【CBS】几十年来北卡罗来纳州饮用水一直遭受化学副产品污染？ [美国媒体]

N.C. drinking water tainted with chemical byproduct for decades? 

几十年来北卡罗来纳州饮用水一直遭受化学副产品污染？

Some 60,000 Wilmington, N.C., residents get their drinking water from the Cape Fear River.
DuPont and its spinoff company Chemours manufacture chemicals at a plant upstream from the city.
The plant is situated on a 2,100-acre property on the Cape Fear River in Fayetteville. It is there where a chemical called GenX -- a potentially cancer-causing substance that is a byproduct of DuPont and Chemours' manufacturing processes -- is produced.
Wilmington residents are demanding to know if those toxic chemicals are making their way downriver into the city's drinking water.

在北卡罗来纳州的威尔明顿， 60000名居民的日常饮用水从开普菲尔河获得。杜邦及其控股子公司化茂制造（Chemours）在该城市的上游建造了一个化学品工厂。工厂占地2100公顷，位于沿河上溯的费耶特维尔。工厂生产中会产生一种副产品GenX。这是一种可致癌的物质。威尔明顿的居民强烈要求查明这种剧毒物质是否通过河流排放，进入了他们城市的饮用水系统。

The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority co-authored a three-year study on the chemical's elevated presence in the water. But as CBS News' Jericka Duncan reports, the findings were never made available to the general public -- not even to Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo.

开普菲尔河公共设施管理局参与了一项为期三年的研究。调查河水中是否有相关的物质浓度上升。但据CBS了解，这些研究结果并没有向公众公开，甚至连威尔明顿市长比尔·萨弗也不知情。



Saffo met with Chemours officials, and couldn't believe what he heard: "We were alarmed. And we want to know how long that compound or that chemical had been dispersed into the Cape Fear River. And they told us since 1980."

萨弗会见了化茂制造的官员，但他并不相信对方的解释：“我们收到了警告。而且我们要知道那种物质从多久前就进入了河流。然后他们说自从1980年开始就有了。”上周，威尔明顿市议会的召开会议，人满为患，市民们都要求化茂制造对此负责。

Last week, a city council meeting in Wilmington was over capacity, as neighbors demanded their leaders hold Chemours accountable.

“为什么这种情况可以被容忍这么久？”市民卡利·史密斯问道，“我一辈子都在喝这样的水。”

"Why has this been allowed to go on for so long?" asked one citizen, Kalli Smith. "I have been drinking this water my entire life."
Though they aren't pointing fingers at DuPont or Chemours, Wilmington's self-proclaimed "cancer moms" showed up in full force.

尽管他们不是把矛头指向杜邦和化茂制造，威尔明顿的“癌症妈妈”组织可不管这么多。



Amy Herrman's son, Jacob, had leukemia, and received chemo for three years. "It just seems odd that we're having to fight for clean water after we've fought for our children's lives," Herrman said.

艾米·赫尔曼的儿子，雅各布，患了白血病，已经化疗三年了。“这看起来就很奇怪，我们不但要为孩子而与疾病斗争，我们还要为饮水安全而斗争。”赫尔曼说。

Lisa Grogan's son, Nathan, was diagnosed at age four with Wilms, a rare kidney cancer. "Because of what our kids have been through, I think it's hard for people to look at us and say the water's probably OK, or, there's probably not too much toxin in there to cause health effects," said Grogan.

丽萨·格罗根的儿子，内森，在四岁就被诊断为肾母细胞瘤，一种罕见的肾癌。“看到我们的悲惨遭遇，我想人们也很难看着我们说这水是没问题的。或者说，里面的物质没法让我们健康。”格罗根说

There are currently no federal drinking water standards for GenX. And because of an EPA rule, Chemours' release of GenX into the Cape Fear River for nearly four decades may have been perfectly legal; that's because it is a byproduct of another substance.
"There is a loophole that needs to be looked at by Congress to make certain that we have safe drinking water in this country," said Mayor Saffo.

现时联邦法律并没有规定关于GenX的饮用水标准。而由于美国环保局规定，化茂制造近四十年来向开普菲尔河排放GenX的行为可以说是合法的。这是因为他们并不是产品，而是副产品。
“国会必须正视这个法律漏洞。否则我们没法保证这个国家的人们能喝到安全的水。”萨弗市长说。

The long-term health effects of GenX on humans are unknown, but studies submitted to the EPA by DuPont between 2006 and 2013 show it caused tumors and reproductive problems in lab animals.

GenX这种物质对人气的长期作用尚属未知。但杜邦公司在2006年到2013年间提交给美国环保局的有关研究，它会在动物实验中造成实验对象的肿瘤多发以及生育问题。

The company says GenX is a safer alternative to another DuPont chemical called C8, which it no longer makes.

杜邦称GenX是比另一种副产品C8更加安全的副产品。他们停止了排放C8的生产线，改用了排放GenX的。

DuPont was forced to pay the largest fine in EPA history -- $16.5 million -- for failing to report C8's substantial risk to human health. And this past February, DuPont and Chemours doled out more than $670 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving C8 water contamination in the Ohio River Valley.

在美国环保局历史上，杜邦是支付赔偿金最大笔的公司。而那笔最大的赔偿金：1650万美元，就是因为没有报告C8对人体的潜在危险而被罚的。在二月份，杜邦和化茂制造被迫拿出了6.7亿美元来摆平一起有关C8在俄亥俄河谷水污染的集体诉讼。

Jennifer Adams, the vice chair of the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, was asked why the water company never made its GenX study public.

珍妮弗·亚当斯，开普菲尔河流管理局的副局长，被问到为什么没有把相关报道公之于众。

"There were no alarm bells set off," she said. "There wasn't anything indicated in the report that indicated immediate action was needed."

“没有相关的警告。”她说，“报告里没有证据指出我们必须采取行动。”

CBS News has learned Adams worked as a chemical engineer at DuPont from 1990 to 2001.

CBS了解到，珍妮弗·亚当斯在1990年到2001年期间任职于杜邦公司，担任化学工程师。

CBS affiliate WWAY asked Adams, "Given your connection to DuPont, do you know anybody that works at the Chemours plant?"
"Um, yes, I do."

CBS记者问亚当斯，“鉴于你和杜邦公司的关系，你认识任何在化茂制造工作的人吗？”
“嗯，是的，我认识。”

"Have there been any discussions between any board members including yourself and anyone at Chemours?  Or DuPont?"
"No," Adams replied.

“化茂的人和你或者管理局董事会的任何人曾经有过任何的交谈吗？”
“没有”

Water inspectors are testing the current levels of GenX in Wilmington's water, but results are not expected until late next month. It is an excruciating wait for a mayor whose community is desperate to know if their water is safe.

水质监察人员正在检测威尔明顿饮用水中的GenX含量。但结果要到下个月月底才能出来。面对着市民们激烈的要求，市长恐怕会度过一个痛苦的等待期。

"We don't know what this is going to do to us, that have been drinking it for long periods of time," Saffo said. "How long has it been in the river? Since 1980, yes, but how much of it has been in the river?"

“我们不知道这会对我们有什么影响，我们长期以来一直在喝这种水。”萨弗说，“到底喝了多久呢？从1980年起就开始了。但那时起，浓度是多少呢？”

Chemours says it will now voluntarily "capture, remove and safely dispose of" wastewater containing the byproduct GenX.

化茂制造称它正在自愿地“捕捉、移除并安稳储存”含有副产品GenX的废水。

The company also told CBS News it continues to believe that emissions from its plant have not impacted the safety of drinking water.

该公司也对CBS透露他们认为自己排放的废水并没有影响到饮用水的安全。