Aerial view of the southeastern shoreline of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNS)— a federal Superfund site- and the adjoining Bayview Hunters Point community in San Francisco, California. Photo: Atomic Shadows Hunters Point & The Rad Labs
How Human Biomonitoring Detected Toxins from a federal Superfund site in Residents and Workers Nearby.
Ahimsa Porter Sumchai MD, PD -Medical Director and Principal Investigator- Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program
Public housing for low income residents adjacent to the Parcel E-2 landfill at Hunters Point. The Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program (HP Biomonitoring) is funded by the Packard Foundation and licensed by the Medical Board of California to conduct urinary toxicology screenings for residents and workers at HPNS. Photo credit:Melia Robinson/Business Insider
“If you drink from a bottle marked “poison” it is certain to disagree with you!” Lewis Carroll — Alice in Wonderland
The Parcel E-2 landfill lies within 800 feet of homes and playgrounds in Hunters Point. It was 93 degrees on August 16, 2000 when shipyard workers and residents witnessed green, yellow and orange flames erupt from the landfill. At 11:30 am, base security activated federal firefighters who extinguished the surface fire over 48 hours. It smoldered underground for weeks fueled by volatile gases, flammable building materials, trash and debris beneath the landfill surface and reignited on August 24, 2000.
The southern shoreline of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNS) in San Francisco, California contains an industrial landfill designated Parcel E-2 estimated to contain 100 cubic yards of the most toxic chemicals listed by the EPA. Parcel E-2 is a federal Superfund site within the federal Superfund site designation of HPNS. On August 16, 2000 it ignited emitting multicolor flames like a chemical fire. In 2001 the Navy installed a partial cover on the landfill surface that acts like a bandaid on top of an abscess. In 2020 HP Biomonitoring Program detected elements known to be present in shipyard soils and landfills in the bodies of 25 residents and nearby workers. Photo credit: Maurice Campbell — Chair HPS RAB taken August 2000
A landfill is like an abscess beneath the “skin” of the earth…a toxic dump where dead and dying elements of transmissible…
