CANCER IN OUR BACKYARD STUDIES SHOW RATES HIGHER FOR THOSE WITHIN 2 MILES OF SANTA SUSANA LAB.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Residents living within two miles of the Santa Susana Field Lab may have been exposed to toxic chemicals through air, water and soil contamination - and they have higher cancer rates than people in communities farther from the lab, researchers revealed Thursday in two landmark studies.

People living close to the Simi Hills lab had slightly higher rates of all cancers, particularly those linked to radiation and chemical exposure, the studies found.

Authors of the two reports warned the results do not conclusively show that contamination from the former nuclear research and rocket engine testing lab caused cancer and other illnesses in the surrounding community.

However, the studies are the strongest evidence to date that residents near the lab were exposed to hazardous chemicals that could have increased their chance of developing cancer.

``I was actually surprised by some of these results,'' said Hal Morgenstern, author of one of the studies and chairman of the epidemiology department at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

``This may be something that has nothing to do with Rocketdyne and Santa Susana, but it's provocative enough that we have to pursue it.''

The Boeing Co., which has owned the lab since 1996, reviewed a PowerPoint presentation of the study but company officials said they could not comment on the specifics until they've studied the full reports.

Company spokeswoman Inger Hodgson said lab owners and environmental regulators have studied the site for more than 15 years and their analysis has shown that neighboring communities are not impacted by the lab's past nuclear-energy research or the more recent rocket-engine testing.

Earlier studies in 1991 and 1997 suggested higher rates of bladder cancer and lung cancer in the community nearest the Rocketdyne lab. But state and federal officials were slow to order a more thorough analysis.

For some community members, the findings raised serious concern.

``We're a mile away. Had I known it was there, I would have made completely different decisions coming in,'' said Henry L.N. Anderson, who lives in a mobile-home park downhill from the lab. ``We remodeled, and we're getting out.''

The Santa Susana Field Lab is a 2,800-acre facility at the top of the Simi Hills in Ventura County, near the Los Angeles city limits. From the 1940s to 1988, the Department of Energy experimented with 10 nuclear reactors, one of which experienced a partial meltdown. There was also an open-air pit where workers burned radioactive and chemical waste.

The lab also conducted rocket-engine tests for the Department of Defense through last September - though there might be more testing in the future, Hodgson said. The facility also conducts a small laser testing program.

Decades of nuclear research and chemical use left massive contamination at the lab. The soil is rife with heavy metals and chemical contaminants. The groundwater had high levels of radiation and extremely potent concentrations of the cancer-causing chemical TCE.

The Daily News revealed extensive contamination at the lab in 1989, and since then neighbors have pushed for a community health study. Their calls grew louder after two studies released by the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1997 and 1999 showed that workers who handled radiation and a rocket-fuel chemical had higher rates of cancer.

The two new studies presented Thursday night at a meeting of a citizens and regulatory oversight group were commissioned in 2000 by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. NASA and the Department of Energy provided several hundred thousand dollars for the two studies.

One of the studies, led by UCLA chemical engineering professor Yoram Cohen, looked at how contamination at the Santa Susana Field Lab could have moved off the hilltop lab into surrounding neighborhoods.

``It is clear to us that there has been a migration of contaminants from the facility by surface water, air dispersion and ground water,'' Cohen said.

His team found that from the 1950s through 1970s residents within two miles could have been exposed to significant amounts of TCE and hydrazine, another highly potent chemical believed to cause cancer.

Even today, residents within two miles of the site could be exposed to chemicals through private groundwater wells, by eating vegetables grown in tainted soil or by inhaling contaminants from future rocket engine tests.

The second study was performed by Morgenstern, who analyzed cancer incidences in Los Angeles and Ventura counties from 1988 through 2003.

Morgenstern found slightly higher rates of all cancers, particularly cancers linked to radiation and chemical exposure. And Hispanic residents appeared to be the most affected by the higher cancer rates.

Bladder cancer and melanoma had the highest increase above normal, with lung and immune system cancers also slightly elevated. There was no sign of higher than normal rates of breast or colon cancers.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

COMMUNITY HEALTH STUDY

Here are highlights of the UCLA health study conducted of residents living near Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory:

--Elevated incidence of cancer within 2 miles of the lab, especially among Latino residents.

--Greatest elevation for melanoma and bladder cancer (1996-2003).

--Modest elevation for lung cancer and lymphoma (1988-1995).

--Little elevation for breast and colorectal cancers.

--Results are preliminary, and establishing a direct link between exposure and illness would require additional research.

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COMMUNITY HEALTH STUDY (see text)