news on the upcoming cancer evaluation from Julie Cosio, Jessica Burkhamer, and Brenda Netreba from the Bureau of Environmental Health at the Mass DPH.
They are planning on looking at four of the six cancer types evaluated previously in a 2002 report: breast cancer, liver cancer, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Reportedly, epidemiological literature shows some evidence of association of these cancers with exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.