(NewsNation) — A Southern California community is looking for answers after an extremely rare form of cancer has killed at least six children since 2013.
Families in Ladera Ranch have been pushing for state officials to investigate any potential environmental factors that could be the cause of dozens of cancer cases, including Ewing sarcoma. The bone and soft-tissue cancer is so rare that it affects only 200 to 240 children and teens nationwide each year.
Another rare form of cancer reported in Ladera Ranch has been synovial sarcoma, which affects fewer than 1,000 Americans each year.
Ladera Ranch resident Kira Davis joined “Katie Pavlich Tonight” on Thursday, saying residents have been dealing with this for more than a decade, and no one has been able to provide answers.
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“There’s a lot of shrugs from all the people in charge,” Davis said. “But just now, I think with social media, people are starting to be really concerned.”
The situation has now drawn federal attention, as First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has called on the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate.
“There has been an unusual cluster of pediatric cancers in the Ladera Ranch community. I am requesting that EPA conduct an appropriate investigation into whether there are any environmental causes, and whether any federal environmental laws are implicated,” he wrote on X on July 16.
And the situation isn’t only impacting humans.
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“My dog has cancer. She just developed a brain tumor out of nowhere last year and went blind. And she’s only seven or eight,” Davis said. “I thought, ‘Wow, maybe I have bad luck with dogs.'”
However, after she posted about it in a community chat group, Davis said she got “dozens and dozens of posts” from others saying their pets had become ill, too.
“It’s a dire situation here,” she said.
Currently, multiple studies and investigations are underway to figure out the cause of the cancer cluster, with suspicion focused on the use of herbicides and pesticides.
“We’re one of the last suburbs in Southern California to use these particular pesticides. They are harsher chemicals, older chemicals,” Davis said. “Most of the communities have moved to organics.”
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Ladera Ranch has placed a temporary ban on the use of toxic chemical products as a local advisory committee reviews landscaping maintenance practices.
“We would love for this to stop,” she said. “We’re not saying it is the pesticides, but if there’s even a chance it’s connected to that, why wouldn’t we switch? Why wouldn’t we? It should be so easy, and yet it’s so hard.”
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