In March 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) release a report which revealed that chemicals known to cause cancer, including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and/or perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), were found in groundwater at Florida’s Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located in Brevard County, Florida. An unusually high number of cancer cases have been reported in people in their 20’s and 30’s in the county. Now testing has found the chemicals in Satellite Beach groundwater.
They Say the Drinking Water is Safe, But…
In the words of Satellite Beach City Manager Courtney Barker, “I would not fill your pools.” Groundwater isn’t used in the drinking water, but private wells are used for watering lawns, filling pools and other outdoor water uses. It is used to water the sports fields at the schools.
The recent water testing was performed after Julie Greenwalt, a cancer survivor and radiation oncologist who graduated from Satellite High School, started speaking out about a possible link between the chemicals in the water and the high cancer rate in the area. About 20 people who graduated Satellite High around the time that she did have been diagnosed with cancer. And, according to Greenwalt, there have been more than 250 Satellite Beach are cancer cases reported on a local cancer survivors’ Facebook group.
Greenwalt says that when she was in high school she and other students played in and drank water from the sprinklers used to water the sports fields.
Cancer and Other Dangers
A study published in 2013 found a link between PFOA exposure and kidney and testicular cancer, and a possible link to prostate and ovarian cancers and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also says that perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are known to cause damage to the immune system, liver and thyroid, as well as birth defects and other health problems.
If you believe that your cancer may have been caused by contaminated water, please call Stag Liuzza, LLC, at 504-593-9600 or contact us online today.
