Landfill Gas Probably Made Children Sick, AQMD Told : Air quality: A panel studies the safety of emissions from the Lopez Canyon dump.

Doctors told regional air quality officials Thursday that three children who became ill after playing in the yards of their Kagel Canyon homes last October probably were sickened by gas from the Lopez Canyon Landfill.

Dr. Marjorie Laughlin testified before the South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing board that she treated the children--Trevor and Tanner Ott, 1-year-old twins, and 10-year-old Joy Forgerson--after they suffered episodes of nausea and vomiting the morning of Oct. 12.

She said that, after ruling out food poisoning, a virus and other common causes of the children’s symptoms, her diagnosis in each of the cases was exposure to noxious fumes.

The five-member hearing board, a quasi-judicial body, is looking into alleged violations of state air pollution control laws at the dump owned by the city of Los Angeles in the northeast San Fernando Valley. Residents and city and state elected officials who represent the area have asked the board to close the landfill until toxic gas emissions are controlled.

Thursday’s daylong hearing at the AQMD headquarters in El Monte was the fourth in a series the board has scheduled to hear testimony about toxic gas emissions at the landfill. Three previous hearings were held in Lake View Terrace and Kagel Canyon.

In addition to testimony by doctors, Deputy City Atty. Christopher Westhoff, representing the Bureau of Sanitation, presented an opening statement before presenting his witnesses.

Under cross-examination by Westhoff, Laughlin, a doctor at Verdugo Hills Urgent Medical Care in Sunland, said she had no evidence that the noxious fumes that made the children ill came from the landfill. She said her diagnosis was based on conversations with the children’s parents and environmental health officials.

Dr. Robert L. Holtzer, of the state Department of Health Services, testified that he had investigated the Oct. 12 incidents at the request of Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). He said he probably would have come to the same conclusions as Laughlin had he examined the children.

However, he said that, based on the air-monitoring information he had received from the city and the AQMD, he could not determine “what is really going on at the Lopez Canyon Landfill.” He said the results of tests he was given were taken in the afternoon when there normally is a breeze near the landfill, instead of in the early morning when the air usually is stagnant.

Holtzer said he recommended that sampling in periods of atmospheric calm “may be essential to resolve” residential concerns.

In response to a question from Westhoff, Holtzer said that he has seen no evidence to date that leads him to believe there is a serious threat to health near the landfill. He added, however, that the evidence he had received was inconclusive.

Westhoff, in his opening statement, said the hearing board had strayed “far and wide” from dealing with conditions to an order to control methane gas emissions at the landfill issued by the hearing board Aug. 2.

“The board has placed the city of Los Angeles in a very difficult position,” he said. Nevertheless, Westhoff said he will present witnesses “to cover everything under the sun,” including allegations about health concerns and the city’s lack of commitment to recycling.

He said the city has met all conditions in the order, including the installation of a collection system to siphon off gases that cause foul odors in the neighborhood.

The first of 11 witnesses Westhoff said he intends to call, Dr. Robert Leonard Goldberg, assistant medical director for the city, said lead emissions from vehicles on the nearby Foothill Freeway were more dangerous to children’s health than noxious fumes from the landfill. He said workers at the landfill face little risk, although three have been overcome by fumes.

After the hearing, residents said they were disappointed because the public had not been allowed to cross-examine witnesses.

“We’re still not getting a voice,” said Lewis Snow, president of the Lake View Terrace Homeowners Assn.

“The city is trying to discredit any testimony from us, and we can’t answer back,” said Robert Telford, father of the 10-year-old girl who became ill. “They’re trying to paint a picture of the city being so compassionate.”

Members of the hearing board will tour the landfill today. The hearings will continue at 1 p.m. Monday in El Monte.