WHAT CAUSES CANCER IN RIPON?

Ripon's parents determined to find the cause of cancer in four children and three adults gathered Wednesday in a public meeting.

They heard from lawyers who were studying the decaffeinated coffee plant located southwest of Main Street and from the Highway 99 interchange on Industrial Avenue, until it closed in December. 1994. The Ripon Christian Schools auditorium also took the floor. Representative of an association of brain tumors who spoke about the potential dangers of cell towers and cell phones.

A second public meeting is scheduled for 17:30. Tonight in Ripon City Hall, Sprint and City Council representatives should be on hand to answer your questions. Last week, Sprint closed the Weston campus campus cell tower, which some parents believe could be the cause of cancer. Sprint has indicated its intention to move the tower to another site in Ripon.

The decaffeination process involved a closed-loop system in which the solvents were distilled and recycled. Starting in 1957, trichlorethylene (TCE) was used to extract caffeine. They switched from TCE to methylene chloride in 1970. Nestlé used the MC until 1986.

Nestlé stopped using toxic chemicals in the process of making decaffeinated coffee in 1986. The company began pumping contaminated groundwater shortly afterwards to prevent it from spreading . The cleaning cost the company $ 6.5 million. The Nestlé plant produced decaffeinated coffee from 1948 to 1986 and instant coffee from 1948 to 1994. The plant site was sold to Cal Freight in 2005.

In 2002, Nestlé decided in US court in Sacramento to pay $ 450,000 to the City of Ripon for fiber to be placed in municipal wells and $ 500,000 to help the city build new wells. The city's wells were contaminated when sewage leaked or spilled out of the city's pipelines.

Three lawyers from the Los Angeles-based Cochran law firm and a spokesperson for the Brain Tumor Association of California attended the rally on Wednesday, bringing together some 80 parents.

The lawyer, Marcelis Morris, said the problem at Nestle's plant had been active for over 30 years – pointing out that someone had to be aware of the situation in which it would have filtered chemicals into the water. drinking water from the community.

"You can not just pump," he said. "At a minimum, they can prevent its spread. We need to help people find out what causes cancer in Ripon. "

Brian T. Dunn, a partner at the law firm, added, "We will not file a lawsuit unless we are 100% sure."

They noted that their company had reviewed all of Nestlé's water tests from 1986 to the present on their old site, noting that they had to search the archives for answers. Dunn said that this toxicity to Ripon and the anxiety aroused by the cell tower are reminiscent of what has been experienced in other communities in the country that have many similarities.

"Our concern is that some people should have seen this coming and nothing has been done to fix it," added Dunn. "We need to stop other families from going through this trauma and see it fall behind. The good thing to do – the moral thing – is to say that we have a problem. "

Attorney James Oates said the only way to remedy this problem is to solve the problem in civil.

"What we discovered in the water problem, is that they were aware," comparing that to the Monsanto company located in a small town in Alabama in the years 1950, when the PCP entered a watercourse and contaminated an area three miles away. He brought the largest colony in American history, he noted.

Ellen Marks of the Brain Tumor (Association of Brain Tumors) The California Association has warned not only against cell towers, but also against the use of the cell phone, especially in the hands of Children who have caused cancer. The American Academy of Pediatrics has decided that cell phones should be used in speaker mode or with hands-free kits. The academy also said users should avoid carrying a phone against their body, such as in a pocket, sock or bra, and avoid making calls in cars, lifts, trains and buses because the cell phone works harder to get a signal through the metal. power level increases. In addition, it was added that laptops should be placed on desks and not on towers.

Brands have also indicated that landline phones may be a better choice for communication because no radiation involved.

The American Academy of Pediatrics warned that research shows that children's brains, eyes and bone marrow absorb three to ten times more radiation than adults, adding that the risk of brain tumors is higher for those who used for the first time a mobile phone under 20 years old.

To contact Glenn Kahl, write to [email protected].