They interviewed dozens of people who were involved in Pratts cleanup efforts. Tracy Newfield cried when she first heard the news. To view information associated with each bullet simply click on the bullet. But if the jury agrees that Pratt didn't properly dispose of radioactive materials, she could revive a class-action lawsuit, seeking compensation for the nearly 40,000 people who own property in the rural enclave. 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. August 21, 2013 Within a few months, some of the participants felt they were being pressured to stop pursuing questions about water contamination. Unequivocally laying the blame on one often requires showing that no other was involved. Seven years after the Health Department declared a pediatric cancer cluster in The Acreage another lawsuit has Study Being Conducted in The Acreage Has Been Canceled. The families are also filing individual lawsuits for damages. ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? Newfields mistrust, and that of others in the group, grew when they realized that the groups chair who seemed particularly eager to put the questions of contamination to rest was a former Pratt & Whitney employee. 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.. When I asked Jess Santamaria, the Palm Beach County commissioner representing the Acreage, whether there was ever a cancer cluster there, he told me he doesnt know: Im not an expert. And when I called Michelle Damone, a local politician who helped set up the Acreage Community Focus Group, to discuss the cancer cluster, she told me that she will never utter those two words, because they drive a stake into the heart of my community., The remaining residents of the Acreage now live with excruciating uncertainty about what caused the cancers here. But, Gallagher said, only 40 dump trucks were sent to a thermal remediation facility. Still, she fervently hopes that someone can find whatever it is thats made kids sick, stop it, and help clean it up. She is now exploring the possibility of moving Jennas grave near their home in Georgia. 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. local Journalism in South Florida. They wanted us to move on and say our water was fine, recalls Tracy Newfield, who was a member of the group. 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 The lawsuit extends to "every current or former Acreage area landowner who owns or owned an Acreage property at any time since August 24, 2009." 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. 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. Yet neither agency did so. Study Info - The Acreage Cancer Cluster Then there were the rumors that the area had been a dumping ground before the Acreage was developed. Because the Acreage is unincorporated, the city doesnt provide services even water. However, five years later, her youngest son was diagnosed with brain cancer. 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. That night, she found herself wondering whether health officials would ever find out what had caused her daughters cancer or whether they would even try. Researchers ID protein that helps cancer cells in cell division 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. 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. The Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Environmental Protectiondid investigate whether any contamination could have conceivably been the cause of cancer, and they found none, he said. Jonathan S. Harris, Matthew D. Shaffer & Arthur. Judges tend to be, historically, extremely deferential to anything relating to national security, especially if it involves the military, says Stephen Dycus, a professor at Vermont Law School and the author ofNational Defense and the Environment. What was around me? 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. Without a clear culprit for the cancers, some residents began blaming the families of the sick for the crisis. Seminole Ridge High is a big school, and its ample, stucco-walled auditorium can hold hundreds of people, as it does for the pep rallies before Hawks games. Please note: We are not The Florida Department of Health. It would be an act of war, Dycus notes. The designation would have also alerted people in the area and those considering moving there to the potential for environmental danger. Like Samarripa, Dunsford was consumed with her own crisis first, Garretts loss of the use of his left hand and arm; then, his misdiagnosis (Garretts doctor thought he had a sore elbow); and after his brain tumor was discovered, the failure of surgery to completely remove it. Where did I live? But not a lot of communities with brain-tumor clusters.. A canal system was constructed to make The Acreage habitable. While the Florida Health Department declared a pediatric cancer cluster in The Acreage, it never found what caused the high rate of childhood cancers. This data does not reflect data collectedby the Florida Department of Health. Pratt was taking other risks, too. Even the politicians in attendance were unhappy. In the fall of 2004, the little girl often played in the grass of her yard with her two dogs. Gov. Though nothing stood out as the obvious cause, they felt such findings should have prompted further testing. There are about 10,000 houses in the area. Submit & Share. The Acreage suits which now include at least thirteen individual personal-injury and wrongful-death cases, and two class-action suits over the loss of real-estate value are no easy moneymakers. While Marra warned Hatfield, he declined Gallagher's request. But when the low times do hit, each time it hits a little bit harder and lasts a little bit longer.. Palm Beach Aggregates did not respond to a request for comment for this article, and in court documents has vehemently denied causing any environmental harm. But when they lived there, Beckys husband, who worked as a customs official, wore a radiation-detecting gun belt for his job and stored it in the closet. As the results of those studies trickled out, the community found itself divided into two distinct camps. Most cancer clusters reside in a gray area of uncomfortable non-resolution. Submit & Share. Then they have to say, Well, we dont even know that this is cause and effect in which case, people feel like they got nothing.. On February 1, 2010 the Florida Department of Health declared the Acreage a "Pediatric Cancer Cluster". Since Jennas death in 2006, Kaye had become less trusting. 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. I think about it every time I open up the freezer and were out of store-bought ice.. Lack of proof was cited as the reason for the dismissals. Still, mixed in with an overwhelming sadness, Samarripa felt a sliver of hope that the Acreage was on its way to finding and eliminating whatever carcinogens were lurking in the environment. But the house is basically worthless, and where are you going to go in this job market?. 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. d.write('Acreage Palm Beach Florida Cancer Cluster in Rural Community Millions of dollars could be at stake. The department responded by sending forms that she was encouraged to share with anyone she encountered in the area who had cancer, asking about the specifics of their diagnoses, their ages and their addresses. After Jenna got sick, Kaye and her husband, David, began making kid-size surgical scrub caps with cars and animals on them. When Hannah got sick in 2007, her mother had no idea that, just a few blocks away in the Acreage their lush South Florida community other children had also suffered through the same awful symptoms. The concept of tranquility is right in our founding documents, said state Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D- Wellington. '&utmxhash='+escape(h.substr(1)):'')+'" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">')})(); He claimed that further press coverage could bias jury selection. This site has been developed to help share information about a confirmed cancer cluster in The Acreage with those who 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. The Acreage Cancer Study 2011
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. Loxahatchee (Acreage) Cancer Cluster where the rate of brain tumors in children is alarmingly high, making raising a young family (or any family) in that area life threatening 3. Though health officials confirmed a cluster of pediatric brain cancers, the lawsuit alleges that adults have been affected too: "According to self-reported data from the community, the 2008-2010 incidence of brain tumors for the entire Acreage population is above 30. "If they can't get that verdict, it kind of dimmers where we're at here because what is it going to take here? 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. Soil tests are to follow. _gaq.push(['_setAllowHash', false]); And the air was often filled with smoke, which came from both the burning of sugar cane and the fires on the banks of nearby Lake Okeechobee. It found elevated levels of cancer in children in The Acreage and designated the area as a pediatric brain cancer cluster. A community group has counted 18 children with brain In the Acreage, there were many possible hazards to consider. None of this stuff had ever happened before, Samarripa says. A Florida man who says Pratt & Whitney created a pollution and cancer cluster told the 11th Circ. Even though her children are healthy, she said her life was forever changed by that announcement four years ago. We really need leadership out of Tallahassee, a person designated by the governor to take charge an action plan. The plaintiffs attorneys notified both the state and county health departments of their findings in September of last year and urged them to begin larger-scale testing. After the company shut several of the wells that supplied water to its workers, it commissioned a study by the University of Miami to look into the possible health effects of the contamination. Purple haze: Chargers take 3 players from TCU in NFL draft, JSO: Man found shot to death inside Brentwood neighborhood garage. ", Jury rejects Acreage families lawsuit against Pratt & Whitney, Tornado that tore through Palm Beach Gardens had winds of at least 100 mph, Trees toppled, homes damaged, cars overturned in tornado, Tornado tosses boat from cove onto lawn in North Palm Beach, Unofficial Boca Bash to draw thousands of boaters Sunday, Fort Lauderdale Air Show delayed until afternoon because of bad weather, Verhaeghe scores in OT as Panthers eliminate Bruins from playoffs, Cleanup underway after tornado rips through North Palm Beach neighborhood, Butler, Heat start semifinals with 108-101 win over Knicks, National Weather Service upgrades tornado to EF2 with peak winds of 130 mph. Abruzzo said he knows some of his constituents have left the area, and just walked away from their property and their mortgage. She knew and somehow understood and was OK with it, Kaye McCann said recently. But, he said, state agencies found no evidence either the water or the soil was contaminated. Cancer Members of Scarola's team said Wednesday that their fight isn't over yet. Thats where public health does its best job. She felt that the high number of pediatric brain tumors in the Acreage was most likely due to chance rather than any environmental cause (she also noted that the rate was no longer elevated). And both were so grueling that they left the victors unsure whether the effort had been worth it. Playing outside was prohibited. Half a year later, on a mild evening in early 2010, state officials called a town meeting at the local high school to tell the community what the investigation had found. 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.. utmx_section("Legacy Footer"), WE ARE NO LONGER COLLECTING THIS DATA - IF YOU HAVE A BRAIN CANCER CASE TO REPORT PLEASE CONTACT THE PALM BEACH COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, SIGN THE PETITION: Clyde Cancer Cluster claims 6th victim, New Approach to Treating Young Brain Cancer Patients. So its to the credit of those who pushed for a more thorough look at the Acreage including then-Governor Charlie Crist and Senator Bill Nelson that an investigation into the possible causes of the cluster was launched at all. 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. The process involved, at various points, the CDC, the state and Palm Beach County departments of health, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Convinced something in the water or the soil was making children sick, Dunsford said the familys dream home quickly turned into a prison. We know youre fearful of what these results mean, said Sharon Watkins, an environmental epidemiologist with the Florida Department of Health. The Cancer Cluster Divide The Acreage Given the expense and labor involved, health departments are often loath even to attempt to track down the causes of clusters. Log in, 2010 Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, LLP, All Rights Reserved, Rori Feldman is the attorney responsible for the content of this website. Acreage Cancer Cluster Thissite has been developed to help share information about a confirmed cancer cluster in The Acreage with those who live in or around The Acreage (which includes Loxahatchee, Unincorporated West Palm, and parts ofRoyal Palm Beach) in Florida. A similar back-and-forth ensued when Pratt & Whitney hired epidemiologists to investigate a possible cancer cluster in its North Haven, Connecticut, jet-engine plant, where an unusual number of workers had died from an especially lethal form of brain cancer called glioblastoma the same kind that Joey Baratta and Debora Craig, another Acreage plaintiff, had. 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. ', Much of the mudslinging took place online. 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. Every day since, Ive woken up with a pit in my stomach, worrying about my children. The study found that much of South Florida lies in a childhood cancer cluster. When Jenna was near death, she told her mother she wanted to take her caps to the hospital so the other kids could use them after she was gone. Located 15 miles northwest of West Palm Beach, The Acreage is an area of dirt roads, riding trails and some 35,000 residents, many who moved here to get away from big city ills. Acreage The Law Did Not Treat Them Kindly. ' Her husband refuses to leave, though, because they are three years from paying off their mortgage and, if they sold the house, would lose so much money that they couldnt afford to buy another. After a five-day hearing in 2018, Marra rejected Hatfield's request to allow all Acreage property owners to be part of the lawsuit. We are concerned residents just like you. The epidemiological investigation of the cluster took five years to conduct and cost taxpayers more than $10 million. We are seeking answers to a long list of questions and we are hoping that this websiteprovides usefulinformation to you. Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney enjoys close ties with regulators. If they do have to do an investigation, they have to find the funds for it or have to get the Legislature to appropriate funds. And hes particularly prone to headaches. Because of the damage to their credit, they havent been able to buy another, Jennifer told me. She said she and other lawyers scoured tens of thousands of documents. At the opening of Pratt & Whitneys South Florida campus in 1958, the chairman of the county commission said that Pratt & Whitneys coming to this site is considered the largest single industrial accomplishment so far in Palm Beach County. Since then, Pratt and its parent company, United Technologies, have received tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks from the county and state to encourage it to keep its operations and jobs in Florida. To the attorneys assertion that Pratt & Whitney was the only possible source of the radiation, Pratts lawyers replied that it could have come from other sources, such as the Chernobyl disaster, through which nuclear radiation has been spread world-wide..
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