(NewsNation) — A New Jersey town’s deepest fears have been confirmed as tests reveal carcinogenic chemicals from a nearby shuttered toxic dump have leached into the soil.
Keyport, New Jersey, sits next to a toxic landfil l that residents believe may be fueling a cancer cluster. More than 400 people in the area have been diagnosed with cancer, including dozens of residents and pets on a single block.
The last time the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection checked the site was in 2010. At the time, results showed several contaminants, including benzene, arsenic, lead, vinyl chloride and PCBs. Despite the toxins, the department never found a clear pathway by which residents were exposed to the contaminants and took no further action.
Independent testing finds elevated levels of toxic chemicals near New Jersey landfill
However, residents believed something had to be causing their diagnoses. That’s when independent testing expert and EPA whistleblower Scott Smith came and took soil samples from the dump site and from a home in Keyport in June.
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His results, which were shared exclusively with NewsNation, showed the toxins were nearly 6.5 times higher than the EPA trigger threshold for human health exposure…