The Long and Winding Road of the Kettleman City Birth Defect Tragedy

The tragic story of children born with serious birth defects in California's pollution-rich, money-poor Kettleman City has taken some sharp and surprising turns since we last wrote about it earlier this month.

The farm town along a stretch of interstate between L.A. and San Francisco has seen an alarming rise in babies born with deformities such as cleft palates in recent years, with one born stillborn and three dying soon after birth. But while there are several hazardous elements in the small town, much of the blame has been directed toward Waste Management Inc., a nearby toxic waste dump that has accepted hundreds of thousands of tons of hazardous waste, not to mention materials contaminated with PCBs, a class of substance so noxious, it is now banned from use. Recently, the facility has been on a campaign to double its size, and the community has banded together in fierce opposition.

For locals, environmentalists and health activists—as well as the nearly 2,000 people who signed our Change.org petition to prevent the dump’s expansion—good news came earlier this week, when the EPA levied a $300,000 fine against the Waste Management dump for failing to properly manage those dangerous PCBs. Yet this decision came on the heels of a more surprising turn: The results of a state investigation that found no connection between the birth defects and Waste Management Inc.

Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement, "While we wish there was an explanation for what caused the birth defects experienced by the children we studied in Kettleman City, our investigation finds that no common health or environmental factor links the cases."

Not surprisingly, this verdict did not sit well with local residents convinced of a connection between the tragedy that’s gripped their community and the massive hazardous dump in their backyard. Groups working against Waste Management Inc.’s expansion—including Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice and People for Clean Air and Water—issued a 6-page response to the investigation that claimed it was insufficient and faulty.

"We believe the state agencies did not look hard enough," their report stated. "The investigation of pesticide exposure, toxic waste contamination and disposal, the contaminated water supply and other pollution sources was incomplete and flawed." Others, like John Sepulvado from Capital Public Radio, have pointed out that the state investigation relied heavily on the dump’s operators for information—hardly an unbiased source.

Meanwhile, Thursday night, about 100 residents came together for a public hearing about the birth defect cluster, during which some locals said they feared another culprit may have played a role—arsenic-laced drinking water.

And finally, still another twist occurred this week when an exposed internal EPA e-mail revealed that the state stopped regulating air quality in Kettleman City in April 2008. The surge in birth defects occurred between the end of 2007 and early 2010. Coincidence? Many think not.

As the hunt for answers continues, one thing is certain: The fight to uncover what has brought tragedy to Kettleman City is one well worth fighting. Public health officials needs to do better than: "we wish there was an explanation."

In the meantime, even though it is difficult to prove the scientific link between pollution and birth defects, what is clear is that this town has borne enough troubles. EPA should not allow Waste Management—a company just fined for polluting the area—to further expand the facility. Sign the petition below to continue to send EPA that message.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/Doreen Dotto

Follow Change.org's Environmental page on Facebook and Twitter