Study Finds No Health Risk From Landfill

A study has found little indication that the Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills poses an elevated health risk for people living in the neighborhood, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said Friday.

The findings mirror those of a study last year commissioned by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Both reports responded to concerns by about 35 local residents that the landfill, operated by Browning-Ferris Industries, produces pollutants that may have caused cancer, birth abnormalities, miscarriages, respiratory illnesses and other health problems. The company wants to expand the landfill from its current 1,100 acres to about 1,550 acres.

“With the possible exception of self-reported asthma and wheezing symptoms among women, our investigation did not find evidence of unusually high rates or unusual patterns of disease in the concerned community,” said the latest report, by the health department’s Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology.

“The investigation did confirm that there is widespread concern about the landfill in the community.”

The latest study was ordered by the county Board of Supervisors in October 2003.

An analysis by USC’s Cancer Surveillance Program found that cancer rates in the neighborhood were about the same as for the county as a whole, the study said.

On the other hand, a door-to-door survey of 100 households close to the landfill found that residents reported about twice as many incidences of cancer diagnoses than the rest of the county.

But the study said the types of cancer reported in the survey are not consistent with exposure to a toxic environment, “and other studies have documented the inherent inaccuracies of self-reported health data. Therefore, we believe the cancer statistics from the Cancer Surveillance Program are much more reliable than those from the survey.”

The health services department said the neighborhood incidences of low birth weights and birth defects matched the rest of the county, as did death rates and causes of death.

“The rate of reported asthma and wheezing symptoms among women was higher in the landfill-adjacent community,” a report on the study said. “However, rates of asthma among children and men were not higher, suggesting that the higher rate among women is not likely related to the landfill.”

The landfill is in unincorporated territory just north of Granada Hills. Before any expansion could begin, the project would have to be approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, the water quality control board, the state Department of Fish and Game and the city of Los Angeles.

Objections to the plan have been voiced by the offices of Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn and City Councilman Greig Smith, who represents Granada Hills.