While one state agency ruled out the possibility of a "cancer cluster" surrounding the former Penick site in Lyndhurst, the township has requested help from two other agencies to exhaust all options. "It was another avenue that came to the forefront," said Mayor Richard DiLascio. "We’re just trying to exhaust all avenues of possible review."

In addition, the agencies, one state and one federal, will make recommendations regarding the site. The site, now home to Shop Rite and other retail stores on New York Avenue, gained the attention of town officials and state agencies after former resident Lorraine Colabella began conducting her own inquiry into cancer rates in the town.

One woman’s fight

Colabella has multiple myeloma and believes the high rates of cancer in Lyndhurst might have something to do with the Penco site. Penco was a massive 17-acre pharmaceutical manufacturing company. A toulene spill in the 1980s made the site a high-priority risk brownfield and contaminating groundwater. Benzene, a known carcinogen, was also found on the site.

Once Colabella raised concerns about cancer rates in Lyndhurst, the Lyndhurst Health Department asked the New Jersey Cancer Epidemiology Division to conduct a cancer inquiry, according to Joyce Jacobson, head of the Lyndhurst Health Department.

State responds

The inquiry reviewed data from the New Jersey State Cancer Registry from 1979 to 2005. The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services released the inquiry and it revealed that no cancer cluster existed and the cancer rates in Lyndhurst were comparable to the rates throughout the state.

Continued study of the area

The Lyndhurst Health Department has asked the State’s Cancer Surveillance Program to continue reviewing the data. "It is imperative that everything possible be done so we can live in a healthy environment," said Jacobson.

Under DiLascio’s direction, the Lyndhurst Health Department also asked for help from the New Jersey Hazardous Site Health Education program, a branch of the Department of Health and Senior Services, as well as the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

These two agencies will review the data, speak to the public and provide a written report of their findings as well as make recommendations. "We cannot change the history of the site, but we can take action to determine the best methods of securing a safe environment," said Jacobson.

Colabella said she was "thrilled" there would be additional testing in the area and grateful for the help from the township. Unlike inquiries in the past, new tests will permit public input. "It’s really the matter of the community having a voice and feeling empowered," said Colabella.

She was also offered help and guidance from Erin Brockovich, who was instrumental in building a case charging Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California with contaminating drinking water. Brockovich paved the way for a $333 million settlement from the company and her story was adapted in a film starring Julia Roberts.