LOS ANGELES—A wealthy Southern California enclave on Friday said it would halt its routine use of landscape pesticides as residents push for an investigation into alleged links between the chemicals and an unusually high incidence of rare childhood cancers in the area.
Since 2013 at least six adolescents in Ladera Ranch, an unincorporated community in Orange County, have been diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, an exceedingly rare bone and soft-tissue cancer, according to reports made to the U.S. Attorney.
Ewing sarcoma typically impacts around 200 children in the United States annually, according to the American Cancer Society.
Just hours after the first assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli on Friday requested an Environmental Protection Agency investigation into the potential cluster, a representative for the Ladera Ranch Maintenance Corporation (LARMAC), the local homeowners association, told The Epoch Times it had implemented a 60-day temporary moratorium on pesticides it uses for routine landscape maintenance.
“The Board’s responsibility is to maintain a healthy, safe, and beautiful community while responsibly stewarding about 1,000 acres of LARMAC-maintained landscape,” the organization said in a statement.
“We are equally committed to continuously evaluating our practices, listening to resident feedback, and making informed decisions based on sound information, industry best practices, operational needs, fiscal responsibility, and the long-term interests of the community.”
Community input has been increasingly heated for months. The five-member board had previously noted it would take up the issue at a scheduled Sept. 9 meeting—but stopped short of issuing a 60-day ban requested by residents.
That appeared to change after Essayli announced earlier in the day that he was requesting an EPA investigation, citing the need for evaluation of potential environmental exposures through a “systemic, science-based process.”
“What we’re asking for is just out of an abundance of caution,” John Gresko, a resident and member of the Ladera Ranch Civic Council, told The Epoch Times.
“We’re not even trying to say anything causes cancer. We’re trying to, out of due respect and sympathy for all of these health concerns, that we just put a moratorium on all pesticides until things are figured out,” he said, noting that proponents of the ban use “pesticide” as an umbrella term for all herbicides, insecticides, and rodenticides.
The homeowner’s association said the ban would not apply to “activities necessary to address public health and safety concerns, such as rodent control or responses to invasive pests.”
According to documentation LARMAC provided to Gresko, the organization uses two specific pesticides for landscape maintenance—Attrimec and Lifeline. The EPA does not classify active ingredients in either product as likely carcinogens, but the pesticides are not approved or are banned for use in Europe and the UK.
The Epoch Times has reached out to manufacturers of Attrimec and Lifeline for comments.
Some residents, Gresko said, claim the problem is broader than an Ewing sarcoma cluster, with other types of cancer diagnoses surging among adults in and around the community in recent decades.
Residents concerned with the potential link to environmental exposures are hoping the media attention will lead to much broader change, Gresko said.
“The Ladera Ranch Civic Council and our residents will not be happy until we get a permanent ban in Ladera Ranch on conventional pesticides,” he said, noting the community’s abundance of parks and athletic fields.
“What we’re looking for is a consistency in maintenance of these fields. It’s not fair to have one town different than the other. We want them all safe,” he said, pointing to a decade-long non-toxic pesticide policy implemented in the neighboring city of Irvine.
“We’re not only asking for a ban in Ladera Ranch. We’re now seeking a ban in Orange County. And we’re not going to be happy with a ban in Orange County. We’re going to be seeking a statewide ban because we have the national spotlight on Ladera Ranch, and we’re really looking for a response that’s of the same scale and magnitude. So we’re trying to gather all the experts and all the efforts and everything into one cohesive voice,” he said.
The Ladera Ranch Civic Council will hold a special community meeting Tuesday night to address the issue.
