WV Report; 100s Of ER Visits After MCHM Spill; Skin Contact Not Even Considered In Screening Levels
Hundreds of West Virginia residents who sought emergency-room care in January were treated for symptoms that were “consistent” with exposure to MCHM, the primary chemical that leaked from the Freedom Industries tank farm into the region’s Elk River drinking-water supply, according to a review made public Wednesday.
The review, which examined medical charts from area hospitals, also showed that the most common way injured residents were exposed to the chemical was through skin contact while bathing, showering or washing hands — routes not considered in the 1-part-per-million “screening level” touted as safe by state and federal officials.
“There is every reason to believe from these data that hundreds of people, if not more, were directly affected by exposure to MCHM-contaminated water,” said Richard Denison, an Environmental Defense Fund scientists who has closely followed the leak and its impacts. “The state seems intent on minimizing any connection, while the data strongly suggest there is one.”
Department of Health and Human Resources officials released the medical chart data just a day after Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Director Rahul Gupta made public a different analysis of reports from doctor’s offices that projected roughly 100,000 people in the region likely experienced symptoms, with the vast majority never seeking any medical attention. Gupta has said the review of hospital charts “grossly underestimates” the true public health effects of the leak, which contaminated the drinking-water supply for 300,000 residents in a nine-county area around Charleston.
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