Re: NJ and Autism ( Liz)

June 25, 2007

Liz...what steel mill town in PA did you grow up in? Aggie

[ ] NJ and Autism

I am writing this long thing but we all know the answer is we don't know

anything for sure. I grew up in a Steel Mill town in Pa. My mom died at

31 of Non-hogkins lymphoma, a cancer that starts in the gut (hmm). Was

it the fluoridated water, the toxins dumped in the nearby landfill, the

residue from the mill, genetics, or all the above. A family friend who

lived closer to the mill, and landfill and drank the same water, died 3

years after mom of the exact same cancer at age 24. In fact, they used

to go to treatment together. When they had it the disease was rare. When

they had it the disease was rarer still at such young ages. Not as true

these days. My take is it is more environmental than genetics as their

families did not get it, except my cousin, who got it 13 years after mom

and survived it since they got it earlier and the treatments had

improved. She even got it again and went into remission.

Separating nature and nurture in these cases and in autism or any other

toxin-based and/or toxin-aggravated disease is near impossible because

the ties that bind you genetically also usually bind you location-wise

so how can you ever know?

As for NJ, I have lived here for 24 of my 40 years. Some places in NJ

seem to have obvious toxic issues. I would not rush to live in Rahway,

et or any place near the Staten Island border because there is

obvious industrial waste nearby. With that said, I live in Milltown, a

1.4 square mile Mayberry type town that is often referred to as God's

little Acre. Well, when moving here nine years ago I tried to get an

idea of how safe it was since I knew I wanted to buy a home where I

would raise kids. I paid $400 to have the beautiful brook in my backyard

tested to be sure the water was not toxic. The school bus driver who

swung by after dropping off the kids, took a flask out, grabbed the

water and brought it back to the treatment center. They sent me a report

saying it was safe. Not too confident with that report plus it was 9

years ago so even if it was safe then there has been so much building

going on here who knows if it is safe now. I called the DEP and EPA to

get info. I am type-A as you guess. No one knew anything and my

coworkers were sending paper airplanes into my cubicle with the message

" Give it up! " There is a superfund site in the next town. My husband,

the healthiest one in the house, played there as a kid. Then there are

the 7 gas stations that operated in town and the potential waste from

the Michelin factory that was housed here years ago. Our cancer rate

here is not outrageous and people tend to get it as they age. In

contrast though there is a 12 year old in town with bone cancer, the

very thing I fear for my son because of that damn fluoridated baby water

and powdered soy I fed him. Learning disability wise I think we are

average. If we have more kids it may simply be because our school is

fairly accommodating so people with LD kids move here for that.

Are we moving over the toxixity issue? We will likely move because the

taxes are high but if we do I don't know where. If all goes well and we

have options, where could we move that is safe? The answer is nowhere.

If aluminum is a concern that knocks out the South and Arizona since new

housing is going up daily there on, you guessed it, pesticide-ridden

farmland. Any of the gulf states are out since mercury in the water was

a concern and post-Katrina who knows what is in the water. Even Hawaii,

while beautiful where you stay, has lots of environmemtal issues.

If I lived near DuPont would I be checking the water and looking for at

least filtering options? Absolutely. If I was buying a house and the

housing seemed to cheap to be true would I be checking into

environmental concerns? Sure. But after a while it becomes like trying

to stop rain.

For us, wherever we live, the goal is eating as healthy as possible, as

natural as possible, filtering water, staying away from known allergins,

watching for new ones and keeping our heads on straight enough to live

freely and not keep the kids in a bubble.

That's my 2 cents:)

June 25, 2007

I grew up in Levittown, Pa but my school was next to the Tullytown dump

and U.S. Steel, Fairless Works.

Gene and Aggie Birocco wrote:

>Liz...what steel mill town in PA did you grow up in? Aggie

> [ ] NJ and Autism

>

> I am writing this long thing but we all know the answer is we don't know

> anything for sure. I grew up in a Steel Mill town in Pa. My mom died at

> 31 of Non-hogkins lymphoma, a cancer that starts in the gut (hmm). Was

> it the fluoridated water, the toxins dumped in the nearby landfill, the

> residue from the mill, genetics, or all the above. A family friend who

> lived closer to the mill, and landfill and drank the same water, died 3

> years after mom of the exact same cancer at age 24. In fact, they used

> to go to treatment together. When they had it the disease was rare. When

> they had it the disease was rarer still at such young ages. Not as true

> these days. My take is it is more environmental than genetics as their

> families did not get it, except my cousin, who got it 13 years after mom

> and survived it since they got it earlier and the treatments had

> improved. She even got it again and went into remission.

>

> Separating nature and nurture in these cases and in autism or any other

> toxin-based and/or toxin-aggravated disease is near impossible because

> the ties that bind you genetically also usually bind you location-wise

> so how can you ever know?

>

> As for NJ, I have lived here for 24 of my 40 years. Some places in NJ

> seem to have obvious toxic issues. I would not rush to live in Rahway,

> et or any place near the Staten Island border because there is

> obvious industrial waste nearby. With that said, I live in Milltown, a

> 1.4 square mile Mayberry type town that is often referred to as God's

> little Acre. Well, when moving here nine years ago I tried to get an

> idea of how safe it was since I knew I wanted to buy a home where I

> would raise kids. I paid $400 to have the beautiful brook in my backyard

> tested to be sure the water was not toxic. The school bus driver who

> swung by after dropping off the kids, took a flask out, grabbed the

> water and brought it back to the treatment center. They sent me a report

> saying it was safe. Not too confident with that report plus it was 9

> years ago so even if it was safe then there has been so much building

> going on here who knows if it is safe now. I called the DEP and EPA to

> get info. I am type-A as you guess. No one knew anything and my

> coworkers were sending paper airplanes into my cubicle with the message

> " Give it up! " There is a superfund site in the next town. My husband,

> the healthiest one in the house, played there as a kid. Then there are

> the 7 gas stations that operated in town and the potential waste from

> the Michelin factory that was housed here years ago. Our cancer rate

> here is not outrageous and people tend to get it as they age. In

> contrast though there is a 12 year old in town with bone cancer, the

> very thing I fear for my son because of that damn fluoridated baby water

> and powdered soy I fed him. Learning disability wise I think we are

> average. If we have more kids it may simply be because our school is

> fairly accommodating so people with LD kids move here for that.

>

> Are we moving over the toxixity issue? We will likely move because the

> taxes are high but if we do I don't know where. If all goes well and we

> have options, where could we move that is safe? The answer is nowhere.

> If aluminum is a concern that knocks out the South and Arizona since new

> housing is going up daily there on, you guessed it, pesticide-ridden

> farmland. Any of the gulf states are out since mercury in the water was

> a concern and post-Katrina who knows what is in the water. Even Hawaii,

> while beautiful where you stay, has lots of environmemtal issues.

>

> If I lived near DuPont would I be checking the water and looking for at

> least filtering options? Absolutely. If I was buying a house and the

> housing seemed to cheap to be true would I be checking into

> environmental concerns? Sure. But after a while it becomes like trying

> to stop rain.

>

> For us, wherever we live, the goal is eating as healthy as possible, as

> natural as possible, filtering water, staying away from known allergins,

> watching for new ones and keeping our heads on straight enough to live

> freely and not keep the kids in a bubble.

>

> That's my 2 cents:)

>

June 26, 2007

Oh...my husband is from Aliquippa. Their steel mill shut down a loooooong time

ago. He talks about seeing black snow when he was a kid. ) We live in VA

now. Aggie