A Trump County Confronts the Administration Amid a Rash of Child Cancers

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

A Trump County Confronts the Administration Amid a Rash of Child Cancers

By Hiroko Tabuchi
Jan. 2, 2019

JOHNSON COUNTY, Ind. — The children fell ill, one by one, with cancers that few families in this suburban community had ever heard of. An avid swimmer struck down by glioblastoma, which grew a tumor in her brain. Four children with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. Fifteen children with acute lymphocytic leukemia, including three cases diagnosed in the past year.

At first, families put the illnesses down to misfortune. But as cases mounted, parents started to ask: Could it be something in the air or water?

Their questions led them to an old industrial site in Franklin, the Johnson county seat, that the federal government had ordered cleaned up more than two decades ago. Recent tests have identified a carcinogenic plume spreading underground, releasing vapors into homes.

Now, families here in a county that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump are making demands of his administration that collide directly with one of his main agendas: the rolling back of health and environmental regulations.

On Wednesday, a group representing dozens of concerned parents plans to call for a federal investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General — the same watchdog that examined the government’s slow response to the water crisis in Flint, Mich. — into why Franklin’s toxic plume of trichloroethylene, or TCE, persists.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/climate/tce-cancer-trump-environment-deregulation.html

[Beakybird]

1. Good luck

They voted to be poisoned.

[violetpastille]

4. I hope those kids live to vote.

I really do.

[sheshe2]

2. "Oh, when will they ever learn

Oh, when will they ever learn"

[JDC]

3. An awful story. I wish them luck.

Hopefully this won't fall on deaf ears. Unfortunately, the smart money is not on their chances of success w/ this admin.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Ugh. TCE was the villain in Woburn, MA (the case on which "A Civil Action" is based).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_v._Cryovac,_Inc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Civil_Action_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichloroethylene#Human_exposure

[dhol82]

6. Another situation when republicans are not concerned until it affects them personally

Sorry for the kids.
Fuck the parents.

[violetpastille]

7. Fuck the parents? We're all fucked.

I live in a red district. That's my bad luck, but environmental cancers happen everywhere.

This is an everybody problem.

[mountain grammy]

8. No doubt they supported their batshit governor Pence..

Pray, pray, pray for that investigation.

[hatrack]

9. Gee, sure hope the EPA Inspector General hasn't closed up shop in the shutdown . . . .

The rest of the agency pretty much has - they sent home 13,000+ employees effective last Friday at midnight.

[NeoGreen]

10. I would presume...

...TCE is in the groundwater at near saturation solubility concentrations and is either being directly introduced into the public water system (assuming they use groundwater), into private wells and/or transitioning/degassing into the soil gas which is then pulled into residences through negative air pressures caused by furnances sucking air, typically in basements.

The above is all speculation, but similar scenarios like that have been typical routes of exposure in countless communities, red and blue, as highlighted in the watershed Love Canal community.

[hatrack]

11. Oh, and if you were wondering whether anything will change . . . .

From the article:

“We should not have to fight Republicans or Democrats to save our children. It’s not a political fight for us,” said Stacie Davidson, a Trump voter who co-founded the parents’ group with Mrs. Rhinehart (who didn’t vote for Mr. Trump).

Mrs. Davidson said, “His loosening of E.P.A. regulations, it’s infuriating.” She added, “We’re ruining the environment for money.”

Mrs. Davidson learned in 2014 that her stepson, Zane, who was 10 at the time, had a rare form of leukemia. He is now in remission. She has traveled to Washington to speak in favor of stronger TCE regulations. “What we’re fighting for is seemingly being undone right now,” she said.

Still, she said, she would not change her vote. “Trump’s a businessman. There are great things he can do for our country. But he’s used to building high rises for money,” she said. “He’s not as environmentally savvy. Our hope is that he surrounds himself with people who are more knowledgeable.”

[3Hotdogs]

13. So she wants stronger TCE regulation. Problem is his position that for every regulation passed,

2 must be eliminated.

Do any of these Republicans see how stupid that is?

What two regulations should be eliminated so that someone else's kids die?

Why were those regulations enacted in the first place? What problems were discovered that needed to be solved.

[defacto7]

12. Totally deluded.

Still, she said, she would not change her vote. “Trump’s a businessman. There are great things he can do for our country. But he’s used to building high rises for money,” she said. “He’s not as environmentally savvy. Our hope is that he surrounds himself with people who are more knowledgeable.”

Even when children are at stake.

[3Hotdogs]

14. "Still, she said, she would not change her vote."

Forrest Gump still holds true.

[NeoGreen]

15. Another OP on this topic, for reference...

...https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142235122