Harvey Rodrigues

    Industrial needs for the disposal of liquid toxic wastes grew rapidly in the 1950s. The hills above Glen Avon (population 7,000), near Riverside, have a floor of pyrite rock, which was thought to prevent seepage of chemicals into the ground water. Twenty pits were gouged in the earth and filled with 30 million tons of liquid toxic wastes.
    In 1969,1978,1979 and 1980, heavy rains caused overflow of the chemical ponds, which flooded into the streets and homes of Glen Avon. In 1986, the California Department of Health Services found unusually high rates of all cancers, birth defects and nineteen other diseases in the town.
    The pyrite rock has been shown to leak. In spite of $34 million from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund cleanup program, ground water contamination Is spreading at the rate of three feet per day from Glen Avon toward a water supply for 500,000 people.

We didn’t know anything about the toxic wastes until Harvey got sick. He was three and a half and the tests showed he had leukemia. He had to have radiation and chemotherapy or he would die in two weeks.
His life was stopped. For four years he hasn’t been able to go to school or play with other kids, because his immune system is down. I can’t even give him a birthday party.

The companies we are suing keep asking, ‘What proof do you have that his leukemia is from the chemicals?” I can’t be certain. I can’t say yes. But the water has chemicals that can cause cancer.
I remember the flood of 1978. The water was in our house and it was horrible. The fruit trees in the back yard died after that.
I would not have another child here. What’s going to happen to my daughters and to their children?

I feel to blame because we decided to move here. Even if we didn’t know. But they knew.
I’m involved in taking care of my child and I don’t have time to be angry.
We were supposed to come off the chemotherapy this year, but the tests showed he still has leukemia. I cried all the way home.