[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 41 (Friday, March 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H2703-H2704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CANCER CLUSTER IN OCEAN COUNTY, NJ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Saxton] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I take out this special order this afternoon 
to bring to the attention of my colleagues

[[Page H2704]]

a very, very important and a very, very unhappy circumstance that has 
occurred in my district. Many of you may have watched the CBS Evening 
News last night and observed an alarming segment of the news about a 
situation in Toms River, NJ. Toms River is in Dover Township in Ocean 
County.
  Unfortunately, over the past several years, the rate of brain and 
central nervous system cancers in children has increased very 
dramatically. As a matter of fact, it has increased far beyond what 
would be expected if you looked at some kind of a national average or 
at a normal town. In Ocean County itself, as a matter of fact, 54 
children have been diagnosed with brain or central nervous system 
cancer since between 1979 and 1991, just those several years. This is a 
rate which is far in excess of what we would expect to find.
  In Toms River, there were eight children diagnosed with those types 
of cancers when you would expect an average of maybe two. So this is 
obviously many times higher than we would expect and has created a very 
difficult situation and, of course, has frightened many of us who live 
in that area.
  Back in New Jersey, there are a number of efforts under way to try 
and do something about this, about this situation, and of course, 
before we can do anything about it, the situation has to be defined so 
that we can know what caused it.
  There are citizens groups which have formed. For example, there is a 
citizens group which is very, very active which is know as Oceans of 
Love. Its leader, a lady by the name of Linda Gillick, who has been 
very active over the years, has done much good for families that have 
been affected. As a matter of fact, here 17-year-old son, Michael, is 
one of the children that is affected by this condition.
  Also back in New Jersey, State Senator Andrew Ciesla and his two 
running mates in the State assembly, Assemblyman Holzapsef and 
Assemblyman Wolfe, have introduced legislation to provide $400,000 to 
go toward a definition of the problem, to try to study the situation, 
to find out what it is that may have caused the situation to occur.

                              {time}  1430

  Here in the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, we are taking steps to 
try to do likewise. The administration has been brought into this, the 
Clinton administration has been brought into this, and I understand 
there is a good possibility that assets of the Federal Government will 
be made available through the administration.
  Yesterday, I, together with a number of other concerned Members of 
Congress, introduced legislation here to match the State bill of 
$400,000, so we would have a total of $800,000 to look at this problem 
and provide a study and report so we can take corrective measures once 
we know what has happened.
  Mr. Speaker, as this bill proceeds through the legislative channels 
here in Washington, I hope that we will have support, and I am sure we 
will have support, of Members from both sides of the aisle. This is 
obviously a situation which must be corrected. There are some suspected 
carcinogens in the area which need to be looked at, which need to be 
studied, which may be the root cause. Of course, this needs to be 
looked at more carefully in order to make sure that we know what it is 
that is happening.
  Last night there was a meeting in the township, and 1,000 community 
members showed up to express their concern. If you could read the 
accounts of that or hear from the people who were there, you would 
understand just how difficult and frightening this situation is.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that we will be able to move with dispatch, 
either through the administration or through the Congress or both, to 
bring to bear the assets, the financial capabilities, and the personnel 
which are embodied in the Federal Government, in order to quickly and 
efficiently define this situation, define a solution to the situation, 
and get this episode behind us.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to express these 
thoughts here this afternoon.

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