California toxic dump causing birth defects - "a human tragedy"

[bik0]

Schwarzenegger orders state to investigate birth defects in Kettleman City
The governor's directive comes just days after a regional administrator with the EPA launched a federal inquiry into whether a large toxic dump near the community caused the deformities.


By Margot Roosevelt
January 29, 2010 | 11:11 p.m.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed state public health and environmental officials Friday to visit Kettleman City to conduct "a thorough investigation" into the causes of birth defects in the San Joaquin Valley farming community.

Schwarzenegger's intercession comes more than a year after activists petitioned state agencies to investigate whether a large toxic dump near the community might be causing cleft palates and other defects among the mostly low-income Latino residents.

The dump, operated by Houston-based Waste Management, is the largest hazardous waste facility west of the Mississippi.

Earlier this week, Jared Blumenfeld, the regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, launched a federal inquiry, calling the situation "a human tragedy at a scale . . . none of us would want to have to endure."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-toxic30-2010jan30,0,5930310.story

[drm604]

1. K&R

:kick:

[Dogmudgeon]

2. K&R

But if you want this to get read, you have to put the word "nuclear" in the title.

California toxic dump causing birth defects - "a human tragedy" (30 views/day, 2 posts/day)

vs.

Nuclear toxic dump causing birth defects - "a human tragedy" (500 views/day, 75 posts/day)

--d!

[amborin]

3. remember the leukemia clusters near McFarland? due to the pesticides n/t

[niyad]

4. kick