User:SnowyCinema/Clyde cancer cluster
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The term "Clyde cancer cluster" (as well as other similar terms) refers to an unusual number of children in Clyde, Ohio, United States, as well as in some nearby areas, who were diagnosed with any of several forms of childhood cancer throughout the 2000s. Health officials identified the statistical anomaly as a cancer cluster in 2009. The first known cancer case associated with the cluster was acquired in 1996, and the unusual amount of cancer acquisitions discontinued by the end of the decade. Investigations by governmental agencies began in 2006, and they continued to investigate the Clyde area in regards to the cancer cases until 2012. Despite years of investigation, no definite cause for the unusual rate of cancer diagnoses in the area has been found, but whatever its cause, the unusual amount of cancer acquisitions discontinued by the early 2010s. There is also no evidence that the identified cancer cases were caused by the same carcinogen.
In 2012, the United States Environmental Protection Agency carried out soil tests in fourteen different sites, including Whirlpool Park, a corporate park that was previously owned by the Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool has a large facility in Clyde with thousands of employees, and is thus a large portion of the city's economy. The tests at the former park revealed that there were a great amount of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous metals under the soil. In 2013, tests done by experts hired by the families of the victims and their attorneys revealed troubling amounts of benzaldehyde, a chemical compound that has been classified as a hazardous substance by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, inside the attics of several homes in close proximity to the Whirlpool plant.
Though Whirlpool officials alleged that the company had no records of them dumping hazardous substances at Whirlpool Park, Whirlpool Corporation faced several class-action lawsuits, perhaps the most notable one being Brown v. Whirlpool Corporation, which presented both of these findings as evidence that the corporation was responsible for the cancer cases. This lawsuit was dismissed in 2014, and the most recent lawsuit, Sandusky County v. Whirlpool Corporation, was withdrawn in 2015. cleanup
While investigations were underway, families of victims often complained that the process was too slow, though officials assured them that the cancer cluster investigations were a high priority. Especially after the death of Alexa Brown, her parents, Warren and Wendy Brown, promised to solve the issue. They traveled to Washington, D.C. several times to urge several federal officials, including Senator Sherrod Brown,[note 1] to contribute to federal funding for cancer research. The Brown family and other involved families were very persistent, and were a large source of motivation for the investigations. Several local events also contributed to fundraising. Because of the persistence of the Clyde residents, Alexa Brown and other victims of the cancer cluster received nationwide and federal attention, extensive news coverage, and a wide variety of sympathizers.