THE ACREAGE, FL-- Several theories have been tossed around about what could be causing tumors and cancer cases that have cropped up in The Acreage.
While many experts are doubtful that a cause will ever be found, there are some burning questions that remain; such as why so many cancer cases involving kids? And why have they all been found within a 4-mile radius?
These are questions giving laymen and experts alike a reason to dig deeper.
Dr. William Louda is watching and waiting for results in The Acreage. He’s an Environmental Bio-Geo chemist at Florida Atlantic University.
Among other things, Dr. Louda studies metals and compounds and how they move in and around water.
"The specific brain cancers in children primarily is the thing that got me involved in this,” said Dr. Louda.
He's a resident in Loxahatchee, not far from the growing cluster of complaints about tumors in Palm Beach County's western communities.
Louda is also a cancer survivor.
"In my case, with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and given my history as a chemist and a child of Florida riding behind spray trucks, I probably caused the cancer myself. But when I look at children, and see cancer coming up in them, it’s very scary,” said Louda.
As a concerned resident and student of the environment, Dr. Louda sat down to talk about the theories behind a possible cause.
Could the cancerous tumors be the result of popular pesticides used by farmers? Not likely according to Louda. He says there have been a lot of changes in farming.
"Now-a-days pesticides are very fast acting, very targeted. Old pesticides and herbicides, I would suspect more than modern ones,” said Louda.
Another concern debated by some; illegal dumping in the area's extensive canal system.
"That's a hard push, because I just don’t think the amount or volume of material would be there," said Louda.
Power lines that swarm overhead in some regions of The Acreage have been a source of speculation too.
"Power lines I doubt very seriously. A friend of mine at FAU did a study on power lines and there was no sign, no correlation between power lines and anything, except transmission of electrical power," Louda said.
Several months ago, News Channel 5 reporter Katie Brace unearthed a 1988 report showing concern over the disposal of hazardous materials found near Pratt and Whitney, which is just a few miles from The Acreage.
A Pratt and Whitney spokesperson told NewsChannel 5, “We are aware of no connection to Pratt and Whitney and we have not been contacted (about a problem) by the state.
But Louda isn’t ruling out anything.
“There is a chance it could be Pratt as there's a chance it could be other things, and also there's a chance it could be a whole bunch of things operating together synergistically," Louda said.
There is also speculation about the landfill that was brought into the area to raise the land prior to building homes in the Western communities.
Some have claimed their fill was dirty, made up of old construction debris, and rain or other water trickled down into the aquifer.
The aquifer is the river of water you can’t see that flows many feet beneath the ground.
Contamination of both water and soil was the focus of a Contact Five investigation 3 years ago. Our investigative team uncovered a little secret in the landscaping business.
"It blows my mind,” said environmental activist and whistle blower Lynae Dehoff.
Dehoff is an industry insider who claimed that dangerous, cancer-causing products were being ground up into mulch and distributed nationwide.
Outdoor lumber, pressure treated with chromium, copper and arsenic (CCA) was her concern.
"This is a hazard,” said Dehoff. “This has the potential to make humans and animals sick."
CCA had been used for years on decks, docks and fences, even children's playgrounds, because it stands up well against the elements.
But a series of tests in the early 1990s showed the CCA metals were leaching out of wood at levels high enough to cause cancer.
The federal government got involved, and the CCA treated lumber was supposed to be pulled out of playgrounds across the country.
Dehoff claimed some mulch producers were taking discarded CCA lumber, grinding it up into mulch, covering it with red dye and selling it to consumers.
It's something Dr. Louda is now thinking about.
“There could be a red mulch problem in The Acreage,” Louda said.
He’s taking a hard look at recent soil and water test results from one Western community school.
"The only thing that really jumped out was arsenic, and then the coincidence of some chromium and copper. It made me start thinking about that old style red mulch…with CCA treated lumber."
According to Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, anything above 2.1 mg/kg of arsenic in soil is unacceptable and should be cleaned up.
Soil test results from Western Pines Middle School found 1.88 mg/kg.
“1.8 and 2.1...those are close?" Louda was asked.
“That’s darn close,” he said.
Louda believes more specific testing should be done on the very top lawyers of soil around Western Pines.
"The thing that points to some sort of contamination in the surface is the fact that at 0-to-2 feet, you have 1.88 mg of arsenic in kg of soil...and at 2-to-4 feet they don't find any! So to me, that's a flag that something is going on in that surface layer. Whether it's fill or a history of CCA red mulch or something else, I don’t know,” said Louda.
Some ground water test results from the school also came back with a surprise. According to Louda, arsenic levels found in the ground water were a fraction higher than the state allows.
"Now this is ground water, not drinking water. The kids get their drinking water from a treatment plant,” Louda said. “But the arsenic level in the ground water was 0.0121 mg/kg where ground water maximum contamination level is supposed to be 0.01...so that says there is some arsenic in the surface aquifer around this school. Is it the smoking gun for cancer out there? I have no idea, but it does warrant further investigating? Yes."
"Based on the arsenic levels that came back, would you want your child playing in that?” Louda was asked.
"On this soil, if I had children, I'd say no. Skip PE outside,” Louda said.
