Clyde Environmental Investigation

Ohio EPA developed this page to provide citizens with easy access to public documents regarding the ongoing environmental investigation being conducted to assist the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and Sandusky County Health Department (SCHD) in their investigation of a higher than expected number of childhood cancer diagnoses in Clyde, Ohio, and the surrounding area. Only updates from Ohio EPA will be found on this site.

The documents posted below are listed by date.

Citizens or other interested parties who would like more information should call Ohio EPA’s Public Interest Center at (614) 644-2160 or e-mail Darla Peelle.

Media inquiries should be directed by e-mail to Dina Pierce or by calling (614) 644-2160.

Background

In December 2007, Ohio EPA was contacted by SCHD to discuss the findings of a collaborative study with ODH regarding childhood cancer in the Clyde, Ohio area. Ohio EPA was asked to participate in a January 2008 meeting with the families of children affected by cancer. During this meeting, ODH and SCHD reviewed the final cancer case review with the families. Ohio EPA met with the families in March 2008 to discuss information regarding the environmental conditions in their area.

Both ODH and SCHD are working with the affected families to try to determine whether any of the cancers diagnosed have similarities in terms of exposure or origin. If these similarities occur, it could give investigators information about where to focus additional environmental investigations.  At this point, both health departments’ work with the affected families has not revealed any environmental similarities. Thus far, Ohio EPA has conducted additional investigations to try to identify unexpected environmental exposure, has evaluated area companies’ compliance with environmental laws and reviewed all existing information on local conditions to look for any unusual environmental conditions or areas that the Agency feels merit further investigation.

Ohio EPA’s role is to assist our local and state health partners in the investigation of potential sources of past or current contamination to which the residents of Clyde may have been exposed. 

Ohio EPA will conduct air monitoring by placing both short-term and long-term air monitoring devices throughout the area, and will determine which chemicals to assess in addition to those routinely monitored. Ohio EPA also will evaluate drinking water quality from both public water systems and residential wells, and will continue to conduct surveillance and additional inspections of local industries to evaluate their compliance with environmental regulations.

Document Repository

Ohio EPA has established a document repository for Agency documents generated during the environmental health investigation.  You may request to view documents at the Reference Desk at the Clyde Public Library, 222 W. Buckeye St., Clyde.
 

While we try to keep the information on this page timely, there will often be a delay between receipt of documents and their appearance on this page. This is due, in part, to the time required to create an electronic version of the document.

This Web page is continually under development. We will make every effort to keep the information accurate and to correct errors brought to our attention.

The documents provided here are electronic copies of the official versions housed at Ohio EPA. They are being provided for reference only and should not be altered or modified in any way.

For documents originating from sources other than Ohio EPA, the Agency takes no responsibility for the views, content or accuracy of the information provided.

Where necessary due to privacy laws and other legal statutes, the original document may be edited to keep protected information confidential.