Cameron Environmental Investigation

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, or DHSS, is conducting a Cancer Inquiry in response to a possible inordinate amount of brain tumor cases in Cameron. In conjunction with the Cancer Inquiry, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is conducting an environmental investigation with assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  

A Cancer Inquiry follows an information gathering and review process that tries to determine if there are cases of a certain type of cancer, in a specific area (ZIP, city, county), and in numbers above what would be expected in that area. If a higher-than-expected number of cases of the same type of cancer is identified, the Cancer Inquiry process can try to find if there is a common cause for most of the cancer cases and, even further, what that cause could be. In Cameron, the Cancer Inquiry process will try to determine if there is a higher-than-expected number of the same-type of brain tumors in the area. DHSS has more information on the Cancer Inquiry Program. Contact them at 573-522-2840, or on the Web at www.dhss.mo.gov/CancerInquiry. The Cancer Inquiry Patient Information Form can be found at www.dhss.mo.gov/CancerInquiry/PatientInformationForm.pdf.

DHSS staff are also working closely with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to ensure that any possible environmental contaminant links to public health are identified and addressed. In response to high community concern about the city’s drinking water as a possible cause of brain tumors, the Department of Natural Resources tested the public drinking water. No contaminants that would pose a public health threat were found. Like all public water systems in Missouri, Cameron’s public water system is routinely tested to ensure the water is safe for the public to drink. Over many years of testing and evaluation, Cameron’s public water historically has been found to be clean and safe for public consumption.

In addition, and in response to citizen concerns, the Department of Natural Resources with assistance from the EPA is following up on questions of environmental contamination at the former Rockwool facility. Rockwool Industries produced fiber insulation before closing in 1981. Staff from the department and EPA were in Cameron at the former Rockwool Industries site July 14-15 and collected surface soil, subsurface soil, groundwater and waste rock and slag samples. Staff also collected surface water, sediment and waste rock samples from the old quarry where waste rock from the former Rockwool facility was taken.  Staff from EPA sampled the Burlington Reservoir on July 16. Soil borings were conducted in the field south of the former Rockwool facility by EPA with assistance from the department on July 18. A public meeting was held in Cameron on June 26 and another will be held after results from the soil, water and waste rock samples are available.

Rockwool Industries operated a number of facilities nationwide, notably one in Texas and Colorado. The primary difference between the Rockwool sites is what type of slag was used in the manufacturing process. The facility in Texas used copper and antimony smelter slag which contains antimony, arsenic and lead all of which are toxic heavy metals. The facility in Colorado used lead smelter slag which contains lead and arsenic which are toxic heavy metals. The Cameron facility may have used lead slag for a short period of time when it was in operation but primarily used steel slag which contains iron which is not a toxic heavy metal. 

To help Cameron and Missouri residents be as informed as possible regarding the environmental investigation, links to a series of documents relating to former Rockwool sites and the environmental investigation are available below. As additional documents become available, they will be posted here. We have posted a complete copy of the U.S. EPA Region 7 file on the Rockwool Industries Cameron site. We have posted the department's documents on our environmental investigation. These include the Sampling and Analysis Plan for sampling at the Rockwool site and quarry and a copy of the department's EPA approved Quality Assurance Project Plan for conducting Superfund Pre-Remedial/Pre-Removal and Brownfield Targeted Assessment investigations.

Also available are documents from EPA Region 6 on the Rockwool site in Texas and documents from EPA Region 8 on the Rockwool site in Colorado. The department reviewed the documents from these sites to compare manufacturing processes, chemicals used and contaminants found to help in developing a Sampling and Analysis plan for the Rockwool Cameron site. If you have any questions or information to share that would help the Department of Natural Resources and EPA with the environmental investigation, please e-mail Julieann Warren or call 573-751-1087. For additional information about the department's Superfund Section, visit the Superfund Web site.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry / DHSS information

MoDNR Cameron Investigation

MoDNR News Releases

EPA, Region 7 Rockwool documents

EPA, Region 6 Rockwool documents

EPA, Region 8 Rockwool documents