Project On Health Starts For Lipari

He added that health inquiries concerning Lipari's effect on the community had not been "totally conclusive" so far.

LINK received a $140,500 grant last year from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in Atlanta to compile the health data, which residents can offer voluntarily and confidentially.

The study will target residents in parts of Pitman, Glassboro, Mantua and Harrison Township who lived within 1 kilometer of the landfill or nearby Alcyon Lake for at least one year during the 17-year period.

During the first year of the project, a database will be set up to compile the names, addresses and length of stay of as many residents as possible. The health of the residents will be tracked in the second year.

The pilot project is the first of its kind in the nation and will be used as a model for other health registries, said Clare P. Bonner, who was appointed Lipari health director by the township last December.

The federal government previously awarded the state Department of Health a $150,000 grant to study birth weights of babies born to families who lived near the landfill at the time of the birth.