Opinion ID: 696568
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Defendants' Expert Reports

Text: 52 The defendants present a number of expert reports refuting plaintiffs' experts' conclusions and assumptions. Jessica Herzstein, M.D., M.P.H. (Dr. Herzstein), a physician specializing in occupational and environmental health, reviewed the Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment and the three soil sample analyses performed in 1987 and 1988. She concluded that no medical monitoring was necessary because the plaintiffs' excess risk for cancer was extremely low and the risks of such tests outweighed the benefits. Dr. Herzstein also produced an affidavit addressing Dr. Daum's Medical Monitoring Report and refuting its conclusion that medical monitoring was necessary for the same reasons given in her initial report. Defendants also produced an expert report by Martyn T. Smith, Ph.D. (Dr. Smith), a toxicology specialist, who also critiqued Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment and concluded that the actual excess cancer risk posed to the Soccer Plaintiffs was zero. Dr. Smith also concluded that Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment was flawed in the following respects: (1) it utilized unrealistic weather conditions; (2) it assumed an exceptionally high intake of surface water and soil; (3) it used test results from soil samples taken three to five feet below the surface; (4) it failed to take into account normal background levels of contaminants and (5) it used rodent studies for carcinogenic potency values, which are upper bound estimates of human potencies. Dr. Smith also produced an affidavit negating Dr. Greeley's response to his critique of the Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment. 53 James H. Jandl, M.D. (Dr. Jandl), a specialist in blood and blood disorders, reviewed Tracey Elliott's medical records as well as the existing literature and research in the fields of hematology and oncology and concluded that there is no medically recognized evidence linking acute lymphatic (lymphoblastic) leukemia to any chemical substances. He stated that the only known cause of this type of leukemia is exposure to ionizing radiation. He also reviewed Todd Elliott's medical records and concluded Todd has no medical problem with respect to his enlarged lymph nodes. 54 Roger Minear (Minear), Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Illinois and Professor of Civil Engineering, conducted a detailed review of the available documents concerning the Army's use of the land as a landfill as well as the various soil studies and remedial investigations reports undertaken by EPA and the Army and pertinent literature. He concluded that the landfill has not caused surface contamination at the soccer field and that plaintiffs' use of the subsurface soil test results to represent the surface conditions on the soccer field was not realistic or scientifically defensible. He also prepared a report critiquing Dr. Cronce's Contributing Contaminants Report, concluding that Dr. Cronce's hypothesized transportations of contaminants to the field has not been confirmed by any of the soil samples. 55 Finally, defendants rely on a report by Marilyn A. Hewitt, P.G. (Hewitt), a certified professional geologist and former Pennsylvania DER hydrogeologist. Hewitt reviewed Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment, as well as the soil test reports and other environmental investigation reports at the Park, maps, photographs, depositions and correspondence. She concluded that the exposure assumptions made in the Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment were not consistent with standard EPA protocols for evaluating human exposure to contaminants when the use of the contaminated property is recreational, such as a soccer field. She found the Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment was erroneous primarily because it utilized test results from soils as deep as three feet below the surface, whereas the standard EPA protocol called for use of surface soil samples no more than one foot deep. She also found the Risk Assessment failed to average the concentrations of contaminants in the soil samples and calculated the health risks using the maximum concentrations of contaminants, also contrary to standard EPA protocol. Therefore, she concluded that the Plaintiffs' Risk Assessment contained an inflated estimate of the health risks associated with the soccer field. She also examined Dr. Cronce's Contributing Contaminants Report and, using the available soil testing results, refuted Dr. Cronce's assumptions regarding contaminants being contributed from other contaminated areas of the Creek or Depot. She refuted Dr. Cronce's conclusion that the surface soils were contaminated by upward transport by volitization of contaminants within the landfill based on the insignificant concentrations of such chemicals in the soils at the Park.App. at 3223a. Finally, Hewitt refuted Dr. Cronce's assumption that pedoturbation had caused mixing of the surface soils with the contaminated subsurface soils based on the fact that the surface soils were tested after the field had been closed for use as a soccer field. 56 Both Dr. Greeley and Dr. Cronce submitted affidavits responding to defendants' experts' critiques of their reports.