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By Miriam Raftery
June 1, 2015 (El Cajon)—Last week, we reported that parents in El Cajon have filed a lawsuit Ametek Aerospace & Defense, alleging that the company’s underground toxic waste dumping is causing illness among children at Magnolia Elementary School next door.
Now the Cajon Valley School District Board has voted unanimously to close down the school for the current school year. All students and staff will be relocated to Bostonia Elementary School.
10 news reports that the Superintendent says the board is looking at alternative ways to keep kids safe, going above and beyond recommendations from the state in a school district where the motto is "Children are first."
The dumping went on for 20 years, ending in the 1980s but the site remains contaminated and the company has been fined for its failure to clean up the wastes. An attorney for the plaintiffs has said that the 7,000 gallons of chlorinated solvent waste dumped by Ametek has created an underground plume over a mile long, extended to Gillespie Field—the largest such plume of trichloroethylene or TCE in California.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to TCE has been reported to have adverse effects on the central nervous system, the immune system, and the endocrine or hormonal system. It can cause headaches, fatigue, confusion, sleeplessness and blurred vision. It can also affect the liver and kidneys, gastrointestinal tract and skin.
The EPA further states that TCE exposure is associated with cancer of the kidney and other organs. Some studies have found an association between exposure to TCE during pregnancy and increased risk of heart defects, other birth defects and low birth weight in children, though other studies found no such link.
Parents want the company to foot the bill for monitoring the health of children exposed.
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/school-contamination-el-cajon-prompts-lawsuit
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