HARRISON -- Betsy Deegan went in for surgery in May and found that she has a disease that she believes may have been caused by toxic waste dumped in the area of what is now Alsco Community Park.

The disease, called hypogammaglobulinemia, kills off the body's antibodies thus making it hard for the body to fend off disease.

The former Harrison woman said her treatments cost up to $6,000 per month. She said she's talked to a neurologist who said it's possible that her disease may be the result of toxic waste.

Deegan, who's lived in Georgia for the past 25 years, grew up on Roosevelt Street, which sits less than a quarter of a mile from the site. She also attended Birdville Elementary School, which is only a few hundred yards from the site. The school is now closed and the building houses Citizens Hose fire company.

The park is off Springhill Road and consists of a recreational park of about 14 acres and a 47.5-acre lower project area.

Pennsalt, which became Pennwalt and later Elf Atochem, used the land to dump lindane, a toxic substance used in the banned insecticide DDT, and other waste material. The company used the site until 1956 when was sold to Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp, which dumped chemicals and debris there until about 1980.

Part of the land was donated to the township in the 1970s by Allegheny Ludlum to build the park. In the 1980s, Pennsalt and the Environmental Protection Agency agreed to test run-off, groundwater and soil.

During the early 1990s, Elf Atochem, the French company that bought Pennwalt, worked along with the EPA and the Department of Environmental Protection to implement a plan to clean up the area.

Deegan said she and her sons did extensive research about the disease, and that's when they found a website created by Joe Smeltzer, another former township resident who grew up near, and used to play on the site. Smeltzer has done extensive research of his own, and said he's found that residents in the area have suffered a disproportionate number of illnesses including a high rate of Multiple Sclerosis. Smelter said he's been diagnosed with MS, but has been symptom free for the past 10 years.

He said he's contacted a number of law firms, but has yet to find anybody to take on a suit.

Deegan was shocked by what she found on Smeltzer's site.

"I always knew the dump was there, I always though it was tires and other garbage," she said.

Deegan has set up a Website of her own. She is encouraging people who live or have lived in the surrounding area, and are sick with diseases they believe may be caused by the toxic dump, to visit the site and fill out a survey.

"All I'm trying to do is stir up some interest from people up there," Deegan said. "To find out if there is a link between that site and the health issues of Harrison Township and the surrounding area."
 

Copyright © 2004 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.