Study of cancer cases near old aviation plant

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By TI-HUA CHANG, Fox 5 News Reporter

MYFOXNY.COM -

On Maple Avenue in Bethpage, Nassau County, Joseph Costanzo lives just south of the old Grumman aviation plant and where the U.S. Navy stored jet fuel. In his basement, courtesy the Navy, he has a four-foot-tall HEPA air filter.

In 2009 the Navy tested his block and found cancer-causing solvents in the air and ground water. Costanzo said he drinks filtered water as a precaution.

The New York State Department of Health said that for three years it has been conducting a cancer study in an area roughly five miles south of the Grumman plant and the Bethpage community park which used to be a legal dump.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and state Sen. Carl Marcellino requested the study, which is reviewing cancer records from this specific area since 1976.

The director of the Adelphi University breast cancer program says this study is important because it could link chemicals to cancer on long island for the first time.

Sot Hillary Rutter, Adelphi Breast Cancer program

The cancer study will be completed before the end of the year.

Costanzo hopes the findings will mean he and his family will be safe.

A spokesman for Northrop Grumman issued a statement to Fox 5.

"Over the past 20 years Northrop Grumman has spent in excess of $100 million to aggressively address an environmental legacy that began during World War II and continued into the Cold War," spokesman Lon Rains said in the statement. "Our firm remains committed to this path of action consistent with regulatory oversight, review and monitoring."

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Study of cancer cases near old aviation plant - New York News | NYC Breaking News

Study of cancer cases near old aviation plant

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