Brunswick County residents get answers during GenX Forum

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — After the success of a public forum with an expert panel in New Hanover County, WWAY along with StarNews and WHQR hosted a forum in Brunswick County to address GenX concerns.

About 250 people filled the Odell Williamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community College Wednesday night in hopes of getting more answers.

“The water coming out of your tap is safe,” North Carolina Rural Water Association Executive Director, Daniel Wilson said. “By all standards before six weeks ago it was the safest and I still say it’s the safest you can consume. It’s safer than french fries. It’s safer than the wine we drink.”

Nine people, including county leaders, water experts, and science professors joined forces to help tackle the tough questions. But, not everyone had the same stance on the chemical in our water.

“The water commissioner and everyone else in Brunswick County are saying our water is safe to eat, drink, wash, do whatever you want to do. The EPA people are saying no, ‘we’re drinking bottled water,'” concerned resident, Richard Pasquerella said.

The questions tonight piled up.

“I really wanna understand who’s going to pay for this,” concerned resident, Clara Shultz-Toulan said. “Someone needs to go to prison. 37 years of dumping, and we just find out now? There’s silence from the state department, there’s a lot of silence from the EPA. Doctors aren’t warning patients.”

One question was, is the water safe to bathe in?

“As far as bathing goes, most of these chemicals are fairly hydrophilic, meaning they like water. They’re not necessarily going to penetrate the skin well and so bathing is likely to be relatively safe,” Aquatic Toxicology/Environmental Endocrinology Assistant Professor at UNCW, Dr. Susanne Brander said.

Another question, how does GenX affect the shrimp and fish people eat?

“Of course I’m concerned about the effect of the chemical on human beings,” concerned resident, Wynn Wagenseil said. “But also about the environment, the ecosystem and the effect of all chemicals that are being discharged into the water.”

However, UNCW Biological Oceanography Professor Dr. Larry Cahoon says there is still no solid answer on that topic.

“It’s a complicated question, and we don’t have any data. So all I can say is we really don’t know,” Cahoon said.

Overall, people say the forum was informative and helpful, but more research needs to be done.

Panelists shared the same message across the board, the only real solution to GenX is to stop contamination at the source.

WWAY reached out to Chemours to attend tonight’s forum, they declined our offer without further comment.