DAYTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, Aug. 21, reassured residents living near the Behr Dayton Thermal Plant that the work needed to clean up contaminated groundwater will continue until the problem is solved. Homes will continue to be monitored as well, Steve Renninger, U.S. EPA's on-scene coordinator, said at a community meeting.

Not as reassuring were results from a cancer study by the Ohio Department of Health that found elevated levels of some cancers, including types associated with exposure to trichloroethylene or TCE, a cancer-causing chemical that has entered homes in the area from soil vapor. There are limitations to the study, however, said Holly Engelhardt of the health department. The study wasn't designed to reveal connections between the chemical and disease, and didn't include any indication as to how long those diagnosed with disease lived in the area.

Still, attorney Ellis Jacobs, who is monitoring the clean-up, found it disturbing that from 1996 until 2005, diagnosed cancers of the lung (20 cases or 2.74 times the number expected to be seen), larynx (four cases or 8.89 times expected,) and liver (three or 3.85 times expected) as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (three or 1.2 times expected), were high.

Other factors such as smoking could be at play, Engelhardt said, and the numbers potentially related to TCE such as liver and non-Hodgkins lymphoma aren't significant, but Jacobs wondered whether TCE combined with smoking could raise the levels. Heath authorities didn't have a clear answer. Previous studies of TCE exposure and disease involved those exposed in the workplace to extremely high levels of 100,000 parts per billion. Average indoor air samples in the homes in the area indicated levels of 16 parts per billion. Little science is available on exposure at low levels.