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The University City Democrat further charged the county with ignoring a health crisis she says has taken the lives of six Bridgeton residents over the past six months. Each resident died from cancer, according to Chappelle-Nadal.

Health Department Director Faisal Khan pointedly and immediately rebutted the issues raised by Chappelle-Nadal, a University City Democrat, at a late Friday afternoon press conference outside the County Administration Building.

Khan in a statement issued by his office labeled the senator's "assertions" as "patently false'' that county money to fund epidemiologists is being used instead to finance county parks.

He defended the health department for doing a "thorough and complete job" addressing the environmental dilemma in Bridgeton.

Khan credited County Executive Steve Stenger for creating "a platform to call on the federal government to address these issues and bring about an expeditious resolution."

Health Department spokesman Craig Lefebvre separately said there is no evidence of Bridgeton area residents succumbing in recent weeks and months to cancers connected to specific environmental factors. 

Khan followed up on a promise made at a recent of residents living near the contaminated sites by promising to finalize a study of the “cancer concern(s)“ of nearby Coldwater Creek residents. The study is expected to be implemented in early 2016.

A separate analysis of cancers afflicting residents in close proximity to the West Lake Landfill will get underway before the end of this year.

The state in 2014 found that residents in the affected areas suffer from abnormally high rates of rare cancer. But the state could not attribute the diagnoses directly to the illegal dumping of an estimated 117,000 tons of radioactive waste in West Lake in the aftermath of World War II.

Residents at the late August community meeting cited several examples of what they say are an extraordinary number of cancer diagnoses and deaths.

"It’s all over this place,” said one resident attending the meeting. “I don’t care what they say.”

Chappelle-Nadal said the contamination is spreading and now threatens other North County communities at a level that environmental and health department officials have yet to disclose publicly. 

“This is an environmental injustice that is affecting everyone,” the senator said. “Not just blacks or whites, or the rich or poor, it is affecting everyone.”

Chappelle-Nadal called on  Stenger to declare a state of emergency to hasten the federal and state clean-up of the toxic sites, an effort that is projected to cost in excess of $400 million.

Stenger's office declined to respond and referred instead to the statement issued by Khan and the health department.

Chappelle-Nadal gave Stenger credit for an Aug. 26 letter in which the county executive pressed the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to step up clean-up efforts in Bridgeton.

But the situation, the senator added, demanded action, not words.

“We can't afford a paper push anymore,” Chappelle-Nadal said.