The Acreage Cancer Study

Hi Everyone,

Apologies for not posting quite as much information on the Blog this week, but due to illness I've had to take a little break. Hopefully you understand.

Anyway, we are still anxiously awaiting the soil results. We have heard rumors that the results were to be released this week, but so far we have no news.

In addition, the next Acreage Community Focus Group meeting will be held this upcoming Monday evening. Please check out our Upcoming Events tab located on the right hand side of your screen.

Below are several articles that may be of interest to you. We hope you enjoy them.

Have a great day!

Retired pastor explores potential link between cancer, Fort Detrick pollution

Nearly 300 people attended meeting Saturday in Frederick to gather information on patients

By Katherine Heerbrandt

Gazette.net

July 15, 2010

A class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Army will likely happen within the next two months, according to a former pastor who has launched a media blitz to bring attention to a potential link between cancer and pollution at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

Retired pastor Randy White of Hawaii, a native of Frederick, sponsored a meeting at Morningside Inn in Mount Pleasant on Saturday for anyone who lived near Detrick and has cancer, or has someone in their family fighting cancer, drawing close to 300 people to hear more about his project, "Fighting for Frederick: Our City, Our Health."

The effort is a project of the Kristen Renee Foundation named after White's daughter, who died from brain cancer in 2008 at the age of 30. Kristen Renee White Hernandez, her sister Angie Pieper and their mother Debbie Cross lived near Detrick's "Area B" for nearly 10 years.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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UIC offers McCullom Lake help

By KEVIN P. CRAVER

Northwest Herald

July 13, 2010

A University of Illinois at Chicago instructor laid it out plainlyfor McHenry County officials Monday morning – their wish for a study concluding that McCullom Lake is safe today is an unreachable goal.

County government reached out to the college’s Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the hope of securing an all-clear for village residents, four years into a series of lawsuits blaming area brain cancer cases on industrial pollution.

But instructor Salvatore Cali told the County Board’s Public Health and Human Services Committee that it’s “impossible to guarantee safety in a pretty dirty world.”

“You have the unenviable task of proving that something is safe, which is very hard to do,” Cali said.

In a June 18 letter, Cali declined Board Chairman Ken Koehler’s request for a health hazard evaluation because the college has suspended such studies. But Cali offered his division’s assistance to help educate the public about environmental contamination issues.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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CTS letter prompts EPA inquiry into neighboring businesses

By David Forbes

Mountain Express

July 13, 2010

South Buncombe resident David Bradley, 61, has dealt with health problems, watched his home-based insulation business stall amid a down economy, and seen his family’s well water contaminated. He’s also shared his neighbors’ frustration over the slow pace of government action to clean up the contamination linked to the nearby former CTS of Asheville plant (which closed in 1986). And now, in response to a request by the Elkhart, Ind.-based electronic-components manufacturer, Bradley has the Environmental Protection Agency demanding information about his business and threatening stiff fines.

“The United States Environmental Protection Agency is currentlyinvestigating the release or threatened release of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants, or hazardous wastes on or about the above-referenced Sites,” a June 25 letter to Bradley and his company states. “Compliance with the Information Request is mandatory. Failure to respond fully and truthfully to the Information Request within thirty (30) days of receipt of this letter, or to adequately justify such failure to respond, can result in an enforcement action b yEPA.”

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Residents, environmentalists take on steel millYears of frustration with Sparrows Point pollution come to a head in lawsuit

By Meredith Cohn and Timothy Wheeler

The Baltimore Sun

July 10, 2010

Thirteenyears after a federal court ordered steelmakers in Sparrows Point to clean up the toxic brew surrounding the peninsula just east of Baltimore City, those who live with the air and water pollution say little has been done.

They suffer with gritty fallout on their boats, fumes that sting their throats, and fears that swimming,crabbing or fishing near their homes will make them sick.

State and federal officials have cited the steel mill owners 22 times since the court decree, and fined it nearly $700,000. Now a handful of frustrated residents have joined the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper to sue Severstal North America, the latest company to run the century-old steel mill, and its previous owner, ArcelorMittal USA.

The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, comes 14 months after the plaintiffs formally warned the companies of their intent to take legal action to halt pollution from the 2,300-acre property that they contend threatens their health and the health of the Chesapeake Bay tributaries. Though some cleanup activity began recently, residents say it's not enough.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Family blames toxic site for illnessCleanup set for east-side metals plant

By Dan Stockman

Journalgazette.net

July 11, 2010

FORT WAYNE – Kathryn Mbwelera stands in her front yard, despite the blazing heat, pointing across the street to where the ground is filled with poison.

“Nobody’s going to make me believe I’m not at risk and that I haven’t been at risk,” Mbwelera says. “The health risks these chemicals pose – we’ve experienced them all.”

The chemicals are chlorinated solvents that are in the soil and groundwater beneath the former Wayne Metal Protection plant, a defunct metal plating company at 1511 Wabash Ave. on the east side of the city near Memorial Park.

The contamination has spread northeast from the shuttered plant, toward Memorial Park Middle School; Mbwelera’s house is immediately north of the plant.

The chemicals move easily in groundwater, and their vapors can move upward through soil into homes and buildings.

To view the full article, Click Here.