Revealed: "Erin Brockovich" Town Shows No Cancer Cluster

Hinkley, California, the town made famous in the Oscar-winning Julia Roberts movie Erin Brockovich, does not show any evidence of an increased rate of cancers.

Pacific Gas and Electric, which released a toxic plume of hexavalent chromium 6 from a Hinkley-based natural gas pipeline station, paid a record $333 million to settle a class-action suit in 1996. But the California Cancer Registry has now completed three studies that show cancer rates remained normal in from 1988 to 2008.

From a very strange story by the Los Angeles Times' Louis Sahagun, who starts out with the Registry's findings but then lists more anecdotes about residents (including an eight-year old dog) who claim PG&E-related ailments:

From 1996 to 2008, 196 cancers were identified among residents of the census tract that includes Hinkley — a slightly lower number than the 224 cancers that would have been expected given its demographic characteristics, said epidemiologist John Morgan, who conducted the California Cancer Registry survey.

The survey did not attempt to explain why any individual in Hinkley contracted cancer, nor did it diminish the importance of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. cleaning up a plume of groundwater with elevated levels of chromium 6, Morgan said.

"In this preliminary assessment we only looked at cancer outcomes, not specific types of cancer," Morgan said. "However, we did look at a dozen cancer types in earlier surveys of the same census tract for the years between 1988 and 1998. Overall, the results of those surveys were almost identical to the new findings, and none of the cancers represented a statistical excess."

The LAT calls the rate of cancers in Hinkley "fewer...than expected." That depends on who was doing the expectin'. Back in 2000, when the movie came out, Walter Olson wrote in Reason that the Hinkley cancer cluster did not seem to be materializing and gave a thumbs down to the performances of the actual (rather than the Hollywood) Brockovich and her boss, Thousand Oaks personal injury lawyer Edward Masry.

Coincidentally, Brockovich is now back in Hinkley, pursuing claims about a return of the chromium plume.

Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI) is a metal particle that can occur naturally in rocks but is most commonly produced by industrial process. It has the ability to gain electrons from other elements (a strong oxidizer), which means it can react easily with them. Because of its ability to react with other elements, it can produce hard coatings, which is why it is used in paints for cars, boats and airplanes.

In June 2009, the ground water in Midland, Texas (US) was found to be contaminated with chromium. Erin Brockovich was involved again. The Midland groundwater reached higher levels of contamination than in Hinkley with 5250 ppb or 5.25 ppm.

Chromium 6 is not regulated in drinking water at the federal level.

Other scientific studies, however, from contaminated spots in China, Scotland and the United States, have failed to find cancer-causing properties in waterborne chromium 6. A toxicologist at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Sharon Wilbur, says that chromium 6 in water doesn’t harm humans. “It’s very unlikely that people could die from drinking chromium 6 in the water, even over time,” she said. Because the arbitration that eventually decided the case was closed to the public, it’s unclear what sort of proof plaintiffs attorneys offered to support their claims.

The former judges who heard the case were all employed by an Irvine arbitration company called JAMS/Endispute

Girardi had ties to at least three of the private judges in the PG&E case: Jack Tenner, John Trotter and Jack Goertzen. Had this occurred in public court, judicial rules would have forced the judges to recuse themselves from the case due to a conflict of interest.

Tenner, a retired Los Angeles Superior Court judge, officiated at Girardi’s second wedding, in September 1993.

“Girardi is a very generous man and very kind,” said Ralph Drummond, a former judge in Monterey County Superior Court, who used to work for JAMS and now arbitrates disputes for Girardi. During the 1989 World Series, Girardi used his Gulfstream jet to fly Schoettler and Morgan to San Francisco for the games; at the time, Schoettler was a sitting judge in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Since no law governs procedures in these closed-door cases, pretty much anything goes — even things that would not be allowed in court. There are no public records of the case.

In a separate but similarly contentious interview, Ed Masry, the attorney Brockovich worked for, would not explain the process either. “Why are you being stupid?” he said. “It was a complicated $333 million settlement. Are you an idiot?”

The Hinkley clients tried to get answers by calling Masry’s and Girardi’s offices, but suddenly, they couldn’t get through to anyone, not even Brockovich. “None of the attorneys would take our calls,” said Carol Smith.

Many of the residents had a hard time reconciling the small amount of their checks with the enormous legal fees. Arbitrated cases are supposed to be quicker and cheaper than court trials. In this case, Masry, Girardi and Lack took 40 percent, or $133 million.

But then the clients were billed an extra $10 million for expenses, which weren’t detailed.

One plaintiff, Muriel Marcum, tried to explain to her attorneys that her medical condition merited more money. But Lack wrote back, saying he was “disgusted by such a statement, which betrays your utter lack of knowledge ... The symptoms you have suffered ... could be related to any number of causative events.”

The attorneys also steered some clients with large awards toward certain financial planners, one of whom was Ed Masry’s son, Louis. In May 1996, a few months before PG&E settled, Louis Masry started his own company, Sunrise Financial Services, now located in the same building as his dad’s law firm.

******

Erin Brockovich-Ellis (born June 22, 1960) is an American legal clerk and environmental activist

She was born Erin L. E. Pattee in Lawrence, Kansas to Frank Pattee, an industrial engineer and Betty Jo O’Neal-Pattee, a journalist. She attended Lawrence High School then Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, and graduated with an Associate in Applied Arts Degree from Wades Business College in Dallas Texas. She worked as a management trainee for Kmart in 1981 but quit after a few months and entered some potentially lucrative beauty pageants. After winning Miss Pacific Coast in 1981, she gave up pageant life. She has lived in California since 1982.

Brockovich was involved in a car accident in Reno and was seriously injured. Her case was settled out of court for $50,000

Brockovich and Masry filed suit against the Beverly Hills Unified School District in 2003, in which the district was accused of harming the health and safety of its students by allowing a contractor to operate a cluster of oil wells on campus

Brockovich assisted in the filing of a lawsuit against Prime Tanning Corp. of St. Joseph, Missouri in April 2009. The lawsuit claims that waste sludge from the production of leather

******

“Erin Brockovich”: The real story

In the movie, the victims in the celebrated lawsuit won big. In reality, many are wondering where the money went — and they’re mad at their lawyers.

“The movie is mostly lies,” said Carol Smith, one of the real-life plaintiffs. “I wish the truth would come out because a lot of us are upset. I understand the movie is going to make Erin and the attorneys out to be heroes.

“But where’s the rest of our money?”

http://tinyurl.com/23batt7

reported in the Wall Street Journal, “no one agent could possibly have caused more than a handful of the symptoms described, and Chromium 6 in the water almost certainly couldn’t have caused any of them.”

found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s own risk information concluded that “no data were located in the available literature that suggested that (Chromium 6) is carcinogenic by the oral route of exposure.” The substance has been shown to cause cancer only through inhalation of large doses over many years. High-dose tests in rodents and dogs failed to demonstrate ill effects.

recent research on Chromium 6 exposure at the Hinkley plant showed that “not only was there no excess of cancer when compared to the general California population, but that the overall PG&E worker death rate was significantly much lower than those of other Californians

In the only other skeptical piece about Erin Brockovich to appear in a major mainstream newspaper, New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata noted this week that “federal agencies whose scientists were not involved in the litigation said evidence was lacking that chromium (VI) in groundwater caused a myriad of health problems.”

Read the original Wall Street Journal article, “Erin Brockovich, Exposed” and longer version of the article, “The Dark Side of Erin Brockovich” (The National Post, March 29, 2000).

http://fumento.com/brockovich/erinwsj.html

http://fumento.com/brockovich/erinpost.html

Long before he met Brockovich, Masry handled a toxic tort suit in which he defended polluters of a lake in Riverside, California. He even compared the environmental officials to the Gestapo.

Yet three of the five defendants quickly pled guilty. Masry was already well known in California, having been charged in 1981 with stealing from a religious cult he represented in order to bribe the lieutenant governor.

Far from being “environmental crusaders” as the media now routinely calls them, Masry and Brockovich have never crusaded for anything but lucre.

Moreover, the lengthy discussion of chromium 6 on the EPA’s website , the agency that sets drinking-water standards, concludes: “No data were located in the available literature that suggested that chromium 6 is carcinogenic by the oral route of exposure.”

The motivation of the three law firms was neither truth nor compassion, but rather 40 percent of the winnings. Their “take” from the settlement was $133 million plus an amazing $10 million more in expenses. Brockovich’s bonus alone was $2 million.

But when these same three firms, including the Masry-Brockovich team, tried the same ploy in the court system against a company with no guaranteed income, it collapsed like a rotten pumpkin.

Now activist Erin has two new crusades.

One is against mold.

“I feel so sorry ’bout that $600,000 Erin had to spend on toxic mold!”
Bizarrely, she has just testified before a California Senate health committee that her house is filled with mold that makes her sick and has cost her $600,000 in renovations. Sounds like a personal problem, lady. The non-nouveau riche Hinkley residents in $25,000 homes must be just heartbroken for her.

The other crusade is from podium to podium, whence she gives talks for as much as $25,000 a pop. Brockovich stands to earn up to $1 million this year this way, according to Forbes. Plus she has a book deal and two TV series in the works.

Poor Ed, on the other hand, is only starring in one series, Fox’s Power of Attorney, although he did win a seat on the Thousand Oaks, California city council. He only had to spend $150,000 of his own money on his campaign.

http://fumento.com/brockovich/erinmarch.html

Feb 4th 2009 9:00AM

Elizabeth Brockovich, 17, daughter of environmental campaigner Erin Brockovich recently spoke out about her addiction to drugs — and blames her mom’s fame for her struggles.

Elizabeth confessed that she started experimenting with marijuana at age 12, and was hooked on cocaine and prescription drugs by age 14, all while her mother was busy campaigning or promoting her hit Hollywood film, Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts.

http://www.parentdish.com/2009/02/04/erin-brockovich-daughter-blames-mom-for-addiction/

“When the movie came out, she was gone all the time either on appearances or interviews or lecturing,” said Elizabeth. “That was my time to go crazy, because she wasn’t there. I would ditch school, I was driving around with kids that were under the influence.

“Brockovich, 48, says she didn’t know Elizabeth was using drugs. It was only when her daughter’s grades started slipping and “she’d no longer look in my eyes,” that Brockovich realized her daughter was using. That, and the money Elizabeth was stealing from her to pay for her habit.

Erin married actor Eric Ellis in 1999.

Erin’s 1999 marriage was her third trip to the alter. She was first married in 1982 to a restaurant manager named Shawn Brown, with whom she had two children, Matthew and Katie. Erin and Shawn divorced in 1987.

After becoming a secretary at a Reno brokerage, it was there that she met her third husband, stockbroker Steven Brockovich. The two married in 1989 and had one child, her youngest daughter, Elizabeth. Erin and Steven divorced in 1990.

Currently, Erin Brockovich-Ellis lives with her husband and children in Agoura Hills, California.

In addition to dyslexia, Erin also claims that she has struggled through anorexia and that she has panic disorder.

Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Chemistry and Society, “is that ingested chromium-6 encounters hydrochloric acid in the stomach’s gastric juices, and is converted to chromium-3, which is innocuous.” Chromium-3 is a trace mineral and is found in such foods as broccoli, cheese, meats, cereal, brewer’s yeast, whole grains, and mushrooms (ETC.org). Chromium-3 is considered essential in man and animals for efficient lipid, glucose, and protein metabolism (GreatDreams.com). Schwarcz also pointed out, “no single toxin causes the wide array of conditions that afflict Hinkley residents.”

The real Erin Brockovich appeared as a waitress in the film.

http://media.nowpublic.net/images/d5/4/d54d99f268cb926fa70b2ee2bf55c5ba.jpg

Erin Brockovich & husband Eric Ellis in Sydney
March 8, 2007

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