Environmental Health

State, county and local officials have established a game plan for investigating the contamination in wells near a Phoenixville Borough landfill. A cancer-causing chemical, which is known as tetrachloroethylene, perchloroethylene or PCE, was found in November in the wells of two Schuylkill Township residents who live next to a 14-acre dump site on Second Avenue in Phoenixville. So far, no one has been able to identify the source of the contamination, and tests conducted on the landfill have not shown signs of PCE. But the contamination at the homes is at levels that merit testing of other wells, said David Jackson, director of environmental health for the Chester County Health Department, after a meeting last Thursday.

Pennsylvania milk is safe, the state contends, despite two surveys that found milk in several cities, including Philadelphia, polluted with potentially harmful veterinary drugs. "We have been testing since May 1988, and harmful substances are not a problem in Pennsylvania milk," said Gene Schenck, a state Agriculture Department spokesman. The federal Food and Drug Administration began testing retail milk in Philadelphia and a dozen other cities this week after a Wall Street Journal survey found widespread traces of animal drugs that have been linked to cancer.

The sad spoiling of a once-thriving Pennsylvania stream by a discharge of manure reveals once more the destructive impact of reliance on meat and other products gained at the expense of animals. It is dependence on meat, cheese, eggs and other animal products that accounts for the intensive agricultural practices that are destroying America's topsoil. This same dietary predilection is in part responsible for the destruction of rain forests and other wild lands, here and abroad, as millions of acres are razed in order to graze cattle or to grow crops fed to animals.

The University of Pennsylvania's 17-13 loss to Cornell Saturday might have been sickening to hometown fans, but doctors doubt that's why about 100 Penn students reported to the infirmary after the game. Food poisoning is the suspected culprit, and various samples have been taken for laboratory analysis. "We don't know in fact it was food that was gotten at the football game," said Robert Davis, of the city's environmental health services unit. A spokesman for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania said the students had eaten hot dogs, pretzels, colas and other food at the game - which snapped an 11-game winning streak.

Community activists and representatives of many of the city's public and private environmental groups will be on hand tomorrow night for an "environmental town meeting" in South Philadelphia to examine the environmental problems facing Philadelphia's neighborhoods. The event, which its organizers called the city's first wide-ranging town meeting to identify how citizens can help alleviate the city's "environmental crisis," will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the South Philadelphia Community Center, Broad and Shunk Streets.

The Montgomery County Health Department is investigating the outbreak of a flu-like illness among participants at an equestrian trade show held at the Valley Forge Convention Center from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, health officials said yesterday. The health department has received 20 calls from exhibitors who said they were experiencing high fevers, chills, severe coughing, chest pains and coughing up of fluids. About 8,000 people attended the Equestrian Marketing Trade Association show, convention center officials said.

Empty plastic soda bottles turn into fast, inexpensive bird feeders with a flick of the wrist - and a do-it-yourself kit from Gadjit Outdoors. The kit includes a screw-on plastic base, a funnel for easy filling part easy and either a hanger for suspending the feeder or suction cups for window-mounting. All you need to supply is the empty bottle and the seed. "The idea has been around for awhile," explains Jamie McNaughton, vice president of McNaughton Inc. of Minneapolis, which makes the product.

The state has stepped in to help a Levittown sewer system keep raw sewage out of area streams. The Lower Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority - which operates water and sewer lines in parts of Tullytown, Falls Township, Bristol Township and Middletown Township - will receive $822,826 to upgrade a pumping station and replace 5,100 feet of pipe along Trenton Road near Oxford Valley Road. That's good news for the Queen Anne Creek, a major tributary of Silver Lake in Bristol Township, which receives an unhealthy dose of raw sewage during heavy rainstorms.

The Philadelphia electronics recycling operation owned by eForce Compliance has received e-Stewards certification, a standard developed by the Basel Action Network to encourage best practices in the industry. It is the first business in Philadelphia to reach the standard, according to BAN. While other standards exist, including one promoted by the electronics industry, the e-Stewards standard is considered to be more rigorous. It requires "downstream" responsibility for electronics components and prohibits the export of hazardous electronics waste to developing countries.

In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Ken Cook spoke passionately about 10 Americans who were found to have more than 200 synthetic chemicals in their blood. The list included flame retardants, lead, stain removers, and pesticides the federal government had banned three decades ago. "Their chemical exposures did not come from the air they breathed, the water they drank, or the food they ate," said Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, a national advocacy group.