Challenge to Brockovich claims
By David Usborne 5:30 AM Wednesday Dec 15, 2010
NZ Herald.co.nz EXCERPT:
She rode back into town for a second round in the battle against a polluting power giant that made her famous.
But now Erin Brockovich may have to back up a little. Fresh scientific evidence has called her claims into question.
Nearly 15 years after the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric paid a US$333million ($444million) out-of-court settlement to end claims that it had polluted the water in Hinkley, California, with chromium 6, a carcinogen, a new survey shows the number of cancer cases there in 1996-2008 was not especially elevated. In fact, they were lower than would be expected.
The findings of the survey, conducted by John Morgan, a professor of epidemiology at Loma Linda University, California, are startling not least because they come just as the saga of Brockovich and her battle with PG&E has burst back into life.
Last week she was at an emotional community meeting called after news that a new underground water plume containing chromium 6 had breached containment barriers and had begun to leach towards homes.
The discovery of the plume has been considered serious enough by PG&E that it offered to buy 100 homes from residents to give them a chance to move elsewhere.
Its woes in Hinkley date back to the late 50s when chromium-laced water it had used to clean cooling towers was disposed of in ponds that eventually began to leak into the groundwater. According to the survey, there were 196 cases of cancer among residents in the area over the 12-year period of the study, a number that is lower than the 224 cases that would normally be expected.
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This thread reminded me of this.
By David Usborne 5:30 AM Wednesday Dec 15, 2010
NZ Herald.co.nz EXCERPT:
She rode back into town for a second round in the battle against a polluting power giant that made her famous.
But now Erin Brockovich may have to back up a little. Fresh scientific evidence has called her claims into question.
Nearly 15 years after the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric paid a US$333million ($444million) out-of-court settlement to end claims that it had polluted the water in Hinkley, California, with chromium 6, a carcinogen, a new survey shows the number of cancer cases there in 1996-2008 was not especially elevated. In fact, they were lower than would be expected.
The findings of the survey, conducted by John Morgan, a professor of epidemiology at Loma Linda University, California, are startling not least because they come just as the saga of Brockovich and her battle with PG&E has burst back into life.
Last week she was at an emotional community meeting called after news that a new underground water plume containing chromium 6 had breached containment barriers and had begun to leach towards homes.
The discovery of the plume has been considered serious enough by PG&E that it offered to buy 100 homes from residents to give them a chance to move elsewhere.
Its woes in Hinkley date back to the late 50s when chromium-laced water it had used to clean cooling towers was disposed of in ponds that eventually began to leak into the groundwater. According to the survey, there were 196 cases of cancer among residents in the area over the 12-year period of the study, a number that is lower than the 224 cases that would normally be expected.
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This thread reminded me of this.
. This quote is the one that resonated with me the most out of the article:
