My name is Betty Seiden and for many years, with others, I have been an environmental activist in pursuit of the best possible cleanup of the hazardous waste site known as Liberty, on Motor Ave. in Farmingdale. My impetus for this action was that I lived in the neighborhood for about 50 years and was convinced that this site contributed to the many cancer cases in the surrounding areas. I lived on a block with 14 houses and nine of them had been visited by cancer. Though I moved away about one year ago, my interest and struggle has never waned and I still make contributions to the cause.

Through the years we have discussed many topics with EPA pertaining to Liberty, but I don't think we ever discussed all the ramifications of cancer-causing agents in the water, on the land and in the air. There are unanswered questions on this topic, such as, how one decides how many times he has been exposed to any given contaminant and in how many mediums. Did I drink it, did I inhale it or did I eat it?

The state did a cancer study for the years 1993 to 1997 by zip code, to see how the actual number of cancer cases in Nassau and Suffolk zip codes compared with the state's expected number of cases. Zip code #11758 in Massapequa appeared high on the list in the most breast cancer cases in Nassau County and Massapequa was also high in the most lung cancer cases for both males and females and high on the list in male and female colorectal cancer. Zip code #11735 Farmingdale fared slightly better with appearances in the top 10 list in Suffolk County for the number of cases of breast cancer and female colorectal cancer.

In the Public Health Assessment for Liberty Industrial Finishing prepared by the New York State Department of Health, we are told, "There is insufficient knowledge of cancer mechanisms to decide if there exists a level of exposure to a cancer-causing agent below which there is no risk of getting cancer, namely a threshold level. Therefore, every exposure, no matter how low, to a cancer-causing compound is assumed to be association with some increased risk."

Liberty posed an indeterminate public health hazard in the past. In addition to a long list of possible exposures, persons were exposed to levels of volatile organic contaminants in their drinking water that upon long-term exposure could result in a low increased risk of developing cancer.

Based upon a more realistic number of toxic contaminant exposures from Liberty, in all possible mediums, on-site and off, I want EPA to answer the questions, "What are my chances of falling victim to some horrible disease just because I live here?"

Betty Seiden