As EPA and health officials check for toxic soil vapor intrusion, many Long Island residents are worried about the health risks

July 5, 2007 - When the Khanzadas bought their Franklin Square house in 2001, the family didn't realize it was next door to a Superfund site.

But a few years later, investigators with the federal Environmental Protection Agency came knocking. They were concerned that toxic vapors from the shuttered Genzale Plating Company next door were seeping into the basement of the two-story home on New Hyde Park Road.

In a series of events likely to become more common on Long Island, tests showed that air inside the Khanzadas' house and two others nearby had elevated levels of trichloroethylene -- a common industrial degreaser used by machine shops and dry cleaners that is also a potential carcinogen. The EPA put a carbon air filter in the basement and installed a vacuum system at the hazardous waste site to suck contaminated vapor from the soil. Six months later, they took the filter out and told the family everything was fine -- an assurance the Khanzadas are taking on faith.

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