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NEW AND ENLIGHTENING WEBSITE IS A MUST-SEE FOR GAINESVILLE RESIDENTS

Koppers Plain Talk explores the science of Gainesville’s Superfund Site, shedding light on the health effects of its toxins.

EPA’s 2009 chart documenting the health effects of Koppers contaminants of concern is particularly informative- and alarming. To view this document, go to koppersplaintalk.com, choose The Science tab and scroll to the bottom. Check out the rest of this educational site.

Tags: Alachua County Health Department, arsenic, asthma, Bank of America, Beazer East, benzene, bosshardt, cabot koppers, Cabot Koppers Superfund Site, carcinogenic, Carol Estates, catastrophic illnesses, cats, center for public integrity, chemical contamination, children, chromated copper arsenate, corporate crime, creosote, di, diabetes, diluted soil samples, Dioxinville, epa, epa corruption, FL DOH, Florida Gators, for rent, gacar, gainesville realtors association, harassment, health warning, heart disease, Heidelberg Cement, hexavalent chromium, homes for sale, indoor dust, JP Morgan Chase, Koppers, koppers class action, koppers gainesville, Koppers Refugees, Koppers Victims, Koppers/ Beazer East, liver, Love Canal, mercury, miscarriage, missing organs, napthalene, neurological disorders, nosebleeds, obama, PAH, PAHs, pancreas, pentachlorophenol, pets, property, prostate, rash, relocation, remediation, renal failure, rental homes, rentals, Sacrifice Zones, science, soil, soil replacement, soil replacement plan, Stephen Foster Neighborhood Association, Stephen Foster Neighborhood Protection Group, student guide, test koppers, tittabawassee river, toxic, toxic trespass, UF, University Ave, university of florida, veterans, veterinarians, watson realty, Wells Fargo, wells fargo typo victim, whistleblowers

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Gainesville redevelopment, Koppers, Uncategorized

Koppers Update: Stephen Foster Neighborhood

2 Nov

Koppers Health Warnings

In August 2009, ATSDR and the Florida Department of Health began issuing an ongoing series of health warnings to residents of Stephen Foster Neighborhood including:

*Residents should wash hands after contact with soil and water.
*Parents should keep children from playing in contaminated soils.
*Residents should mow lawns only when it is not dry and dusty, and should avoid exposure to dust from mowing.
*Residents should keep chickens used for homegrown eggs in elevated coops because dioxin contamination was found in eggs from neighborhood free-range chickens.
*Eating homegrown vegetables such as zucchini could cause thyroid changes and fertility problems, and increase cancer risk. There are many unknowns in assessing the real health risk.

“In a million years, I wouldn’t live there with my kids.” –City Commissioner Todd Chase on Koppers contamination in Stephen Foster Neighborhood

Koppers Disclosure Required by Law

Florida Statutes require the presence of Koppers and its contamination to be fully disclosed to homebuyers and renters in our neighborhood.

Recent homebuyers and renters are reporting that they received no disclosure of Koppers Superfund and its contamination. Some report receiving incomplete or misleading information about the Site and its health hazards.

Non-disclosed or improperly disclosed homeowners and renters have three years from the date they first learn of the contamination to take legal action, and some recent homebuyers are currently filing non-disclosure lawsuits. Renters who went before the City Commission about their non-disclosure have been let out of their leases by their landlords.

Homes More Contaminated Inside than Out

Over 100 local homes were independently tested for Dioxin, Arsenic and PAH’s. The results are alarming: the inside of tested Stephen Foster Neighborhood homes average 400 to over 1,100 times more contamination than the toxic soil that EPA/Beazer East is removing from yards.

“We have a very serious problem here that one foot of soil is not going to cure” -timber industry and remediation expert Bob Burton

No Guarantee that Soil Replacement will Work- and No Second Chance

Residents refusing EPA/Beazer East’s one foot soil replacement are doing so because soil replacement did not work here in the past: two to sixty feet of toxic soil were removed and replaced with new soil. When the new soil was tested three years later, it had become just as contaminated as the original soil.

EPA/Beazer East will not guarantee that the soil replacement will work- and they have stated that they will not test the new soil later. If the new soil becomes contaminated -as has happened every time in the past -residents who had the soil replacement will be left with toxic soil and toxic homes with no entity legally bound to help them out.

However, Beazer East’s Mitchell Brourman stated at the soil remediation meeting in May that residents can back out of the soil replacement contract anytime before soil removal is performed on their property.

“We’re not coming back.” -Mitchell Brourman to City Commission: Beazer East is done in Stephen Foster Neighborhood after twelve inch soil removal- even if it fails.

Residents’ Relocation Efforts Unaffected by Koppers Consent Decree

There are many precedents for relocation in Superfund Communities like Stephen Foster Neighborhood. Beazer East can choose to be a good neighbor in reality and introduce an option to help families move out of Koppers contaminated homes.

Superfund Communities who have achieved relocation for their families advise Stephen Foster Neighborhood residents that their relocations were achieved after federal consent decrees were signed. They stress the importance of continuing to demand relocation out of Dioxin-Arsenic-PAH contaminated homes.

Gainesville City Commissioner Hinson-Rawls wants residents made whole and told Beazer East to “Just purchase the homes”

Update provided by

Stephen Foster Neighborhood Association, Inc.

Stephen Foster Neighborhood Protection Group

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers, Uncategorized

National Institute of Health (NIH): Dioxin exposure causes transgenerational health effects

27 Sep

In a WSU press release, Skinner said of his latest findings, “It is not just the individuals exposed, but potentially the great-grandchildren that may experience increased adult-onset disease susceptibility.”

By Brant Hamel

A new study, funded in part by NIEHS, found that dioxin affects not only the health of an exposed rat, but also unexposed descendants through a mechanism of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance.

The study was conducted in the laboratory of Michael Skinner, Ph.D., a professor in the Center for Reproductive Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Washington State University (WSU) who designed the study. Co-authors included assistant research professor Mohan Manikkam, Ph.D., research technician Rebecca Tracey, and postdoctoral researcher Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna, Ph.D.

“Although not designed for risk assessment, these results have implications for the human populations that are exposed to dioxin and are experiencing declines in fertility and increases in adult onset disease, with a potential to transmit them to later generations,” the authors concluded.

Dangers of dioxin last for decades after initial exposure

Dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo[p]dioxin (TCDD), is a chemical compound that constitutes part of the Agent Orange herbicide used as a defoliant in the Vietnam War. According to research cited in the study, exposure is estimated to have caused 400,000 deaths and 500,000 birth defects. Dioxin has also been released from industrial accidents, leading to human exposures. Due to its extremely long half-life of up to 10 years in humans, dioxin may still affect pregnancies occurring even 20 years after exposure.

In the Skinner group’s experiments, exposure to dioxin caused changes in the DNA methylation patterns of sperm that were transmitted across generations, in an imprinted-like manner, to affect the health of multiple generations of descendents. The grandchildren of exposed rats showed dioxin-induced effects ranging from polycystic ovarian disease to kidney disease. The work raises the serious concern that even if toxic chemicals, such as dioxin, were completely removed from the environment, they could continue to cause disease for multiple generations.

Health effects of dioxin include early onset of puberty in females

Skinner’s group used low in vivo doses of dioxin, so that toxic effects were not expected. Female rats were exposed while pregnant, and both their direct progeny and descendants two generations removed were examined.

Although the most prominent phenotypes were kidney disease in males and polycystic ovarian disease in females, a number of other effects including abscesses, colon impaction, lung abnormalities, and missing testes were also observed in animals from the dioxin-treated lineage. Additionally, females from the dioxin-exposed lineage experienced the early onset of puberty. Conversely, males showed delayed puberty, suggesting sex-specific effects of exposure. Early puberty in humans has increased over recent decades and is believed to have an environmental link.

Dioxin alters methylation patterns in germ line DNA across generations

The researchers were able to identify 50 specific regions of DNA that were differentially methylated in the dioxin-treated animals. These regions were permanently reprogrammed and protected from DNA methylation, in a manner that allowed them to be passed down across generations. In the future, these regions may serve as biomarkers that would allow early detection of exposure and risk for disease.

Other chemical compounds, including bisphenol A, phthalates, the insecticide DEET, and the jet fuel JP8 have all been shown to promote disease across generations, through a similar mechanism of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance (see story). This pathway of disease propagation exists not only in rats, but also in humans, mice, worms, flies, and even plants. Thus, future research will be needed to see if other environmental compounds may also lead to health effects across generations.

In addition to NIEHS, NIH and the U.S. Department of Defense provided support for the study.

Citation: Manikkam M, Tracey R, Guerrero-Bosagna C, Skinner MK. 2012. Dioxin (TCDD) induces epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease and sperm epimutations. PLoS One 7(9):e46249.

(Brant Hamel, Ph.D., is an Intramural Research Training Award fellow in the NIEHS Laboratory of Signal Transduction.)

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/newsletter/2012/11/science-dioxin/

Tags: 2 miles, AAA Gainesville, air, Alachua County, Alachua County Health Department, arsenic, Bank of America, Beazer East, Bill Moyers, BOCC, boycott wells fargo, cabot koppers, campus usa, Cancer, cappex, carcinigenic, Carl Hiassen, Carol Estates, catastrophic illnesses, chemical contamination, chromated copper arsenate, city commissioners, City of Gainesville, cnn, coast to coast, COCEJ, college board, college insight, college majors 101, college results online, collusion, compass, consent decree, coops, copper, coppers, Cornel West, corporate crime, corruption, creosote, daycare, death, Debra Heights, dioxins, Dioxinville, Dow Chemical, Duck Pond, epa corruption, escambia superfund site, Family, farmer's market, fear, FL DOH, Florida, Florida Gators, football, Freddie Mac, free range chickens, gacar, Gainesville, gainesville sun, Gators, halloween, haunted, hexavalent chromium, Homes, houses gainesville, huffington post, ill, John Stumpf, Karen Silkwood, keller williams, killing fields, Koppers, koppers class action, koppers gainesville, Koppers Refugees, Koppers Victims, Koppers/ Beazer East, lawn mowers, lawsuits, long-term toxic exposure, Love Canal, miscarriage, Mitchell Brourman, Morrisonville, Mossville, nondisclosure, Oak View, PAH, PAHs, palm beach post, pentachlorophenol, project on student debt, raw deal, relocation, Robert Markwell, Sanjay Gupta, Scott Miller, soil, Stephen Foster, Stephen Foster Neighborhood Association, student guide, superfund, superfund communities, test koppers, Times Beach, toxic, toxic city, toxic Gainesville, toxic trespass, UF, UK markets, water, Wells Fargo, wf, wf boycott, zucchini

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers, Uncategorized

Gainesville Residents Brave Stormy Weather to Rally Against Wells Fargo’s Toxic Greed and Prejudice

23 Jul

Koppers-afflicted residents thank everyone who came out and demonstrated against Wells Fargo’s toxic criminal activities on July 19th. Friday’s rally, the first of a series, was wet, wild, and really loud! Details of upcoming rallies will be posted here, so keep visiting for more opportunities to raise your voice for environmental justice!

Tags: 2 miles, abc news, ACEPD, Against Me, agent orange, air, Alachua County, Alachua County Health Department, arsenic, associated press, beezer, Bill Moyers, bill nelson, birth defects, bosshardt, boston globe, boycott wells fargo, Brutal Strudel, buyout, buyouts, cabot koppers, Cancer, Carl Hiassen, cbs, center for public integrity, children, cleanup plan, co, colbert report, college board, college insight, college majors 101, college navigator, college results online, collusion, consent decree, copper, coppers, Cornel West, corporate crime, corruption, creosote, crime, da, daily show, danger, dateline, daycare, death, Debra Heights, Diane Sawyer, dioxins, Dioxinville, drinking water, Duck Pond, dust, Eagles, environmental justice, epa corruption, Erin Brockovich, Family, Fannie Mae, FL DOH, Florida Gators, Florida State Road 441, floridan aquifer, football, foreclosures, fox news, fraud, Freddie Mac, free range chickens, fruit, gacar, Gainesville High School, gainesville realtors association, gainesville regional utilities, gainesville sun, gardening, gator growl, greed, Green Peace, GRU, harassment, Heidelberg Cement, hexavalent chromium, homes for sale, hot water music, houses gainesville, investors daily, Julia Roberts, Karen Silkwood, killing fields, koopers, Koppers, koppers class action, Koppers/ Beazer East, la times, lies, loans, Lois Gibbs, london times, long-term toxic exposure, Love Canal, miscarriage, ms, msnbc, mutagenic, nbc, north florida, PAH, PAHs, palm beach post, parks and recreation, Paynes Prairie, poisoned places, politics, prejudice, project on student debt, prudential, raw deal, redevelopment, relocation, rentals, Robert Markwell, Sacrifice Zones, San Francisco Times, Sanjay Gupta, Santa Fe College, schoolguides, SILKWOOD, soil, solar energy, State Road 441, stephen colbert, Stephen Foster, Stephen Foster Neighborhood Association, tampa tribune, Tavis Smiley, the doctors, Times Beach, today show, toxic, toxic city, toxic Gainesville, toxic scorecard, toxic trespass, university heights, university of florida, vegetables, Waldo Road, washington week, water, watson, watson realty, weather, Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo’s, wf boycott, whistleblowers, wikileaks

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers, Uncategorized

Rally Against Wells Fargo’s Greed and Prejudice on July 19th!

9 Jul

Wells Fargo, Greed and Prejudice

Wells Fargo Willfully Sells Agent Orange Homes to Low-Income and Minority Gainesville Families

Rally Against Wells Fargo’s Greed and Prejudice! Friday, July 19th 5:00-6:00pm Meet at Bo Diddley Plaza & March to Rally at Wells Fargo at 104 North Main Street

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Debora Blume told the Palm Beach Post that Wells Fargo requires their appraisers to identify contamination hazards, stating “Our agencies and investors prohibit the sale of loans when a proven property hazard affects safety and habitability.” Yet Wells Fargo continues to sell Gainesville houses that are documented to be severely contaminated with arsenic, PAH’s, and dioxins (aka agent orange) to unsuspecting low-income and minority families in neighborhoods surrounding the notorious Koppers Superfund Site, violating Florida Statutes that require full disclosure of this hazard with seeming impunity. Wells Fargo’s callous practice has brought misery to countless local families who have paid for WF’s lies with their health, even with their lives. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, the highest paid CEO in US history, is still dissatisfied with his taxpayers’ bailout. Stumpf and his cronies give themselves outrageous bonuses while sentencing local families to a toxic nightmare, knowingly selling highly contaminated homes with no disclosure of the danger to homebuyers’ health and lives. This is just one of the many ways that Wells Fargo singles out innocent, vulnerable members of our community, a practice WF has been heavily fined for in other states.

Tell Wells Fargo Our Families Are Worth More Than Your Profits!

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers

GAINESVILLE RESIDENTS REJECT FRAUDULENT SOIL TEST RESULTS

19 Jun

We the victims of Koppers Gainesville, one of the Nation’s oldest and most toxic Superfund Sites, outright reject AMEC’s soil sampling due to these facts:

Trees absorb contaminants from adjacent soils, thereby lowering the toxin levels in those soils. Stephen Foster Neighborhood residents saw employees of AMEC- also known as MACTEC- break soil collection protocol by taking samples from soil immediately next to tree-trunks. And, in the months prior to soil collection, residents saw new soil added to several properties where soil samples were later collected.

Worse, many residents witnessed AMEC employees diluting soil samples. They were seen performing the following actions:

1.    Placing clean soil from a potting soil bag into a stainless steel mixing bowl
2.    Collecting a small scraping of soil from a resident’s yard using a trowel
3.    Adding the collected soil to the clean potting soil in the mixing bowl
4.    Very vigorously mixing the two soils
5.    Placing some of the resulting soil mixture into a sample jar
6.    And pouring the remaining soil mixture onto the ground. Homeowners witnessing this   action called neighborhood representatives and asked them to come out to see for themselves. The representatives that responded also witnessed these actions.

AMEC employees were seen repeating this process at properties throughout the neighborhood. Their tampering renders Beazer East’s soil testing inadmissible. We do not accept Beazer East’s fraudulent test results. Our families need out of the dioxin, PAH, arsenic contaminated homes that are making us sick.

Willingness to accept counterfeit test results and Beazer East & EPA’s “raw deal” for Gainesville families is inhumane. Decades of collusion and negligence at every level of government has allowed Gainesville to become a Toxic City.

Susan Fairforest

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers, Uncategorized

Unpublished Response to Inaccuracies in 02/06/13 Alligator Article

4 Mar

Because the Koppers article printed in the Florida Independent Alligator on 02/06/13 contained several inaccurate statements, Sandra Watts Kennedy submitted a letter addressing these inaccuracies to the Alligator on 02/18/13. As of 03/04/13, the Alligator has not printed her letter, so koppersgainesville is posting it here:

Hundreds of afflicted residents are taking Koppers and Beazer East to court with scientific proof that levels of arsenic, dioxins and PAHs inside our homes are drastically higher than ACEPD and GRU staff asserted at Santa Fe College’s recent panel discussion on the Cabot-Koppers Superfund Site.

Dr. Mousa’s memory is creative concerning local government involvement in closing Koppers. He should review videos from numerous commission meetings showing citizens testifying to illnesses and deaths from Koppers toxic exposure and begging our elected officials to close down the site. It was only after residents produced documents proving that the City and GRU were among Koppers best customers and therefore abetting Koppers’ ongoing contamination, that we convinced the City to stop doing business with the polluter. Public outcry ultimately closed the plant.

If water contamination is the primary concern, why does our local government support EPA’s “cleanup plan” that contains no remedial action to stop the downward migration of contamination into the aquifer and continues to compromise our drinking water?

Stephen Foster Elementary School is not “several miles north” of the toxic site: it is only 1/3 mile away from the Site, and yes, our children there are at risk.

Regarding the related art show, families of Koppers victims are offended by the lavishing of grants for greenwashing projects when there is so much pain and suffering in our community. A better use of these funds would be to move the most severely afflicted residents out of harm’s way.

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