Sadly, she said, the investigation by the state agencies wasnt thorough. In fact, by current standards, conclusively blaming a chemical culprit for a cancer cluster is so difficult that only three of 428 cluster investigations conducted in the United States since 1990 have established a link between pollution and illness. I felt like people were looking at me saying, Shes the evil one who wants to ruin everything. The companys 7,000 acres of swampland are bordered on the south by a 60,000-plus-acre wildlife preserve. The way some members of the community are Some online commenters went so far as to accuse the affected families of just plain lying. As one poster put it, Using your childs illness as a platform is repulsive.. Had she known about Jessica Newfield, who was close to her daughters age and had been ill for many months before being diagnosed; Joey Baratta, who developed two tumors before dying at age 20; or little Jenna McCann, who got sick at age 3, perhaps shed have gotten Hannahs tumor diagnosed sooner. ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? In November 2012, the company announced plans to add 230 jobs at its Florida campus over the next eight years and to invest $63 million in its facilities there. It helped start the P2 Coalition of Palm Beach County (P2 is short for pollution prevention) in 1994, along with the Palm Beach County Health Department, other local businesses and the Jupiter Chamber of Commerce. One, composed primarily of families of the children stricken with cancer, focused on the fact that the research had identified several contaminants above FDEP cleanup levels, including radium-226, benzene and a variety of other commonly occurring carcinogens. The epidemiological investigation of the cluster took five years to conduct and cost taxpayers more than $10 million. While Jessica, now 20, is attending college, Tracy has been spearheading the creation of the Garden of Hope, a place in the Acreage where people can go to honor their loved ones who have had cancer. Soon, Dunsford discovered that three other youngsters in the sprawling rural community in the western reaches of Palm Beach County had recently received similarly grim news. As they anxiously eyed the array of health officials lined up on the stage, the Acreages residents got the news that none of them wanted. As they anxiously eyed the array of health officials lined up on the stage, the Acreages residents got the news that none of them wanted. At Miami Childrens Hospital, where their son was treated, the Dunsfords met the family of another brain cancer patient who lived just a mile away. At the request of site members who just want to know how many brain tumorsand cysts are on the map, we have provided a breakdown below: By request, we have broken down the data we have collected by year: We are trying to update our Victim Database. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) define a cancer cluster as a greater-than-expected number of cancer cases that occurs within a group of people in a defined geographic area over a specific period of time. Since there is no evidence that contaminated groundwater traveled a distance of 6 to 14 miles to the Acreage from Pratts 7,000-acre compound off the Beeline Highway, Hatfield and her legal team will argue that it was carried there by trucks. The Hollings researchers identified a protein called transforming acidic coiled-coil containing protein Becky Samarripa, too, was shaken by the cluster designation, which seemed to confirm her worst fear: that something in their surroundings was making them sick. And that scary figure didnt include the four additional Acreage children who were diagnosed with brain tumors the following year, 2008. But, he said, state agencies found no evidence either the water or the soil was contaminated. In Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, historian David Rosner describes how plastics and chemical manufacturers avoided regulation in part by making their own economic interests seem synonymous with those of the country. Gov. Based on the self-reported data the pediatric cancer cluster declared by the State for the years 2004-2008 would be expanded to a general brain cancer cluster from 2004-2010.". The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines a cancer cluster as a greater-than-expected number of cancer cases that occurs within a group of people in a geographic area over a period of time. Yet because elevated numbers of any disease can occur by chance, and because cancer is relatively rare and its incredibly difficult to determine if rare events occur by chance the vast majority of investigations into suspected clusters dont confirm them. A Florida man who says Pratt & Whitney created a pollution and cancer cluster told the 11th Circ. But, Gallagher said, only 40 dump trucks were sent to a thermal remediation facility. In October celebrity environmental activist Erin Brockovich spoke to a town hall meeting in West Palm Beach, urging community unity. Your Photos. The way the numbers and facts are being reported is confusing. Some in the room knew the long odds, having followed the pediatric brain-cancer scare in the neighboring town of Port St. Lucie a few years earlier. Convinced something in the water or the soil was making children sick, Dunsford said the familys dream home quickly turned into a prison. And Joey Baratta, who moved to the Acreage with his mother and stepfather in 2004, when he was 15, spent much of his time there riding his ATV and working on his parents land, which abutted one of the areas many canals. Once the lawyers get involved, then the lawyers have to talk, the countys Alina Alonso explained to me. A canal system was constructed to make The Acreage habitable. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida We are seeking answers to a long list of questions and we are hoping that this websiteprovides usefulinformation to you. None of this stuff had ever happened before, Samarripa says. Shaggy cabbage-palm and cypress trees flank the neighborhoods sandy, unpaved roads. Even the politicians in attendance were unhappy. That declaration came as a relief to some Acreage residents, since it confirmed what many had long suspected. Though the investigation turned up thirteen brain tumors in Acreage kids between 1994 and 2007, the official cluster consisted of just three girls, all of whom were diagnosed with brain cancer between 2005 and 2007. Earlier this month, the Florida Health Department confirmed that a Some residents of The Acreage have filed a class action lawsuit against Pratt & Whitney. Though Becky Samarripa chose not to get involved in any litigation, the radiation theory makes sense to her. Throughout the 1980s, the EPA was preparing to designate Pratt & Whitneys South Florida location as a federal Superfund site, which would have required detailed public disclosure of the contamination and the various steps that would be taken to remediate it. The company was seeking privacy because some of its projects were classified. that a federal district court improperly excluded three experts who said toxins from the companys property caused the kidney cancer that killed his wife. Last week the states Department of Environmental Protection began sampling ground water and well water from several Acreage homes. Like most other suspected clusters, that one had failed upon investigation to clear the statistical bar. The deal, which helped land two county commissioners in prison for fraud (a consultant advising the agency, it turned out, was being paid by the mining company), stipulated that Palm Beach Aggregates couldnt be held legally responsible for any contamination of water in the used pits. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); Lack of proof was cited as the reason for the dismissals. Alonso emphasized the many questions about the causes of cancer: diet soda, cellphones and microwave ovens may play a role, she said, concluding that it doesnt seem practical or reasonable to start searching blindly. Instead, Alonso said, the health agency would focus on raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of brain cancer to increase early detection. You can only live like this for so long.. Only two personal-injury and wrongful-death lawsuits involving cancer clusters in the United States have yielded any financial reward for plaintiffs. This map reflects data that we have collected via personal emails & phone calls. Yet once again, concerns about the cancer rates in the community have been raised, this time by a law firm representing nine clients, most of them former Acreage residents with victims of cancer in their families. This odd fact kept troubling her, and at the suggestion of Garretts neurologist, she e-mailed the Florida Department of Health about it. The bottom line: Did Pratt & Whitney's actions depress property values? But the house is basically worthless, and where are you going to go in this job market?. To view information associated with each bullet simply click on the bullet. Cancer cluster frightens Palm Beach County, Cancer cluster frightens Palm Beach County community, Widening manhunt for Texas gunman who killed five neighbors slowed by zero leads, Golden Beach police sergeant in stable condition after shooting during chase of car-theft suspects, Skies clear in South Florida as residents clean up from 130-mph tornado in Palm Beach County, Mike Shannon, who spent 50 years in the St. Louis Cardinals broadcast booth after winning 2 World Series, dies at 83. Perhaps because of all these obstacles, in September 2011, Brockovichs firm withdrew from the Acreage case, leaving the local law firm of Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley to represent the families of at least seven children and five adults who had developed tumors and brain cancer. Many of the young families in the Acreage were drawn there by its relative lack of development. She wants so desperately to remove her children from the possible harm there that she keeps a bag packed in her bedroom and thinks about leaving daily. (function() { But it could be something in the ground, pesticides, we dont know. So the plaintiffs attorneys have been constructing their case based on the defense contractors well-known history of involvement with projects that involve radioactive materials. But a few months later, Dunsford learned that another student in the local elementary school had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, which made four children with brain cancer that she knew about, all living within two miles of one another. The verdict said that the A community group has counted 18 children with brain Alonso was surely aware of how daunting a task it would be to pinpoint and prove the cause of the increase. Yesterday, the law firm of Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart, and Shipley held a news conference about lawsuits related to a cluster of pediatric brain cancer in Thats what we want to know, said school cafeteria worker Lynn Randle, accompanied by her 9-year-old daughter Sierra. The chances of so many childhood cancers concentrated in such a small place ranged from 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000 -- a cancer cluster, experts determined. 's://ssl':'://www')+'.google-analytics.com'+'/siteopt.js?v=1&utmxkey='+k+'&utmx='+(x?x:'')+'&utmxx='+(xx?xx:'')+'&utmxtime='+new Date().valueOf()+(h? Join the New Times community and help support independent Some who were unable to sell simply walked away from their homes. By the time the spring dance rolled around, Hannah didnt have the strength to paint her own toenails. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. source of local news and culture, Deirdra Funcheon In 1979, just one year after the Acreage Homeowners Association formed and began constructing a system of canals to make the area habitable, 2,000 gallons of trichloroethylene (TCE), a carcinogenic solvent, leaked into the groundwater and surface water on Pratt & Whitneys campus, as the company later admitted. Though the parcel was on the part of the companys property nearest the Acreage, this never came up during the cluster investigation. Our Platform. I think about it every day, says one resident, who didnt want to give her name lest she be pilloried for believing in the cluster. The Samarripas moved to Alabama, where Hannah, now 20 and in college, is flourishing, according to her mother. You most likely made your way to this site because you are aware of the Cancer Study that was conducted in our area by the Florida Department of Health (not us - we in no way conducted the study). Residents of The Acreage, a south Florida town, at a community meeting in 2010. var _gaq = _gaq || []; Palm Beach County families are finally getting their time in court after years of concerns over a spike in cancer cases in and around The Acreage. Hell ask for something and say, I appreciate that you bought me that, but lets go snuggle. He values spending time with people.. Trucking manifests and other documents will show that contaminated soil, most of which was shipped out on rail cars to hazardous disposal sitesin Michigan and South Carolina, was handled properly, he said. But thats not her focus. Workers dressed in protective gear sometimes sprayed pesticides in the citrus groves that abut Seminole Ridge High, even as teenagers practiced on nearby sports fields in shorts and T-shirts. Hatfield countered that medical experts her West Palm Beach firm hired will refute those claims. Tracy Newfield cried when she first heard the news. Kayes doubts proved well-founded just a few days later, when Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the Palm Beach County Health Department, told reporters that her agency wasnt planning to do any soil testing or other investigation into the causes of the cluster beyond interviewing families. In the meantime, after so much bitterness, the subject of the cancer cluster has become almost taboo in the Acreage. In the fall of 2004, the little girl often played in the grass of her yard with her two dogs. While Hannah was recovering from her brain surgery, and the boy a 5-year-old named Garrett Dunsford was undergoing his own, the parents started talking. It found elevated levels of cancer in children in The Acreage and designated the area as a pediatric brain cancer cluster. Submit & Share. We need to get to the bottom of this., If living in The Acreage is deemed safe, Abruzzo said he thinks the community can recover both its equilibrium and its reputation. Given the expense and labor involved, health departments are often loath even to attempt to track down the causes of clusters. She bought bottled water which her family used for cooking, drinking and even brushing their teeth. Some of that drop was due to the nationwide crash that followed the housing bubble, but the news of the cancer cluster clearly played a role. If I could move I definitely would, she said. But afterward, the gap widened to 77%, he said. Without a clear culprit for the cancers, some residents began blaming the families of the sick for the crisis. As you can see on the map, we are tracking all health concerns that are reported to us. Now, a new study reveals that the problem isn't just in the Acreage.
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