Letters to the Editor
Sunday, August 4, 2002
Birth defects study ignores problems
I was stunned when I read the story on the state Department of Health's
birth defects program (Star-Bulletin, July 14). It said, "The program
collected data that disproved reports of a cluster of children born in
Waipahu's Village Park with a higher rate of birth defects because of
possible contamination of the land from agricultural pesticides."
Life of the Land worked closely with the Village Park community to
understand what its problems were. From the outset, community members
told the Health Department that their children with problems were not
listed on the birth defects registry, and that most of their problems
were not detected until the keiki entered first grade. Therefore, the
birth defects study did nothing to address the community's concerns.
For the developer of the program to say that this irrelevant study
saved the state "what could have been a multimillion-dollar lawsuit" is
appalling when families are suffering and racking up hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year in medical bills. Three children on one
street had to have open-heart surgery before age 5, and numerous keiki
from that community have asthma or other respiratory ailments.
The families in the Village Park community that Life of the Land worked
with were not interested in gaining any financial benefit from their
problems; they wanted only to address the health problems of their
children and to prevent other families from suffering.
The Board of Water Supply was up front with the community by meeting
with everyone involved, providing raw data on what contaminants were in
the water and doing appropriate testing. The Department of Health
continues to bob and weave and leave the community's concerns
unanswered.
Kat Brady
Assistant Executive Director
Life of the Land
http://starbulletin.com/2002/08/04/editorial/letters.html