WHAT NOW? SPOTLIGHT ON AT TOXIC 'HOT SPOT'.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh and Dana Bartholomew Staff Writers

Within the past seven years, Marlene Calderone has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, melanoma and cancer in both her breasts.

Now after enduring surgery, radiation treatment and chemotherapy, Calderone is haunted by the fear that her illnesses could be linked to the pleasant hikes she took 20 years ago in the hills west of the San Fernando Valley - near Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Lab.

Researchers revealed Thursday night that residents living within two miles of the facility have higher cancer rates than people living farther away. A separate study found that neighbors may have been exposed over the years to toxic chemicals through the air, water and soil.

While study authors reiterated that their work is preliminary and they cannot link cancer cases to the field lab contamination, Calderone and other residents said the research confirms their suspicions.

``I kind of knew it all along. No one in my family has thyroid problems or thyroid cancer. It was obviously exposure,'' said Calderone, 55, who from 1983 to '93 lived in a mobile-home park less than a mile from the former nuclear research and rocket engine test lab.

In the gated community of Bell Canyon, which researchers identified as a contamination ``hot spot,'' homeowners were more cautious in their reaction to the community health study.

Michael Bubman, president of the Bell Canyon Homeowners Association, said there have been previous studies of Bell Canyon that never showed any problems. He also questioned the current health risks since the lab no longer tests rocket engines and ceased its polluting operations.

``Is there really a concern in our backyard? To date I haven't heard anything that really sounded the alarm bells to me. Until we get results significant to us today, I want to make sure our communities don't get unduly alarmed.''

Designed to analyze community health and exposure around the Santa Susana Field Lab, the $700,000, federally funded studies built on more than 15 years of environmental investigations at the site.

The Department of Energy and the Boeing Co., which owns the lab, are in the midst of a multimillion-dollar cleanup of the field lab, which opened for research in the late 1940s.

Boeing officials said they could not comment on the specifics of the new research, but their analysis has shown that the neighboring communities have not been tainted by the lab's operations.

Nevertheless, the two studies bolster concerns that decades of research using radioactive materials and highly toxic chemicals left an imprint of pollution and illness in the surrounding communities.

Study authors said the next logical step is to combine their two studies - investigating whether cancer rates are higher in the contamination hot spots.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., called Friday for the Energy Department to beef up its cleanup plan and acknowledge that contamination has spread off the site - particularly as the new housing projects are proposed for the area.

``In light of these findings, it is incomprehensible to me that anyone would consider building new housing developments that will significantly increase the local population after reviewing the results of these new studies,'' Boxer said.

Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, whose district includes Bell Canyon, urged Los Angeles County to follow its neighbor's lead and require soil and water testing of any new project planned within two miles of the field lab.

But other leaders reiterated researchers' warnings that the studies do not link Boeing's lab to illnesses.

Ventura County Supervisor Judy Mikels, whose district includes Simi Valley, said the researchers may have overstated the risks and she warned against additional, unnecessary environmental tests at and around the lab.

``I firmly believe that the Department of Energy and Boeing are making valid tests and that they are keeping track of what's going on. There may be other agendas that are making people unnecessarily worried.''

Word of the cancer studies spread through Mountain View Estates mobile-home park like the wildfires that licked their doorsteps last fall. The West Hills park of 156 homes hugs the western gate of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

Views of the Valley are spectacular. But the news spooked neighbors who either pooh-poohed the studies as overblown property-value killers, or worried residents who say they are potential victims of Space Age contamination.

``I don't think there's a threat, and if there is, it went the other way,`' said Norma Erhardt, 61, cousin of the late pilot, who has lived 10 years in her double-wide and hopes to buy the land someday.

``You know what? The air is cleaner (here) than living by the 101 Freeway,'' she said. ``Most residents don't feel a threat.''

``My only concern is, if we wanted to retire and sell, this would really hit us in the pocketbook,'' said Ken Cummins, 61, an airplane mechanic and youth football coach.

Michelle Puntillo, 36, lives up the street with her teenage son. A renter for eight years, she said they haven't lived there long enough to contract any illnesses from potential pollution from Rocketdyne.

``It's not enough to start boxing my stuff,'' said Puntillo. ``I don't feel threatened at this point. I feel more threatened by other areas and other countries.''

Bruce Gold isn't so sure.

The 55-year-old custom car and bike builder, who lives with his girlfriend and her daughter, had hoped to buy the land during a planned zoning change - but not if it's not safe. He and others have asked for soil tests for chemical or radioactive contamination beneath their lots.

``Would I move back to the flats because of this? Yes. I'm not going to jeopardize my lady's health, my health, my child's health, for this view ... I'd love to stay up here, I just don't want to glow.''

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

The UCLA study can be viewed at www.ph.ucla/edu/erg.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Bruce Gold, 55, loves the scenery outside his mobile home near the Rocketdyne test area, but ``I'm not going to jeopardize my lady's health, my health, my child's health, for this view.''

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(2) Marlene Calderone, 65 of Saugus, suspects her cancers might have been caused by exposure to radiation from the Santa Susana facility. From 1983 to '93, she lived about a mile away.

Alex Collins/Staff Photographer