Health Consultation Newtown Creek Area Health Outcomes Review: Birth Outcomes and Cancer Kings and Queens Counties, New York City, New York NEWTOWN CREEK BROOKLYN, NEW YORK EPA FACILITY ID: NYN000206282 Prepared by the New York State Department of Health Center for Environmental Health Bureau of Environmental & Occupational Epidemiology December 3, 2019 Prepared under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Division of Community Health Investigations Atlanta, Georgia 30333 Health Consultation: A Note of Explanation A health consultation is a verbal or written response from ATSDR or ATSDR’s Cooperative Agreement Partners to a specific request for information about health risks related to a specific site, a chemical release, or the presence of hazardous material. In order to prevent or mitigate exposures, a consultation may lead to specific actions, such as restricting use of or replacing water supplies; intensifying environmental sampling; restricting site access; or removing the contaminated material. In addition, consultations may recommend additional public health actions, such as conducting health surveillance activities to evaluate exposure or trends in adverse health outcomes; conducting biological indicators of exposure studies to assess exposure; and providing health education for health care providers and community members. This concludes the health consultation process for this site, unless additional information is obtained by ATSDR or ATSDR’s Cooperative Agreement Partner which, in the Agency’s opinion, indicates a need to revise or append the conclusions previously issued. You May Contact ATSDR Toll Free at 1-800-CDC-INFO or Visit our Home Page at: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov Newtown Creek Final Release HEALTH CONSULTATION Newtown Creek Area Health Outcomes Review: Birth Outcomes and Cancer Kings and Queens Counties, New York City, New York NEWTOWN CREEK BROOKLYN, NEW YORK EPA FACILITY ID: NYN000206282 Prepared by the New York State Department of Health Center for Environmental Health Bureau of Environmental & Occupational Epidemiology under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Division of Community Heath Investigations Atlanta, Georgia 30333 CONTENTS Summary........................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2 General Recommendations ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Next Steps ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5 PURPOSE .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 BACKGROUND and STATEMENT OF ISSUES .................................................................................................................... 6 Environmental concerns ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Health outcomes reviewed ...................................................................................................................................... 7 DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Methods ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Boundaries ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 Timeframes .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Identifying and defining health outcomes ........................................................................................ 9 Demographic characteristics ............................................................................................................... 10 Statistical analyses ................................................................................................................................... 11 Results ............................................................................................................................................................................ 12 Birth Outcomes .......................................................................................................................................... 12 Cancer ............................................................................................................................................................ 15 Interpretation ............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Birth outcomes .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Cancer ............................................................................................................................................................ 19 Study strengths and limitations .......................................................................................................................... 20 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................................................. 22 General Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 25 i Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 26 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................................... 27 REPORT PREPARATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 28 Study Area Map ........................................................................................................................................................................... 29 REPORT TABLES ........................................................................................................................................................................ 30 Appendices ................................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Appendix A. List of hazardous waste sites located within the Newtown Creek study area: ... 40 Appendix B. Health outcome data acquisition, evaluation and analysis .......................................... 42 Appendix C. Birth defect groups evaluated in the Newtown Creek study area ............................. 45 Appendix D. SEER* codes for cancer types included in the Newtown Creek area study .......... 46 Appendix E: Risk factors associated with the health outcomes examined in this report ......... 48 Adverse birth outcomes......................................................................................................................... 48 Cancer ............................................................................................................................................................ 50 Appendix F: Newtown Creek Study area cancer incidence results for specific ethnicity/race categories: .......................................................................................................................................................... 59 Appendix G. Newtown Creek Study area cancer incidence results with no ethnicity/race adjustment ......................................................................................................................................................... 67 Appendix H: Summary of asthma data available from public websites for the Newtown Creek study area ZIP codes ...................................................................................................................................... 69 Appendix I: Response to Comments ................................................................................................................ 71 ii SUMMARY Introduction The New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) conducted a health outcomes review, reported in this Public Health Consultation,