Sickness on the West Coast

Panic in paradise: Malibu high school community shaken by cancer fears

Classes moved after teachers say contaminated buildings on campus caused migraines, breathing problems – and cancer

Malibu high school. Several classes were moved on Wednesday to other parts of the campus while inspectors tested for contamination. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

the Guardian,

9 October, 2013

It seemed as if poison and panic had seeped into paradise. “My children are terrified,” Beth Lucas told a hushed auditorium of about 300 parents. “Raise your hands if your kids have had migraines.”

A pause, then dozens of hands went up. Everyone looked at each other. Eyes widened. “Oh my God,” murmured a voice. An alleged contamination appeared to have claimed more victims than anyone had imagined.

Until this week, Malibu high school, home to 60 teachers and 1,120 students, was a blessed patch of California: sunshine, ocean vistas and privilege, close to the aptly named Paradise Cove.

When not learning in bright, spacious classrooms named after sharks, students filled afternoons with water polo, horse riding, soccer, basketball and theatre. The public school maintains consistently high SAT scores.

On Tuesday, however, parents and students packed the auditorium with anxiety verging on dread. They were afraid that contaminated soil and buildings had triggered respiratory illness, migraines – and cancer. “I've played on that quad, rolled around in the grass, for years,” said freshman Jason Daniels. “Why wasn't I warned?”

Several classes were moved on Wednesday to other parts of the campus and a nearby elementary school, while inspectors tested for contamination.

Twenty faculty members sounded the alarm last week in a letter which said three teachers had been recently diagnosed with stage 1 thyroid cancer, another three had thyroid problems, and seven suffered migraines. The letter also cited incidents of hair loss, rashes and bladder cancer.

"These teachers believe their health has been adversely affected as a result of working in our particular buildings at Malibu high school," Katy Lapajne, a language arts teacher, wrote in the letter.

The teachers pointed the finger at the removal in 2011 of 1,017 cubic yards of soil allegedly contaminated with toxic chemicals, notably polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), which had been used decades ago to tackle termites. They also suspected mould in several buildings.

A day earlier, Sandra Lyon, the superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu unified school district, addressed the auditorium audience while media trucks waited outside. “You have heard serious and alarming allegations. These reports have mushroomed in our community.”

The school had begun testing for air and soil contamination last month, said Lyon. She apologised for not communicating that before the teachers' letter forced the issue into the open, but said there was no evidence students were at risk. "We know they are safe, just as much as you know that your house is safe."

Few seemed reassured. Questions rained down. Would inspectors test for radioactivity? Where was the mould? Was the water safe? Did inspectors have PhDs? How advanced were the cancer cases?

Several parents cited having children with cancer and other ailments, prompting Lucas, the mother of two students, to ask how many suffered migraines. The show of hands seemed to convince many of an epidemic.

One emotional freshman, Tristan Peterson, accused Lyon and other officials of lying. “I am not a liar,” she replied.

Parents did not go that far. “Cover-up, I think, is too strong. It was more putting their head in the sand and hoping for the best,” said Michael Campolo, a labour lawyer. “This is a fantastic school,” he added. “Really high rankings, great staff.”

Wealthy and well connected parents said they had launched their own investigations, consulting friends in the Environmental Protection Agency, oncologists in Beverly Hills, and toxicology specialists in Santa Monica.

“My doctor told me to pull my kids right out of there,” said one mother, who declined to be named. The evidence of a cancer cluster, she added, was overwhelming.

John Froines, a chemical toxicology expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, said it was too soon to draw any conclusions. “The information is inadequate at present. It should be a high priority to investigate this further, which is what they are doing.”

He cautioned against directly linking PCBs, or any other chemical, to thyroid illnesses. “Lots of chemicals are associated with thyroid issues. It would be completely speculative to even list them.”

PCBs have been shown to cause cancer in animals and studies in humans provide supportive evidence for potential carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects, according to the EPA.

A 2010 study found that PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), a common household chemical found in everything from sofas and carpets to pots and pans, has been linked to an increased risk of thyroid disease.

Cancer at Malibu, California High School.

Optimal Prediction,

16 October, 2013

Classes have been moved from Malibu High School to an adjoining school after twenty faculty members issued a letter to the school district saying that:

… three teachers had been recently diagnosed with stage 1 thyroid cancer, another three had thyroid problems, and seven suffered migraines. The letter also cited incidents of hair loss, rashes and bladder cancer.

“These teachers believe their health has been adversely affected as a result of working in our particular buildings at Malibu high school,” Katy Lapajne, a language arts teacher, wrote in the letter.

This school had soil contaminated by PCB’s removed in 2010. Testing for mold was conducted, and the school district declared “Tests show Malibu High mold not hazardous.” But the articles states that these a preliminary tests, and only some classrooms were tested for mold. And actually, the results showed the mold results “are similar to levels found outdoors with no unusual findings.” That begs the question of how high the mold levels are outdoors.

A day earlier, Sandra Lyon, the superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu unified school district, addressed the auditorium audience while media trucks waited outside. “You have heard serious and alarming allegations. These reports have mushroomed in our community.”

The school had begun testing for air and soil contamination last month, said Lyon. She apologised for not communicating that before the teachers’ letter forced the issue into the open, but said there was no evidence students were at risk. “We know they are safe, just as much as you know that your house is safe.”

Few seemed reassured. Questions rained down. Would inspectors test for radioactivity? Where was the mould? Was the water safe? Did inspectors have PhDs? How advanced were the cancer cases?

Several parents cited having children with cancer and other ailments, prompting Lucas, the mother of two students, to ask how many suffered migraines. The show of hands seemed to convince many of an epidemic.

Thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases are caused by radioactive iodine. In fact, iodine-131 is used in thyroid ablation. This is used to destroy all remaining thyroid tissue for people who have had their thyroids completely removed due to thyroid cancer. “The purpose of Iodine-131 for thyroid ablation is to destroy all functioning thyroid tissue.”

Mangano and Sherman have found elevated levels of hypothyroidism among infants on the west coast after the meltdowns. High levels of iodine-131 in California kelp were also detected after Fuku.

Well, as documented here and at other sites, iodine-131 has been emitted from Fukushima Daiichi since March 2011, and it is continuing today. Hair loss and rashes are also a result of beta emitters like I-131.

Malibu High School is located one block from the Pacific Ocean.

People living within 20 kilometers of the coast are subject to breathing in sea spray. As related in a previous post,

Sea-to-land transfer has been observed and reported near the British Nuclear Fuels plc Sellafield Works, Cumbria, England, the Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment, Caithness, Scotland and the reprocessing works at Cap de la Hague, Normandy, France. In Cumbria, where the effect has been most fully investigated, plutonium, americium and radiocaesium discharged to the Irish Sea from Sellafield have been observed many kilometres inland.

So plutonium, americium, and yes, cesium are found in sea spray which migrate 20 kilometers inland. This is bad news for people who live near the Pacific coast.

There is likely to be iodine-129 in the sea also, as 31 times more iodine-129 than iodine-131 was released from Fukushima. Iodine-129 has a half-life of 15 million years, so it is not going to decay away like I-131 did.

Of course, radioactive buckyballs are a problem too. These are geodesic dome-like configurations of uranium that have been produced at the plant, and travel on the surface of the ocean.

We have recently seen starfish turning to goo off the Atlantic coast of the US, the Pacific coast of Canada, and the Kamachatka Pacific coast of Russia. Also sea lions, sea urchins, sea snails, sockeye salmon, humpback whales, abalone, mussels, and coral reefs have all been affected. The sardine industry off Canada has completely collapsed. Not a single sardine was caught.

Now humans appear to be affected by the radioactive Pacific.

Also, I wanted to note that new data from Fukushima prefecture sludge shows that the amount of cesium has doubled in six months.