For its part, Pratt & Whitney is staying, too. Much of the information released by the Health Department during this period was open to interpretation. But if she successfully argues that Pratt contaminated The Acreage, she could ask him to reconsider. On one occasion, her car got egged. 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. 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. 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. Their family menagerie includes two horses, a pony, seven dogs, goats and a pig. The smallest plots are more than an acre, and many are larger, so houses are a good distance from one another. The anxiety and uncertainty now haunting The Acreage began to surface months ago. When it comes to cancer, were more on the prevention side, she told me when I met with her in Palm Beach this past April. The couples two sons, Isaac, 4, and Ilan, 2, were born here, and they are growing up in a neighborhood where tall pines, open spaces and a variety of family pets are commonplace. 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. Cancer com/acreage 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. Study Being Conducted in The Acreage Has Been Canceled. Jenna McCann, too, liked the outdoors. Now we brush our teeth and cook with filtered water. The agencies tested water from over seventy private wells and several of the canals that ran through the area, as well as soil samples from thirty-five homes, for more than 200 chemicals. She said she and other lawyers scoured tens of thousands of documents. But the answer to that question is not available, the experts said, and the frustration of the audience often boiled over into angry outbursts. It takes everything in me some days not to fall apart. 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. (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; "We're disappointed with the outcome," Mara Hatfield, an attorney with Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, PA said. 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. This odd fact kept troubling her, and at the suggestion of Garretts neurologist, she e-mailed the Florida Department of Health about it. Submit & Share. The groups efforts extend to sponsoring green-themed events, such as elementary-school poster contests on environmental topics and Earth Day Peace Jams., But the defense contractor and the county were less keen about publicizing contamination on the companys property. Home - The Acreage Cancer Cluster When Jennifer Dunsford, her husband and three children moved into a new house in The Acreage in 2003, they expected it to be their forever home.. The Florida Department ofHealth will continue to work with the people of Florida and these organizations to someday find the answer that will prevent a child from getting cancer. 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. Please note: We are not The Florida Department of Health. And that scary figure didnt include the four additional Acreage children who were diagnosed with brain tumors the following year, 2008. Acerage Neighborhood Community Update - Florida I understand the fear and frustration. Typically, each year, one in 30,000 to 40,000 children in the United States is expected to develop a brain tumor; but the Acreage, with a population of 39,000, had four pediatric brain-tumor cases between 2005 and 2007. Soil tests are to follow. Our Platform. He saidit was unlikely Hatfield's verbal slip would unduly influence the jury. The Cancer Cluster Divide The Acreage She knew and somehow understood and was OK with it, Kaye McCann said recently. The Newfields are one of the few directly affected families to stay in the Acreage. 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. Thats what we want to know, said school cafeteria worker Lynn Randle, accompanied by her 9-year-old daughter Sierra. 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. _gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]); Even though her children are healthy, she said her life was forever changed by that announcement four years ago. After a five-day hearing in 2018, Marra rejected Hatfield's request to allow all Acreage property owners to be part of the lawsuit. 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. All Rights Reserved. With its engines for fighter planes such as the F-22 Raptor, Pratt & Whitneys products power air forces in twenty-two countries. Instead, most homeowners rely on private wells. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. A civil engineer testified about his independent forensic investigation, which determined that the radioactive materials on Pratt & Whitney's campus matched the same materials found in The Acreage. The Newfields also recently installed a sophisticated water-filtration system for their well, though Tracy recently discovered that Jessica had bought and stashed away bottled water. 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; Definitively proving the cause of a cluster is so difficult because we live amid so many carcinogens. Then there were the rumors that the area had been a dumping ground before the Acreage was developed. But, Gallagher said, only 40 dump trucks were sent to a thermal remediation facility. One state regulator who was involved in the process that spared the company from the Superfund designation went directly to work for Pratt & Whitney after those negotiations. Unequivocally laying the blame on one often requires showing that no other was involved. But the effect of confirming The Acreage as a cancer cluster was immediate. FULL CIRCLE FLORIDA | Tampa is becoming a hot spot for tech start-ups, and one local nonprofit is leading the change to bring them to the Bay Area. P2 began as a friendly collaboration based on the good working relationship between the regulatory community and industry, as one internal document put it. 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 var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); Earlier this month, the Florida Health Department confirmed that a Some residents of The Acreage have filed a class action lawsuit against Pratt & Whitney. Thank you for visiting The Acreage Cancer Study website. Playing outside was prohibited. We would also like those who are in need of medical assistance to let us know. The deal is being financed with some $4.4 million in public incentives, including $3.4 million from the state and $1 million from Palm Beach County. But on the other hand, I envy them every day of their lives. The loss of her daughter has only become harder over time. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. 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 way the numbers and facts are being reported is confusing. Shaggy cabbage-palm and cypress trees flank the neighborhoods sandy, unpaved roads. People said stuff like The Dunsfords are gold diggers, and they used their sons tumor as an excuse to go after a big company and get dollars, Dunsford remembers. But not a lot of communities with brain-tumor clusters.. We are keeping track of this information because if an environmental hazard (a causal agent) is found in the Acreage, it is very possible it could cause multiple illnesses - not just brain tumors and brain cancer. Whatever you find, there will be people who doubt the veracity of your findings because we dont live in an experimental setting, and you can never control all of the factors that might have contributed to that disease occurrence.. 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. Like most other suspected clusters, that one had failed upon investigation to clear the statistical bar. "We're confident that in subsequent cases, we'll be able to establish that the radioactive materials that Pratt & Whitney mishandled on its property, as the jury found, were, in fact, transported to the Acreage.". So they were shocked to hear the health officials explain that the community was definitely experiencing a cluster of pediatric brain tumors, as well as elevated rates of all cancers at all ages. 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. ', Much of the mudslinging took place online. Alonso was surely aware of how daunting a task it would be to pinpoint and prove the cause of the increase. A Pratt & Whitney spokesperson released the following statement regarding the verdict: "The jury's verdict confirms our conviction thatPratt & Whitney did not cause any contamination in the Acreage and did not cause any cancers in the cancer cluster. There are about 10,000 houses in the area. 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. In response, the company waged a fierce, years-long battle against the Superfund designation and, in 1985, it won that fight. New Acreage 'cancer cluster' lawsuit filed - WPTV At the time, neither Jennifer Dunsford nor Becky Samarripa considered that her childs illness might be part of something larger. But thats not her focus. The other camp focused on the good news, such as the FDEPs pronouncement that the local drinking water was generally good, as the letter accompanying the water-testing results put it, reassuring residents that in general, residential property in the Acreage is safe for families to enjoy outside activities in their yards.. Sharon Lerner is a reporting fellow with Type Investigations covering environmental issues for The Intercept. I needed to know if living there was the best thing for my family.. You can only live like this for so long.. Hatfield countered that medical experts her West Palm Beach firm hired will refute those claims. Without a clear culprit for the cancers, some residents began blaming the families of the sick for the crisis. For example, studying clusters This data does not reflect data collectedby the Florida Department of Health. Should I be gone?, Here Peskowitz paused. And, most important, it would have ensured a higher level of enforcement than the state was likely to provide. Erin Brockovich, who inspired the eponymous film about her fight against polluted water in California, had taken on some of the affected families as clients. fl.us/southeast/acreage/www.pbcgov. Acreage Cancer Cluster 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. Its a gold-level sponsor of the American Cancer Associations local Relay for Life fundraiser, and its chief executive was a vice chair of the group CEOs Against Cancer. A Scary Reality The Acreage Cancer Cluster. 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 Last week many residents of The Acreage rode a roller coaster of emotions as the story of the Acreage cancer cluster took new turns and twists. 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. There are a lot of communities down here built on that, says Hatfield. Added pediatrician Shairi Turner, deputy secretary of the department: We want to find an answer to what is causing brain cancer in your children.. The Hollings researchers identified a protein called transforming acidic coiled-coil containing protein So Hatfield and Scarola took their test results to the media. Then, two years later, another study was published concluding that cancer rates among the companys workers were not elevated. Convinced something in the water or the soil was making children sick, Dunsford said the familys dream home quickly turned into a prison. 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. The Centers for Disease On Wednesday, 12 years Those radionuclides that have been detected in the Acreage at above natural background rates but may be termed naturally occurring include Uranium-234, Uranium-235 Uranium-236, and elevated levels of the decay products of Thorium, particularly Lead-214 and Bismuth-214 and Actinium-228. Given the expense and labor involved, health departments are often loath even to attempt to track down the causes of clusters. The Acreage Cancer By May 2009, Jennifer Dunsford had developed a database documenting dozens of cancers in children and adults throughout the neighborhood. Map of the cancer cluster in the Acreage (Palm Beach Gardens, A cancer If you have any questions, please send an email to: 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 (561) 514-5300. In October celebrity environmental activist Erin Brockovich spoke to a town hall meeting in West Palm Beach, urging community unity. The results of radon testing appeared as strings of letters and numbers, and the soil-testing report was essentially a 500-page compendium of test values and chemical names. At least at first, the land to the south of that was uninhabited and, since much of it was underwater, largely uninhabitable. Based on the calculations in the report from the Florida Department of Health, a girls chance of getting a brain tumor in the Acreage was five and a half times what it was in the rest of Florida. 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 residential neighborhood Acreage, located in western Palm Beach County.