_gaq.push(['_setAllowHash', false]); Instead, jurors will be asked whether Pratt is responsible for depressing property values in the community. Thank you for visiting The Acreage Cancer Study website. 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. Its always with me were out to dinner or whatever, and you hear Tick, tock. Hatfield, who had grown up in the area and had young children of her own, was familiar with the rumors of pollution and pesticides in the Acreage and throughout South Florida. "We're disappointed with the outcome," Mara Hatfield, an attorney with Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, PA said. Submit & Share. Kaye McCann says she doesnt miss Florida only Jenna, who is still buried there. Much of the information released by the Health Department during this period was open to interpretation. One of Toms Rivers legacies is that public-health agencies are quite uninterested in pursuing these investigations, which are very expensive, very difficult to resolve conclusively, make a lot of people angry, and make life difficult for politicians, Fagin told me. It found elevated levels of cancer in children in The Acreage and designated the area as a pediatric brain cancer cluster. Attorneys claimed that the state failed to properly test for specific radioactive contamination, ignored concerns voiced by its own people and neglected to hold Pratt & Whitney accountable for not cleaning up years' worth of toxic contamination in the area. 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. In August, the Federal Housing Authority began advising appraisers that the cluster might affect properties in the neighborhood, a move that made it very difficult to get a mortgage there. Still, the crowd was standing-room-only on this night. Nearly 10 years after it was filed, Acreage cancer cluster lawsuit headed to trial this month The plaintiffs allege Pratt & Whitney dumped chemicals that caused brain When she died, Jenna was 4 years old. I understand the fear and frustration. Once the lawyers get involved, then the lawyers have to talk, the countys Alina Alonso explained to me. Instead of taking dirt that had been soaked with jet fuel to a facility to be cleaned and recycled, Hatfield claims it was sold as fill to people who were building homes on low-lying, flood-prone lots in The Acreage. She enjoys her family, her job and her small town. Florida will appeal to the federal government for help investigating the cancer cluster in The Acreage, Gov. For example, studying clusters By the time the spring dance rolled around, Hannah didnt have the strength to paint her own toenails. In August 2013, the results showed some extremely high levels of radioactive contamination, including non-naturally occurring radioactive substances the kind that can only be produced by a man-made nuclear reaction. Throughout his opening statement, Gallagher emphasized thatthe allegations Hatfield is making dont make sense. Kaye McCann, also in the auditorium, was more pessimistic. Now, a new study reveals that the problem isn't just in the Acreage. Dycus notes that its not uncommon for defense-related companies to resist providing information because of military sensitivity, as Pratt & Whitney has done in the Acreage case. Garrett Dunsford, too, is both thriving and living with the ongoing health effects of his cancer. The plaintiffs are parents and families from The Acreage who believe the aerospace giant is to blame for the cancer cluster that was reported more than a dozen years ago. While the Florida Health Department declared a pediatric cancer cluster in The Acreage, it never found what caused the high rate of childhood cancers. Perhaps because her tumor was only partially removed by the surgery, or perhaps because she now has fluid in her skull, she still suffers from severe headaches, vomiting and peripheral eye damage. McCann knows that even if the puzzle of the Acreage cluster is finally solved, it wouldnt bring Jenna back. McCann ultimately found it too painful to be around the group of Acreage parents pursuing the cause of their childrens cancer, because most of their children survived. Interviews for this article with Hatfield and her firms plaintiffs were conducted before the gag order went into effect in September. Homeowners such as Stephanie and Ira Peskowitz, a law enforcement officer, are wondering how long they can wait. In fact, there is a clear documentary record, stretching across many decades, of Pratt & Whitney contaminating its Florida environs with a variety of toxic materials, both radioactive and nonradioactive. 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. Acreage Cancer Cluster Dalia Dippolito May Have Tried to Kill Him, But Michael Dippolito Is No Saint, Hallandale Beach Shoplifter Killed By Police Because of Dispatching Error, His Family Claims, SoFlo Born and Bred: Logan Sargeant Gears Up for Miami Grand Prix, Celebrity Cruise Ship Kept Corpse in Drink Cooler, Lawsuit Says, Brightline Train Rips Apart Car Carrier in Hollywood Rail Collision (VIDEO), Open Season: Margate's Lax Safeguards Raise Fear of Fraud and Abuse, OIG Says, Photos: Fort Lauderdale Residents Assess Damage Wrought by Historic Flooding, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Evidence suggests the incidence of such cancers may be especially elevated among children. _gaq.push(['gwo._setDomainName', 'none']); ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? This study was requested when it was discovered that multiple children and adultssuffered or diedfrom brain tumors and live within a close radius of one another. WebStudying cancer clusters allows scientists to identify areas of increased cancer risk, as well as to try to figure out what is causing the increase in risk. Unseal statement by State Attorney Dave Aronberg's ex-wife in Glenn Straub case, newspapers ask judge, Boynton synagogue fights Florida's abortion limits in religious freedom suit, Ruling opens door to Corey Jones' family suing Palm Beach Gardens over rights violation in his death, Families argue Pratt & Whitney caused cancer cluster in South Florida. There are about 10,000 houses in the area. From 1997-2007, the highest number of cases that should be expected in any three year period based on both state and county comparisons is 5.1. But after two assessments of the plot in question found ubiquitous contamination, the deal quietly fell through. Brain Cancer Cases Shot Up in This Florida TownIs a Defense If you would like to print this map, you can use the print option off your web browser. 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. Our Platform. Acreage Cancer Cluster: Residents Can Join Class The McCanns left as well and are now living in the mountains of North Georgia with their two children. In the Acreage, there were many possible hazards to consider. We expect to have peace at home, and if we have 30,000 to 50,000 people that cant sleep at night, this is a problem.. CANCER CLUSTER Tell us if its safe to drink the water, shouted one man in the audience. In the fall of 2004, the little girl often played in the grass of her yard with her two dogs. 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. Your Photos. In response, the company waged a fierce, years-long battle against the Superfund designation and, in 1985, it won that fight. Public record? After Jenna got sick, Kaye and her husband, David, began making kid-size surgical scrub caps with cars and animals on them. Michelle Damone, president of the Indian Trail Improvement District, the local governing board, has been pushing for more evidence of the cluster. This woman was one of several who told me they fought often with their husbands about leaving the Acreage. As is the case of most cancer-clusters throughout the United States, no cause was ever found. West Palm Beach attorney Jack Scarola took the lead on this case for the Acreage residents. clicky.init(190756); var _gaq = _gaq || []; (function() { The Acreage has no sewer or water systems, but until recently at least it did offer peace and quiet. New Acreage 'cancer cluster' lawsuit filed - WPTV Many of the young families in the Acreage were drawn there by its relative lack of development. Each day held a new surprise for them. This is a privately run and owned website. On Wednesday, 12 years The study found that much of South Florida lies in a childhood cancer cluster. 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. Contamination of Iridium-191 and Cadmium-109 is particularly associated with tge metal processing industry generally and with airplane engine and turbine manufacturing and testing of the type conducted by Pratt Whitney at its Palm Beach Facility. And anybody with children is worried about that.. We are keeping track of all diagnosed health issues that residents report to us. Five couples who lived in the area and whose children developed brain tumors are serving as plaintiffs in a class-action suit that seeks damages for local residents whose property value plummeted after the cancer cluster was publicized. Playing outside was prohibited. 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). (function(){var k='2354831680',d=document,l=d.location,c=d.cookie;function f(n){if(c){var i=c.indexOf(n+'=');if(i>-1){var j=c.indexOf(';',i);return escape(c.substring(i+n.length+1,j<0?c.length:j))}}}var x=f('__utmx'),xx=f('__utmxx'),h=l.hash; This constitutes a huge problem, though one that, he says, seems to spur little outrage. Today, Pratt & Whitney has more than $10 billion in defense contracts, and United Technologies is the sixth-biggest Pentagon contractor. 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.. The research found that, between 1967 and 1980, the average death rate from cancer among the companys employees had shot up from 13 per 100,000 workers to 122 [PDF] a roughly ninefold increase. Many parents of the children with cancer were angry and frustrated, but other residents felt relief. If you would like your information added to this map, please email us at info@theacreagecancerstudy.com and provide us with your address, sex, age, and diagnosis. Though the FDEP says that Pratt & Whitney is in compliance, it also says there are still twenty-five hazardous-waste sites being remediated, and the cleanup which began in 1985 is today only 77 percent complete. | Credit: GARY CORONADO/THE PALM BEACH POST. He doesnt value things at all, is how Dunsford described Garrett recently, adding that hes become the family comforter. Attorneys have claimed that the state failed to properly test for specific radioactive contamination, ignored concerns voiced by its own people and neglected to hold Pratt & Whitney accountable for not cleaning up years' worth of toxic contamination in the area. Please note: We are not The Florida Department of Health. Because the Acreage is unincorporated, the city doesnt provide services even water. But documents from the 1960s through the 90s show that Pratt & Whitney had licenses to use at least a dozen radioactive substances [PDF], including radium D and E, thoriated nickel and cesium-137, in Florida. Jane Musgrave covers federal and civil courts and occasionally ventures into criminal trials in state court. 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. (Naturally occurring means that the radioactive substances originated in the soil, water or other natural materials, but may have been concentrated by industrial activity.) Since then Palm Beach County Health Department officials interviewed 12 families diagnosed with either brain tumors or brain cancers from 2003 through 2008. ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? Sharon Lerner is a reporting fellow with Type Investigations covering environmental issues for The Intercept. _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-230305-2']); 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. Hatfield and her boss, Jack Scarola, ordered further testing of the soil and water. List of cancer clusters - Wikipedia At least at first, the land to the south of that was uninhabited and, since much of it was underwater, largely uninhabitable. But he also has a special outlook on life that his mother treasures and thinks may have resulted from his trauma. I figured it was a weird coincidence, says Dunsford, a sharp-witted mother of three with glasses and shoulder-length brown hair. Hell ask for something and say, I appreciate that you bought me that, but lets go snuggle. He values spending time with people.. A lawsuit filed in 2016 is finally being heard in federal court, but the issue started well before 2009 when several residents in The Acreage reported brain and head tumors that were increasingly above expected rates. Seven years after the Health Department declared a pediatric cancer cluster in The Acreage another lawsuit has When the study came out, a Pratt & Whitney vice president called the universitys research full of crap, according to a report in The Palm Beach Post. 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. Cancer In October celebrity environmental activist Erin Brockovich spoke to a town hall meeting in West Palm Beach, urging community unity. WebThe Faces of The Acreage Cancer Cluster Name: Garrett D. Diagnosis: Brain Tumor Age of Diagnosis: 5 Status: Medical monitoring at St. Jude Childrens Hospital Biography: Garrett was five years old when he was diagnosed with an Astrocytoma brain tumor. 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. We would like to keep a list of those in need so that when services become available we can notify you. Unseal statement by State Attorney Dave Aronberg's ex-wife in Glenn Straub case, newspapers ask judge, Abortion lawsuit: Boynton synagogue fights Florida's abortion limits in religious freedom suit, Corey Jones shooting: Ruling opens door to Corey Jones' family suing Palm Beach Gardens over rights violation in his death. 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. A mixture of chemicals that can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause cancer in mice, jet fuel was found at the Pratt & Whitney facility in Florida. Youd need a massive amount of materials, hundreds of thousands of tons of soil, to contaminate a community of roughly 12,000 homes, Gallagher said.
5 Weeks Pregnant Symptoms Come And Go,
The Stranger I Don't Have A Voice Box Scene,
Articles T
