A Study of Statistical Aspects of the Love Canal Environmental Monitoring Study

A major study released in May 1982 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, concluded that a residential area surrounding the Love Canal chemical waste dump site exhibited no clear evidence of Canal-related contamination.Considering EPA study design and statistical methods used in data interpretation, we have reservations regarding the conclusions drawn from the study by the EPA and others.Our reservations focus mainly on the high likelihood of achieving only low power for detecting differences in chemical prevalence between the three sampling areas identified in the study. It is our conclusion that no decision can be reached concerning habitability of this area until a more comprehensive study is completed.